HISTORIC A.L. 11 



the original home of maize, is supported by botany and 

 meteorology. All of the plants closely related to maize are 

 Mexican, It is an accepted evolutionary principle that sev- 

 eral species of the same genus, or genera of the same tribe, 

 though dispersed to the most distant quarters of the globe, 

 must opiginally have proceeded from the same source, as they 

 are descended from the same progenitors. It is also obvious 

 that the individuals of the same species, though now in dis- 

 tant regions, must have proceeded from one spot, where their 

 parents were first produced; for it is incredible-that individ- 

 uals, identically the same, should have been produced from 

 parents specifically distinct. Applying these principles to 

 maize, we reach the conclusion that maize was originally 

 Mexican. * * * The evidence to the present date (1893) 

 places the original home of our American cereal, maize, in 

 central Mexico.'' ' 



