No. 4.] FARMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS. 341 



Indian corn, or a better name, maize, — for the word corn 

 to European sight and hearing signifies wheat, — was well 

 known, cultivated and in use as food by the natives of this 

 continent long before Columbus set out upon his voyage 

 which resulted in its discovery. Peruvians, Mexicans and 

 the tribes that made their camps upon lands now within the 

 borders of the United States, planted, harvested and used 

 it for food, stimulating its production by the use of ferti- 

 lizers. Humboldt, in his "Kosmos," says that Peruvians, 

 under the enlightened and progressive sway of the Incas, 

 used guano obtained from the Chincha Islands as a fertilizer ; 

 and the Puritans at Plymouth, Mass., were taught by the 

 Indians the cultivation of their corn and the use of fish as a 

 fertilizer for it. Not only was maize indigenous to this con- 

 tinent, but so were said to be potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes 

 and various other products of the soil now in use, as well as 

 fruits of various kinds, and fish and wild beasts of the chase, 

 and land and water fowl. 



The total production of corn in this country for the three 

 years previous to this was, for 1898, 1,924,185,000 bushels ; 

 for 1899, 2,078,144,000 bushels; and for 1900, 2,105,- 

 103,000 bushels. For the same years the production of 

 wheat was 675,149,000, 547,304,000 and 552,230,000 re- 

 spectively. The production of oats for the same periods 

 was 730,907,000, 796,178,000 and 809,126,000 respec- 

 tively. The average production of corn per acre was 24.3, 

 25.3 and 25.3. The average production of wheat per acre 

 was 15.3, 12.3 and 12.3. The average production of oats 

 per acre was 28.4, 30.2 and 29.6. 



, Great Wheat-producing States, 1900. 



