Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-07-30
The Food of Man.


OF articles Of human food, there is great
variety. Long since, in the past ages, the
nations Of the earth had, each, their peculiar
cereals for breadstuffs and, with these, were
probably as well satisfied as any now are
with the present almost unlimited variety.
Thus Europe had oats; northern Asia, bar
ley and wheat; southern Asia, rice Africa,
millet and America, maize or Indian corn.
So also they had, each, their peculiar vege-
tables of lighter Importance but now all
men cat all things.
1t is evident that in former periods of
time oats were esteemed of more value as
an article of food for man than at present.
The precise native land of the common oat
is no longer known, although the region
along the Danube passes as such It was
considered as the European bread crop.
The Oelts and the Germans cultivated it
1000 years ago. 1t was known TO the
Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans.
Barley and rye did not attract so much at
tention. The former is supposed to have
emanated from the region between the Eu.
pirates and the Tigris, while the latter had
its origin in that scope Of country between
the Alps and the Black Sea.
or wheat, we are able to say much more
than Of the former grains for there is no
breadstuf for man that ranks with it in
modern years. 1t is now the most impor-
tant article Of this kind Of food, and is more
widely distributed than any other and its
cultivation has been more or less perfect for
at least five thousand years. 1t was known
in China, according to the history, three
thousand years before Christ, and was early
used by the Egyptians and Grecians. 1t
was imported into America by the Span
iards, at the beginning of the sixteenth GEN.
tury. Next to wheat, in rank, among small
grains stands rice. 1t is Indigenous to fur
ther India and the Isle of Sunday, and is
extended over the whole of southern or east
ern Asia, as well as over Arabia, Persia and
Asia Minor thence it has reached on one
side to North Africa, Egypt and Nubia I;
and on the other to Greece and Italy. Rice
was introduced into China three thousand
years before Christ. In the time of Strabo,
rice was cultivated ia Babylon, Susiana and
Syria. The ArabIans brought it into Sicily.
1t is only very recently that it has been in.
troduced into America.
Indian corn is peculiarly American-the
great staff of life for both man and beast
What rice is to the old world, maize or In
dian corn is to the new. 1t is probably
indigenous to Central America, and brought
by the Toltecs to Mexico. The many varie-
ties which are known OF the maize, indicate
clearly very extended period for the cuti-
walton of this plant Maize was unknown
to the Europeans before the discovery of
America. The potato, which is now such
an universal article of food, was hardly
known until the seventeenth century, and
was not cultivated to any extent until the
middle Of the eighteenth. 1t is supposed to
be a native Of South America, and was prob.
ably brought into Spain FIRST early in the
eighteenth century from the neighborhood Of
Quito.
1t is very obvious that man, in his primi-
tive state, lived in a very simple manner,
and obtained but few articles of food for his
subsistence. But, as his intellect developed,
he discovered new sources from whence to
derive his food, and also additional articles
adapted to his taste and possessing a large
amount Of nutritious matter. And when
all these sources are spread out before him,
he very naturally obtains the food from both
the animal aud vegetable kingdoms. At the
present day the articles of food for man en-
brace such great variety that it would be
nearly impossible to enumerate them all. In
the rural districts, or within reach of good
city market, all our wants in this line may
be richly supplied. Cor. Ohio Farmer