26 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



instruments of polished stone and no metals, cultivated several plants, 

 some of which were of Asiatic origin. The remains of the lake- 

 dwellers of Austria prove likewise a completely primitive agriculture : 

 no cereals have been found at Laybach and only a single grain of wheat 

 at the Mondstee. The backward condition of agriculture in this 

 eastern part of Europe is contrary to the hypothesis, based on a few 

 words used by ancient historians, that the Aryans sojourned first in 

 the region of the Danube. In spite of this example, agriculture 

 appears in general to have been more ancient in the temperate parts 

 of Europe than we should be inclined to believe from the Greeks, who 

 were disposed to attribute the origin of all progress to their own 

 nation. 



In America agriculture is perhaps not quite so ancient as in Asia 

 and Egypt, if we are to judge from the civilization of Mexico and 

 Peru, which does not date even from the first centuries of the Chris- 

 tian era. However, the widespread cultivation of certain plants, 

 such as maize, tobacco, and the sweet potato, argues a considerable 

 antiquity, perhaps two thousand years or thereabouts. History is at 

 fault in this matter and we can only hope to be enlightened by the 

 discoveries of archaeology and geology. 



Men have not discovered and cultivated within the last two 

 thousand years a single species which can rival maize, rice, the sweet 

 potato, the potato, the breadfruit, the date cereals, millets, sorghums, 

 the banana, soy. These date from three, four, or five thousand years, 

 perhaps even in some cases six thousand years. The species first cul- 

 tivated during the Graeco-Roman civilization and later, nearly all 

 answer to more varied or more refined needs. A great dispersion of 

 the ancient species from one country to another took place, and at 

 the same time a selection of the best varieties developed in each 

 species. The introductions within the last two thousand years took 

 place in a very irregular and intermittent manner. I cannot quote 

 a single species cultivated for the first time after that date by the 

 Chinese, the greatest cultivators of ancient times. The peoples of 

 Southern and Western Asia innovated in a certain degree by culti- 

 vating the buckwheats, several cucurbitaceae, a few alliums, etc. In 

 Europe, the Romans and several peoples in the Middle Ages intro- 

 duced the cultivation of a few vegetables and fruits, and that of 

 several fodders. In Africa, a few species were then first cultivated 

 separately. After the voyages of Vasco da Gama and of Columbus a 

 rapid diffusion took place of the species already cultivated in either 



