The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-17

''The carpet of flowers and of YER
-dure spread over the naked crust OF
our planet is unequally woven; II IS
thicker where the sun rises high in the
ever cioudless heavens, and thinner to-
wards the poles, in the less happy
climes where returning frOsts often de-
stroy the opening buds of spring OF the
ripening fruits of autumn Every
where. however, man finds some plants
to minister to his support and enjoy
ment.' Humboldt.
Migration of Wheat.
On his visit to America more than
half a century ago, Humboldt. the Ger
man traveller, was much impressed by
the contrast which he observed on the
two opposite sides of the earth in the
distribution of the farinaceOus
grasses"-the cereals. On this side of
the planet he found nations to whom
flour or meal from small-eared grasses
and the use of milk were completely
unknown" while the nations of al
most all parts of the other hemisphere
Fl that time cultivated the cereals and
reared milk yielding animals. In the
new continent" he said, from 81 de-
grees north TO 46 degrees south lat-
tude. we see only one species cultivat-
ed, namely maize. In the old continent,
on the other hand, we find everywhere.
from the earliest times of history, the
fruits Of Ceres-wheat, barley, speit
or red wheat. and oats. A ne
gro slave of the great Cortes was the
first who cultivated wheat in New
Spain. He found three grains OF il
amongst the rice which had been
brought from Spain for provision for
the army. .. Would that there
had been preserved everywhere in the
new continent the names, not of those
who made the earth desOlate by bloody
conquests. but of those who first en-
trusted to il these it's fruits, so early
associated with the civilization of man
kind i'm the old continent"
When the first migrations of men
took place we do not know; but in mis-
earliest zyan5crings man probably car
ried with him the plants upon which
he depended for food, clothing and
ornament The lake dwellers of Swift
zerland lived in houses erected on the
tops of piles driven into the ground
through the water. and used only stone
implements, yet they already must
have understood something of agricul-
ture, since they cultivated at least
three kinds of wheat, two of barley and
two of millet. None of these plants
are natives OF Europe: but the black
ened remains of the grains found asso-
ciated with these primitive dwellings
show that they had brought these
grains with them in their migrations
from their earlier homes in Asia
First Homes of Useful Plants.
Within the historical period, we know
that the Greeks brought to western
Europe the garden rose and the lily.
Even the myrtle, the olive and the lau-
rel with which the name of italy IS
now so closely associated, were brought
-fnsa 1an1A
these plants sacred to the memory of
some of their goddesses. The orange,
too. was formerly unknown to both
Greeks and Romans; while no trees eX-
cept the evergreen Olives cypress and
oieander are depicted upon the walls
of Pompeii Rice was first made
known to the Greeks from the con-
quests of Alexander i'm Asia; while an
eastward migration of various useful
plants. such as the bean, pea, cucum-
Der, melon, luceTn, saffron, spinach
and others previously unknown to the
east, took place in tie second century
BIC. when the Chinese Ambassador
Chang KEN carried their seeds from
the shores of the Caspian sea into his
own country. The peach tree, on the
other hand, is said to be a native of
China, and it has for ages been culti-
waited there. The Romans brought II
to the west under the name of the
Persian apple" Cherries, too. were
brought from Armenia to Rome about
6s b. c.; they became so popular that
Pliny says: In less than 12O years
after, other lands had cherries, even as
far as Britain beyond the ocean" The
larger singing nettle was brought by
Roman soldiers TO Britain in order to
rub and chafe their limbs: for they
had been told that the climate of the
island was so cold that lit was not to
be endured without some friction 10
warm their blood" The date palm was
brought % Italy in Roman times, but
did not bear fruit, from lack, prob
ably, of the proper insects to fertilize
II. The northern barbarians, who
overran the empire i'm later times, cared
nothing for a tree which was only
beautiful, and therefore allowed il to
die out; so that Italy was again with
out palms till the Saracens brought
them back, "-Gaye.
What the Saracens Brought.
The Saracens. destructive as they
were. had a great love for trees, and 1t
is curious to note that Europe owes
the presence of many of its beautiful
trees. flowers and useful plants toithese
fanatical Arabs. The unspeakaole