SYSTEMATIC PLANT INTRODUCTION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Witli tlie settlement of a new country is inseparably connected the 

 introduction of new plants. This w^ork, which began in America, as 

 W. A. Taylor,* of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has pointed out, 

 with the efforts of the first settlers scarcely two weeks after their arrival 

 on the island of Jamestown, has been carried on so naturally and grad- 

 ually that at the present time few people realize the important role it 

 has played. Their attention must be called to the fact that of all the 

 food plants now grown iu America only the pumpkin and a few grapes, 

 plums, and berries are natives of this country. Even the Indian corn, 

 popularly supposed to be indigenous to the United States, is in all 

 probability an introduction from Mexico. 



According to the researches of F. Hock,t a German investigator, cul- 

 tivated oats, barley, and rye have originated from wild forms growing 

 along the Mediterranean; the varieties of wheat have developed from 

 a wild species in Persia; buckwheat is undoubtedly of Siberian or 

 Manchurian origin; the garden bean {Phaseohis vulgaris) iiourished in 

 a wild state upon the slopes of the Andes; the ]3areiitage of our culti- 

 vated cabbage, lettuce, spinach, asparagus, celery, and most root crops 

 can be traced to the Mediterranean; the Orient has undoubtedly fur- 

 nished civilization with the onion, horse-radish, cucumber, and melon; 

 Peru has given it the Irish and sweet potatoes, eggplant, and tomato; 

 central Asia, the rhubarb ; while our apples, quinces, pears, currants, 

 gooseberries, and California grapes are of European parentage, and 

 our strawberries have resulted from crossing the native with a Chilean 

 species. 



While the development of the indigenous fruits of this country has 

 been attended with marked success, it is a noteworthy fact that the 

 Old World civilization has profited but little through the discovery of 

 new food i:>lants in North America. 



The rapid development of any new country is due to the discovery of 

 soil and climatic conditions suited to the growth of introduced food 

 plants, and seldom to the development of an endemic species. Cali- 

 fornia owes its wealth and phenomenal development to conditions favor- 



* Taylor, William A. The Fruit Industry and Substitution of Domestic for Foreign- 

 Grown Fruits. Yearbook U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1897, p. 308. 



t Hock, F. Nabrpflanzcn Mittcleuropas, ihre Heimat, Einfiilirung in das Gebiet 

 und Verbreitung innerlialb desselben; Stuttgart, J. Eugelhorn, 1890, pp. G7. 



