The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-05-04
Primitive pl.ut CuIt.rs

Primitive Plant Culture.
With regard to each Of these print
live cultures Is belong 10 the temperate
regions Of the Old World, IL win Be in
teresting to give De Candolle's conclu-
sions. The turnip and rape-seed (not,
however, sustainable as distinct spe-
oies) originated in Northern Europe.
The cabbage was derived from the
western coasts of Europe, where its
Wild stock may still be found; It was
hrst gathered and then cultivated by
pre-Aryan races. Purslan is wild from
the Western Himalayas to Greece. The
onion was brought from Western Asia.
As to textiles, the origin of fax is some.
what complicated. The inhabitants of
the Swiss lake dwellings of the stone
age did not use our present annual
flax, but . subperennial sort Indigenous
to Southern Europe (Linum angxstsfo-
hurn.) This was displaced by Linsns
nsitatissimuns, q native of countries
south of the Caspian, which was intro
duced into Europe and India by Aryau
races. The knowledge of hemp seems
to have been brought into Europe by
the Scythians about 1900 B. c.; there
is no trace Of it in the Swiss lake dwell
ings. The vine is indigenous in West
ern Asia, whence its use was carried to
various countries by both Aryan and
Semitic races; but it did not reach
China before 122 B. C. The almond,
though SO characteristic of Mediterra-
mean countries, seems to be native Of
Western Asia and perhaps Greece. Az
late as the time of Pliny the fruits were
known to the Romans as Nuces groco.
The wild stocks of our pears and ap-
Piles seem to have been indigo
nous 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, but seems to
have been introduced into Eastern
Europe in pre-Hellenic times. Remains
of form of the pomegranate have been
found in strata of the pleiocene age in
Southern France by Saperta; 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 feat
ure. The primitive home of the olive
was apparently the eastern shores of
the Mediterranean, where the Greeks
discovered its useful qualities, the Ro-
mans learning them later. The fig has
left its remains in quaternary rocks in
France along with the teeth Of Elephas
prinigenius, but its prehistoric home
must be sought in the Southern Medi-
terranean shores and lands, where it
survived after probably perishing in
France. The common bean (Faba rnL-
garis) seems to have become extinct in
a wild state; it may have originated
south of the Caspian, and was intro
duced into Europe by the Aryans. The
remains of lentils have been found in
lake dwellings of the bronze age, and it
was probably indigenous in Western
Asia, Greece and Italy before its culti-
walton in these countries; subsequently
it was introduced into Egypt. The
chick-pea was carried from the south Of
the Caucasus by the Aryans to India
and Europe. The carob is indigenous
to the Eastern Mediterranean,
whence the Greeks introduced it into
Italy and the Arabs into Western
AIuuOpC. OC SduuOuC ICSdAOS Oh tAU
various kinds of wheat as derivatives of
the 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 cul-
tivated derivative from the wheat stock
As to barley, the inhabitants of the
Swiss lake dwellings cultivated both
the two-rowed and the six-rowed kinds.
The former is found spontaneously in
the area between the Red Sea and the
Caspian; but nothing is known of the
spontaneous occurrence of the latter or
of the four-rowed kind. Either then
both were derivatives in prehistoric
times of the two-rowed variety, or they
are the cultivated representatives Of
species which have since become ex-
tinct. As to rye, probability points to
an origin in Southeastern Europe. The
lake jewellers even of the age of bronze
did not know it, but Pliny mentions its
cultivation near Turin. De Candolle
supposes that the Aryan migrations
westward met it 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
Switzerland. From Pliny's mention
that the Germans used oatmeal, it is
concluded that it was not cultivated by