54 V8ES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS Ieth.ann.m 



pli' of the ctiuntry do not demand articles of food other than those 

 to which our European ancestors were accustomed those articles will 

 1h> subject to demand in excess of production, with consequent en- 

 hancement of cost, while at the same time we have large land ureas 

 practically unproductive because the plants they are best fitted to 

 produce are not utilized. The adjustment of American consumption 

 to .American conditions of production will bring about greater im- 

 provement in conditions of life than any other material agency. 

 The people of any country must finally subsist on those articles of 

 foo<l which their own soil is best fitted to produce. New articles of 

 diet must come into use, and all the resources of our own country 

 must be adetjuatcly developed. 



Dr. J. W. Ilai-shberger has well stated tlie practical uses and the 

 corrt'lations of ethnobotanic study: 



rhytoKi'oKniph.v, or plant KeoRrnpliy in its wiciest sense, is concerned not 

 only witli the distribution of wild plants, but also with the laws governing the 

 diHtrlbution of cultivated plants. In order to determine the origin of the lat- 

 ter — that Is, the original center fmni which the cultivation of such i)lants has 

 sprnid — it is necessary to examine the historic, archeologic, philologic, eth- 

 nologic, and botanic evidence of the past use of such plants by the aboriginal 

 tribes of America. This investigation affords interesting data which can be 

 applied practically In enlarging the list of plants adaptable to the uses of civi- 

 lized man. . . . Ethnobotany is u.seful as suggesting new lines of modern 

 manufacture, for exainjile, new methods of weaving goods, as illustrated by 

 the practiial application of the careful studies of pueblo fabrics by Frank H. 

 Cashing. It is of importance, therefore, to seek out these primitive races and 

 ascertain the plants which they have found available in their economic life, 

 In order [hat perchan<-e the valuable properties tliey have utilized in their 

 wild life may fill some vacant niche in our own, may prove of value in time 

 of need <ir wliei; the population of .\merica becom<!s so dense as to retiuire 

 ilie iitiliziifion of nil of our natural res<iurces.' 



XEGLECTED OPPORTUXITIES 



That we have had in the past exceptional opportunities for ob- 

 taining al)original plant lore, which we have failed to recognize, 

 disdained to accept, or neglected to improve, is well shown by an 

 incident narrated in his journal l)y the great botanical explorer, 

 Bradbury, in the beginning of the nineteenth century. How much 

 information might then have been obtained which is no longer avail- 

 able! In 1R09 Hradhui-y accompanied a trading expedition up the 

 Missouri River as far as the villages of the Arikara. 



I procee<le<l along the bluffs [in the vicinity of the Omaha village which was 

 at that time near the place where Homer, Dakota County, Nebr., now is] and 

 was very successful in my researches, but had not been long empioyetl when 

 I saw an old Indian galloping toward me. He came up and shook hands with 



' Fl.n.hb<-rKpr. Phytog»ogr«phlc InfluenceB Id the Arts and Indastries of American 

 Aborlglnm, (i. 20. 



