Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-08-22
THEIR ORIGIN.

| 'i"po,"
+"
THEIR ORIGIN.
The History of Some Common Food
Plants.
The origin of vegetables Is an inter
esting study, and in the pages of Mos'
terry will be found this account OF
where the food plants that we claim as
our own had their origin:
In his recently published investiga
tions of the early agriculture OF the
temperate regions of Asia and Europe,
DeCandolle traces the origin of the
tnrnip to northern Europe, and the
cabbage to the western coasts of
Europe, where its wild stock may still
be found. Purslain which is food
plant with many, but is known among
us chiefly as a very troublesome weed,
is found wild from the western llima-
layas to Greece. The onion was
brought from western Asia. The COM
mon bean seems to have become
extinct in its wild state. 1t was intro
dhced into Europe by the Aryans,
probably from the region south of the
Caspian. The remains of lentils have
been found in the Swiss lake dwellings
of the Bronze age, and this plant was
native to western Asia, Greece and
Italy before its cultivation there. 1t
was afterward carried to Egypt The
chickpea was carried from south OF the
Caucasus, east and west by the Aryans,
to India and to Europe, The carrot
is indigenous to the eastern Mediterra-
mean, whence the Greeks introduced it
into Italy and the Arabs into western
Europe
DeCandolle regards all the various
hllllto vi NIltul 40 utllNutlNco VI llO
small grained kind found in the most
ancient lake dwellings of western
Switzerland He inclines to the belief
that the wild stock of this originated
in Mesopotamia, where it may still
exist. The origin of spelt is very
doubtful, and it may possibly be an
ancient cultivated derivative from
wheat stock. AS to barley, the inhab-
itants of the Swiss lake dwellings cul-
tivated both the two rowed and the six
rOWed kinds. The former is found
spontaneous in the area between the
Red sea and the Caspian; but nothing
is known of the spontaneous occur
ence Of the latter or of the four rOWed
kind Either, then, both were deriv-
atiyes in prehistoric times of the two
rowed variety, or they are the cultivat-
ed representatives of species which
have since become extinct. AS to rye,
probability points to an origin in south
eastern Europe. The lake dwellers
even of the age of Bronze did not know
it, but Pliny mentions its cultivation
near ruria. DeCandolle supposes that
the Aryan migrations westward met
in Europe and carried it onward.
Oats seem also to have originated in
eastern Europe; they are found not
earlier than the Bronze age in Switzer-
land. From Phny's mention that the
German used oatmeal, it is concluded
that it was not cultivated by the
Romans.
The vine is indigenous in western
Asia, whence its use was carried to
various countries by both Aryan and
Semetic races; but it did not reach
China before Id b. c. The almond,
though so characteristic of Mediterra-
mean countries, seems to be a native of
western Asia and perhaps Greece. AS
late as the time of Pliny the fruits
we're known to the Romans as Nuces
grace. The wild stocks of our pears
and apples seem to have been indigen-
Gus to southern Europe and western
Asia before the Aryan invasion; their
remains abound in the Swiss lake
dwellings, The ounce is native of
North Persia, and seems to have been
introduced into eastern Europe in pre-
Hellenic times. Remains of form of
the pomegranate have been found in
the strata of the pleiocene age in south
ern France by Saparta; but it died out
and was reintroduced from countries
adjoining Persia in prehistoric times
into the Mediterranean region, of
which it is now so characteristic fea-
ture. The primitive home of the olive
was apparently the eastern shores of
the Mediterranean, where the Greeks
discovered the useful qualities, the
Romans learning them later. The fig
has left its remains in quaternary
rocks in France, along with the teeth
of Elephas primi genius, but its pre-
historic home must be sought in the
southern Mediterranean shores and
lands, where it survived after probably
perishing in France.
Perfectly at Home.