^ PREFACE 



All who have attempted to study the origin and history of cultivated 

 plants must have been struck with the paucity and inaccuracy of information 

 on the subject. For nearly nineteen hundred years, to be written in Pliny 

 was proof sufficient; yet much of Pliny's history is inaccurate though still 

 repeated in periodicals and poptilar works. Linnaeus, the great system- 

 atizer, gave the origin of most of the plants he described; but of these, 

 De CandoUe, by long odds the best plant historian, says, " three out of 

 four of Linnaeus' indications of the original home of cultivated plants are 

 incomplete or incorrect." De CandoUe, in his turn, usually accurate, is 

 exceedingly scant, giving the origin of but 249 cultivated plants, not all 

 edible, while Sturtevant, in the text in hand, puts down 2897 which may be 

 used for food, most of which are cultivated. 



The query at once comes to mind as to the respects in which Sturte- 

 vant adds new knowledge on an old subject. New knowledge may be 

 found on the following subjects: (i) The original home of many esculents 

 is given for the first time. (2) New landmarks in the histories of edible 

 plants are pointed out. (3) An effort is made to mention all cultivated 

 esculents. (4) Though the book contains much new information as to the 

 history of the food plants of the Old World, it is especially full and acctirate 

 in the discussion of the esculents of the New World. (5) Sturtevant presents 

 much new information on the variations that have been produced in plants 

 by cultivation. (6) His book adds much to geographical botany. (7) He 

 contributes much data for the study of acclimatization. 



It is pertinent to inquire as to the qualifications and opportunities 

 Stvirtevant may have had to illuminate so vast a subject as that of edible 

 plants. To answer this query, and for the added reason that a book can 

 be used with greatest profit only when its author is known, a brief biography 

 of Sturtevant follows this Preface. 



Sturtevant' s Notes on Edible Plants is a compilation from four sources, 

 namely : the first seven reports of the New York State Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station; a manuscript of 1600 closely written imperial octavo sheets 



