Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1886 — Plants that are Cultivated. [ARTICLE]

Plants that are Cultivated.

Less than 300 of the 130.000 known species of plants are cultivated. The American continent has yielded about one-fifth of these cultivaled plants, Patagonia and the Cape of Good Hope have furnished none, and Australia and New Zealand have contributed to less important ones onlv. The original homes of the remainder were very unequally distributed. From temperate Europe have come cabbages, turnips, carrots, hops, oats, raspberries* etc.; from warmer Europe and Western Asia, cherries, plumbs and apples; and from the Mediterranean district, grapes, almonds, and poppies. The apricot, peach, sugar-cane and sweet orange originated in China. Tea was furnished by China, Assam and Manchuria, and coffee was given us by Africa. The olive is a native of Syria. India has yielded the citron, the lemon, the mango, the cucumber, a kidney bean, rice, cotton, and black pepper. Wheat is a product of the Euphrates region, and barley of Western Asia. The misnamed Jerusalem artichoke came from North America. The tomato was given us by Peru; the potato by Peru and Chili, and quinine by Peru and Bolivia. Tobacco came from Ecuador; the pineapple from Central America; arrowroot from tropical of America.