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��HISTORY OF OHIO.
��indigenous to the soil were cultivated and improved, and as improved fruits, are known favorably where- ever used.
In chronology and importance, of all the cereals, corn stands foremost. During the early pioneer period, it was the staple article of food for both man and beast. It could be made into a variety of forms of food, and as such was not only palata- ble but highly nutritious and strengthening.
It is very difficult to determine whether corn originated in America or in the Old World. Many prominent botanists assert it is a native of Turkey, and originally was known as " Turkey wheat." Still others claimed to have found mention of maize in Chinese writings antedating the Turkish discovery. Grains of maize were found in an Egyptian mum- my, which goes to prove to many the cereal was known in Africa since the earliest times. Maize was found in America when first visited by white men, but of its origin Indians could give no ac- count. It had always been known among them, and constituted their chief article of vegetable diet. It was cultivated exclusively by their squaws, the men considering it beneath their dignity to engage in any manual labor. It is altogether probable corn was known in the Old World long before the New was discovered. The Arabs or Crusaders probably introduced it into Europe. How it was introduced into America will, in all probability, remain un- known. It may have been an indigenous plant, like many others. Its introduction into Ohio dates with the settlement of the whites, especially its cultivation and use as an article of trade. True, the Indians had cultivated it in small ({uantities ; each lodge a little for itself, but no effort to make of it a national support began until the civilization of the white race became established. From that time on, the increase in crops has grown with the State, and, excepting the great corn States of the West, Ohio produces an amount equal to any State in the Union. The statistical tables printed in agricultural reports show the acres planted, and bushels grown. Figures speak an unanswerable logic.
Wheat is probably the next in importance of the cereals in the State. Its origin, like corn, is lost in the mists of antiquity. Its berry was no doubt used as food by the ancients for ages anterior to any historical records. It is often called corn in old writings, and under that name is frequently mentioned in the Bible.
"As far back in the vistas of ages as human records go, we find that wheat has been cultivated.
��and, with corn, aside from animal food, has formed one of the chief alimentary articles of all nations ; but as the wheat plant has nowhere been found wild, or in a state of nature, the inference has been drawn by men of unquestioned scientific ability, that the original plant from which wheat has been derived was either totally annihilated, or else cul- tivation has wrought so great a change, that the original is by no means obvious, or manifest to bot- anists."
It is supposed by many, wheat originated in Persia. Others affirm it was known and cultivated in Egypt long ere it found its way into Persia. It was certainly grown on the Nile ages ago, and among the tombs are found grains of wheat hi a perfectly sound condition, that unquestionably have been buried thousands of years. It may be, however, that wheat was grown in Persia first, and thence found its way into Egypt and Afi-ica, or, vice versa. It grew first in Egypt and Africa and thence crossed into Persia, and from there found its way into India and all parts of Asia.
It is also claimed that wheat is indigenous to the island of Sicily, and that from there it spread along the shores of the Mediterranean into Asia Minor and Egypt, and, as communities advanced, it was cultivated, not only to a greater extent, but with greater success.
The goddess of agriculture, more especially of grains, who, by the Grreeks, was called Demeter, and, by the Romans, Ceres — hence the name ce- reals — was said to have her home at Enna, a fertile region of that island, thus indicating the source from which the Greeks and Romans derived their Ceralia. Homer mentions wheat and spelt as bread; also corn and barley, and describes his heroes as using them as fodder for their horses, as the people in the South of Europe do at present. Rye was introduced into Greece from Thrace, or by way of Thrace, in the time of Galen. In Caesar's time the Romans grew a species of wheat enveloped in a husk, like barley, and by them called "Far."
During the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, wheat, in an excellent state of preserva- tion, was frequently found.
Dr. Anson Hart, Superintendent, at one time, of Indian Aifairs in Oregon, states that he found numerous patches of wheat and flax growing wild in the Yackemas country, in Upper Oregon. There is but little doubt that both cereals were intro- duced into Oregon at an early period by the Hud- son Bay, or other fur companies. Wheat was also
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