Southwest JVuseum Leaflets 



state that they do not know from what plant the prehistoric 

 Indians succeeded in developing potatoes. 



The distribution of potatoes probably did not extend beyond 

 western South America in pre-Columbian times; but in re- 

 cent centuries they have found their way around the globe, 

 being more generally used in Europe than in America. The 

 world's potato crop has assumed such importance that by now 

 it possibly is exceeded only by the rice crop. 



Corx — Maize was the name in the language of the extinct 

 Taino Indians of Haiti for a great cereal, and it is still known 

 as maize in many parts of the world; but in the United States, 

 Canada, and Australia it is corn. It was so named by English 

 colonists who applied an old Anglo-Saxon word which had 

 several meanings. 



Originally corn referred to a small hard grain, such as a 

 grain of sand, of salt, or of cereal, and is used thus in the 

 Bible passage "a corn of wheat," and in the expression "corned 

 beef," meaning beef cured with grains of salt in a brine. Later, 

 according to the use of the word in the "Corn Laws," corn 

 also meant all of the English cereals, which then were wheat, 

 barley, and oats. Einally corn was employed also to designate 

 the principal crop of a country — oats in Scotland, wheat in 

 England. It is this English use of corn for wheat which 

 appears in the King James version, "There is corn in Egypt," 

 and "Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn." 



English settlers in the American colonies, recognizing the 

 Indian grain as the principal crop, gave it the name "Indian 

 corn," or merely "corn," which is appropriate and prophetic, 

 because corn has become the principal crop of the United 

 States, exceeding in production and value all its other cereal 

 crops combined. Many Americans do not realize this fact 

 because most of the corn never leaves the farm where it is 

 grown. 



The beginning of corn is lost in antiquity. Until recently 

 it was believed to have been developed in Middle America 

 from the seed of a wild grass known as teocentli. Now some 

 botanists adopt the theory that both teocentli and corn have 

 come from a common ancestor, long extinct; while some be- 

 lieve that corn was originally developed from an unknown 

 wild growth in the lowlands of South America. In any case 

 the development of corn by prehistoric Indians is the most 

 remarkable achievement in the history of agriculture. Of all 

 grains, corn is the most completely domesticated, being the 

 only one that cannot sow itself and take care of itself. It 



