14 



INTRODUCTION 



were to be found the fruits and roots which were good to 

 eat. They learned that the plants which produced food 

 would grow better if other plants around them were cut 

 away, and probably this was their first step toward plant 

 cultivation. They observed how plants reproduce them- 



selves, and they 



began to clear the 

 ground of useless 

 plants and to 

 save those which 

 produced food. 

 Thus the first 

 little farms ap- 

 peared. 



Think how 

 farming must 

 have changed the 

 life of our ances- 

 tors. It was fool- 

 ish to plant crops 

 and then go away 

 and leave them. 

 Those who planted 

 began to wait 

 for the harvest. 

 Gradually they 

 began to give up 

 free roaming of 

 the forests, and began to live near their little fields. 

 They tended and guarded for the harvest which was to 

 come. They began to make homes. They began to settle 

 on the lands which were most fertile. They began to band 



The coconut palm grows in almost all parts of the 

 tropics. It is one of the most valuable plants in the 

 world. No plant exceeds it in variety of uses. Food, 

 oil, soap, rope, and building material are some of the 

 things derived from it. It is also one of the most 

 beautiful of plants. 



