The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-05-03
Primitive Plant Culture.

With regard 10 each Of these print
tive cultures as belong to the temperate
regions of the Old World, it will be in
terestlng to give De Candolle's conclu-
siOns. The turnip and rape=zeed mot.
however, sustaiRable as distinct spe-
cies) originated In Northern Edrone.
The cabbage was derived from the
western coasts Of Europe, where its
wild stock may stin be found: IT was
first gathered and then cultivated by
pre-Aryah races fTrslan is wild from
the Western Hima1ayas- to Greece. The
onion was brought from Western Asia.
As to textiles, the origiH IF flax is some
what complicated. The inhabitants of
the SWISS lake dwellings of the stone
age dId not use our present annual
naS' out subperennial sort indigenous
70 Southern Europe (Ltaum dngasttfe=
huln.) This was Displaced bv EiHua74
"SttdttSstD7atest, q native 6f Countries
south ~ the caspian; which was intro
duced Into Europe and India bV Aryan
races. The knowledge If 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
lngS. The vine is Indigenous in West
ern Asia, whence its use was carried to
various countries by both Arvan 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 a native of
Western Asia and perhaps Greece, As
hate as the time of Piiny the fruits were
known to the Romans as NuceS drac9.
The wild stocks of our pears and ap-
pies seem to have been indigo
nous to Southern Europe and
Western Asia before the A1yan
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 DleiOcene 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 R0-
mans learning them later, The fig has
left its remains in quaternary rocks in
France along with the teeth of EIephQs
but its prehistoric home
must be sought in the Southern Medi4
terranean shores and lands, where it
survived after probably perishing in
+ rance. The common bean (F'a6G U2tE- !
9d1tS) 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 Arvans. The /
of lcntils have been found in /
lake dwellings of the bronze age. and it /
was probably Indigenous in Western /
Asia, Greece and Italy before its cult |
walton in these countries; subsequently |
1t was introduced into Egypt The I
chlck-pCa was carried from the south of /
the Caucasus by the Aryans to India |
end Europe. The carOb is Indigenous .
to the Eastern Mediterranean. /
whence the Greeks introduced it into |
Italy and the Arabs into Western
Europe. De Candolle regards all the
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
where it may still exist
The origin of spelt is very doubtful. 1
and IT may possibly be an ancient Gull !
-ivated derivative from the wheat stock.
As to barley, the inhabitants of the
Swiss lake dwellings cultivated both
he twO-rowed and the six-rowed kinds
The former is found spontaneously in
The area between the Red Sea and the
~aspian; but nothing is known of the
spontaneous occurrence of the latter or
# the fOur-rowed kind Either then
both were derivatives in prehistoric
lines of the two-rowed variety, or thew
ire the cultivated representatives of
species which have since become cx-
met. As to rye, probability points to
IN origin in Southeastern Europe. The
axe jewellers even of the age of bronze
lid not know it, but PIiny mentions its
cultivation near Turin. De CandoIe
opposes that the Aryan migrations
westward met it in Europe and carried
t onward. Oats seem also to have
in Eastern Europe; they are
ound not earlier than the bronze AGE in
From Plinv's mention
hat the Germans used oatmeal, it is
oncluded that it was not cultivated by !
he Romans Nature.