n 
At the dawn, of history the 'beginning^ of cultiTation of grain was 
so far in the past that it had becaae a myth. In Egypt wheat was held 
to 03 the gift o:^ Isis, in Greece of ^eres — our breakfast cereals 
coirnnemorate the Greek myth to this day. 
In China and the Sast Indies the cultivation of rice became the 
basis of eivilization, and to the south o'f Igypt tte cultiTation 
of sorghiffii. 
In xonerica a high stage of civilization was attaimd by ttie 
Indians who cultivated mize or Ind ian corn* As in the ca§5 of 
the Old Ibrld grains the beg inuring of its cultivation was veiled in 
rnyth# Maize was a gift of the gods. -^^^In Hiawatha we have ell read 
of one of the myths. When, ftie white man arrived maize was cultivied 
from Central ionerica south to Peru and north to ^uebec. The Inca, 
Maye , ^xztec and Pueblo civi liza ticns were based on it and it was 
cultivated by the Ifcrth xj-fierican Indians, over much of what is no?^ the 
United States. The hungry Pilgrim, fathers, we are told, found a 
buried hoard oi* Indian corn during their first terrible winter and 
.^^x^ thankioilly a^1?»is it. ^ 
