78 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



from the garden in the past and at the present time, and then 

 consider what may be done to improve the supply of such prod- 

 ucts and increase their use in the future. 



The successive stages by which our present methods of feeding 

 ourselves have been evolved from the customs of primitive man 

 form an interesting study, which is of especial value to those 

 whose business it is to provide food for mankind. The earliest 

 foods of races in warm climates were fruits and nuts, of which 

 nature furnished an abundance, and which were eatable with little 

 or no preparation. In some cases the women and children ate the 

 natural fruit, while the warriors fed on dried fruit prepared with 

 oil. Others subsisted mainly on raw flesh, and, perhaps by acci- 

 dent, discovered that new and agreeable flavors were developed 

 by heat. Broiling or roasting over the open fire has been with all 

 races one of the first steps in the art of cookery, and meats rather 

 than vegetables were tlie objects of early experiments in this 



direction. 



" To cookery we owe well-ordered states 

 Assembling men in dear society." 



Savages found it a simpler matter to pursue their food rather 

 than to take the chances of producing it from a fixed place. The 

 placing of a hearthstone and the planting of seeds were higher 

 steps on the ladder of civilization. For a nomadic life a larger 

 area of country was required than is sufficient to support a given 

 population by other means. Even grazing, which succeeded the 

 chase as a method of supplying food, will not support a large 

 population on a given average. 



This is one of the strongest arguments that vegetarians can 

 bring in support of their cause. As the world grows more popu- 

 lous fruits and vegetables must supply the larger portion of the 

 food of its inhabitants. ISTot until men became versed in the art 

 of agriculture was it possible to make further advance in cookery, 

 since the products of the vegetable kingdom required greater 

 development before they oifered much inducement for the experi- 

 ments of the cook. Kor do the most skilful efforts of the farmer 

 avail unless the cook handles his products with equal intelligence. 



Count Rumford once said, " The number of inhabitants that 

 can be supported in a country depends as much upon the art of 

 cookery as upon that of agriculture : both arts belong to civiliza- 

 tion ; savages understand neither of them." 



