The Topeka state journal., 1916-09-16
INDIAN CORN-THE GREATEST
FOOD PRODUCT.


ing to people who are city born and
their immediate vicinity is blighted by
a drouth and their business suffers be-
cause of a scarcity of money among
the corn farmers. that perhaps few of
them realize how important a role it
plays in the economic well-being of
the United States.
Some of the more striking facts
about corn, as brought out in an arti-
Gle by Edward Albes in the Bulletin
of the Pan American Union, may sur
prise many of them.
For instance, the United States pro-
duces three-fourths of the entire corn
crop of the world In 1915, this coun-
trys production amounted to 3,054,-
$4,000 bushels, having a farm value
of over $1.755. 100000.
When it is stated, moreover, that if
there is added the ord-breaking
value of the wheat crop of 1915,
amounting to $930,302, 1000, to the
value of the big cotton crop of the
same year, amounting to $602, 393, 600,
the sum of the two still lacks $223.-
$4,000 of reaching the value of the
humble corn crop, some idea of the
importance of the latter may be had.
The history of this great cereal is
dealt with by the writer of the article
in question. as well as it's manifold
uses as a food for man and beast as
the basis of beverages. and as an i'm
portant factor in many kinds of manu-
factured products. Relative to it's
origin, Mr.. Albes introduces the sub
/ ject by a brief disquisition concerning
| mans teeth, which show that he is
both carnivorous and granivorous, and
! he continues:
Rub off the thin-mostly very thin
veneer of civilization and place him
in the primitive environment of his re-
mote ancestors. man will prove to be
about the same animal. His elemental
nature has undergone but little
change. Doubtless, his brain has been
developed and his mental machinery
somewhat improved, but his compli-
Gated physical structure is but little
altered. To keep that physical struc-
ture in good repair and to keep the
entire human machine in a high state
of efficiency, man has found that he
needs variety of food. AS a conse-
quence he has from time to time dis
covered new things that are good to
eat" things that contain the chemical
elements in one form or another that
he needs to replace the tissues of
nerve, muscle, bone, and fat-the
brain and brawn-that are wasted dur
ing his day of activity. Meat contains
some of these elements, as do nuts and
fruits, but the greatest foods, those
upon which the greatest number of
men depend, are the grains; and the
greatest of all the grains, the one
most recently made known to what we
are pleased to call the "civilized"
world. is the one given to it by the
Americas. viz, Indian corn. better
known beyond the confines of the
United States by the name of maize -
the spelling of the word varying some
what in the several languages into
which it has been incorporated.
THAT maize was unknown to Eu-
ropean, Asiatic, and African peoples
| before the discovery of America is now
well esta blished. Aside from the tes-
timony of Humboldt. Darwin and
others, the matter of the origin of
maize was finally settled by the cele-
brated Swiss botanist Alphonse De
Condolle. who, after sitting all the evil
dence, makes the statement in the re-
vised 1882 edition of his Origin of
Cultivated Plants that Maize is of
American origin, and has only been in
troduced into the Old World since the
discovery of the New
Just where in the Americas it orig
mated is mooted question. Accord
ing to Condolle. at the time of the
discovery OF the new continent maize
was one of the staples of it's agricul-
ture, from the La Plata valley to the
United States. The natives planted If
around their temporary dwellings
where they did not form fixed popu-
lation. The burial mounds of the ma
tlves or North America who preceded
those or our day, the tombs of the In
Castle catacombs of Peru-contain
ears or grains of maize, Just as the
monuments of ancient Egypt contain
grains of barley, wheat, and millet
seed In Mexico a goddess who bore
a name derived from that of maize
corresponded to the Ceres of the
Greeks, and the first fruits of the
maize harvest were offered to her
At CuZco the virgins of the sun offered
sacrif1ces of bread made from the
meal of Indian corn. Nothing is bet
ter calculated to show the ANTIQUITY
and generality of the cultivation of a
plant than this intimate connection
with the religious rites of the ancient
! inha bitants."
THE RUSSIA-JAPAN PACT.
To call the new convention an al