The story of corn and the westward migration

CHAPTER I The Struggle for Food. i

The Feeding Instinct — Relation of Food to the Body — The Story of Prometheus and Epimetheus — Wisdom and Foresight Developed Slowly — How Man Made the Animals Help Him — The Corn of the World — The Value of Corn.

CHAPTER II Mythical Stories of Our Food-Giving Plants i6

The Mystery of Life— The Egyptian Myth: Isis and Osiris — The Greek and Roman Myth: Ceres and Proserpine — The Indian Myth: Mondamin and Hiawatha — Ancient Use of Other Vegetables.

Chapter III

Civilization Improves as Food Improves — Ancient Knowledge of Cooking — Importance of Good Food — The Bread of the World — Rise of the Baker — How Nations Have Fought for Corn — Commerce a Necessity — A New Food.

CHAPTER IV How the Discovery of a New Continent Affected the World's

Food Supply 44

Evils Due to Insufficient Food — The Cause of Famines — The Famines of the World before America was Settled — The Famines of the World since America was Settled — Relation of Commerce to the Food Supply — Why Universal Famines Have Not Occurred since 1600 — The New Continent.

Chapter V

Interest in the New World — The Wealth of the New World — How America was Divided among the Europeans — • The First English Settlement — Early Difficulties — How a New Food was Given to the World — How the Pilgrim Colony was Saved — How the First Settlers Depended upon Corn — Two Stories — Importance of Corn in the History of America — Our Gold.

iii X

IV The Table of Contents

Chapter VI Page

Land Ownership — The Free Lands of America — How America was Settled — Religious and Political Persecution — The Thirteen Colonies Prospered on Corn — How the Piedmont Country Depended on Corn — The Growth of the Colonies Depended on Corn — The Call of the Frontiers— The Land beyond the Mountains.

Chapter VII <

Why the English Settlers were Slow to Cross the Mountains — Ancient Highways — The Disputed Territory— The English Take Possession of the Land beyond the Mountains — Daniel Boone Leads the Way — Fertility of the Western Country — Troubles with England — George Rogers Clark — How the Corn Country was Taken — The Geography of the Corn Country.

CHAPTER VIII Settling the Corn Country iii

Beyond the Appalachians — Political Difficulties: States' Rights; Forming the Northwest Territory; Government of the Northwest — The Difficulties in the West — The First Settlement in the Corn Country — The Great Migration Westward — Hardships Endured — Emigration from Europe — Effect of Migration on the States East of the Mountains — The Distribution of Population.

Chapter IX

Primitive Methods of Tilling the Soil — When Corn was . King — Beginning of Western Civilization — Early Commerce — The Pack Horses — Effect of this Isolation on the West — The Source of Wealth — Value of this Trade — Floating Stores — The National Turnpike.

CHAPTER X Connecting the Com Country with the World 149

The Need of Internal Improvements — Political Difficulties ' — Robert Fulton — The Clermont — Steamboats on the Ohio — Why the Steamboat was Delayed — Effect of the Steamboat — • The Mississippi Valley — The Mississippi River — How the Great Valley was Unified.'

The Table of Contents v

CHAPTER XI PAGE An Era of Internal Improvements 167

Dependence of the West upon the South — The Era of Canal Building — Opening of the Erie Canal — The Ohio Canal — Effect of these Canals on the West — Effect of these Canals on the East — Effect of these Canals on the Mississippi Trade — Continued Growth of the Corn Country — The Grain of the West — How the World was Needing the Grain of the West.

CHAPTER XII Railroads: Completing the Connection of the Com Country

with the Markets of the East 183

The Problem — The Coming of the Railroad — The

Inventor of the Locomotive — The "Rocket" — The Value of'

Stephenson's Invention — The Coming of the Locomotive to

America — The Railroad Starts toward the Corn Country —

■ The Effect of the Railway.

Chapter XIII

A New Era— The Movement Westward — The Limits of the Corn Country — Prosperity of the Corn Country — How Grain Made Chicago — Relation of Corn to the Live-Stock Industry — The Product of the Packing Houses — The Grain Trade of Chicago — The Center of the World's Food Supply.

CHAPTER XIV How the West Became the Granary of the World 217

Before the Days of Improved Machinery — McCormick and the Reaper ^ — The Effect of the Reaper — The Threshing Machine — The Necessity for Machines to Harvest Corn — Methods of Harvesting Corn — The First Machines for Harvesting Corn — Corn Binders — Corn Shockers — Corn Pickers — The Plow — The Grain Elevator — How the West Became the Granary of the World.

Chapter XV

The Last of the Prairie Lands — Movement of Population — How the Far West is Dependent upon the Corn Country — Improvements in Agriculture — Population Increasing Faster than Corn Production — The Value of Corn in the World's Commerce — Other Food Centers Develop — The Nation's Problem — The Nation Turned to the South.

vi The Table oj Contents

Chapter XVI Page

Farmers' Demonstration Work and the Corn-Club Movement. .252

The Problem — Seaman A. Knapp — Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work — Boys' Corn Clubs — The Remarkable Results — How the Corn Clubs were Organized — Result of the Farm Demonstration Work — Business Management.

Chapter XVII

Favorable Conditions for Corn Production — Extent of Its Cultivation — Varieties of Corn — The Origin of Corn — How Varieties are Formed — Improving the Variety by Seed Selection — How Good Soil Improves the Variety — The Use of Fertilizer.

Chapter XVIII

The Value of Corn — The Most Common Corn Products — The Corn Kitchen at the Paris Exposition — Corn as a Food for Man — A Comparison.

A Bibliography 301

THE PREFACE

The struggle of the human race for food has been and still is one of the great factors in the growth of civilization. Histories tell us of the progress of social institutions. Geographies analyze the world's food supply and describe in detail the areas that are most productive. Books on agriculture give us a study of the food plants and the best methods of securing the greatest returns from the land. But none of these texts makes it sufficiently clear to the youth of the country that the improvement in food plants and the productivity of the land are among the greatest factors in the building of a civilization.

The purpose of The Story of Corn is to combine certain fundamental principles of geography and agriculture and treat them historically in order that the youth may appreciate the tremendous importance of agriculture in the history of the race. A complete history of agriculture would make a volume too large and to(5 technical for grammar-grade or high-school pupils. Therefore the cereals, with special emphasis on Indian com, have been chosen as the theme for this book.

The Story oj Corn is a story of the struggle of the htiman race for food. Primitive people deified the natural forces that produced the food. When man relied on only one cereal, famines were frequent. But the discovery of America gave to the world a new cereal, maize or Indian corn, and since that time famines among civilized people have grown less and less frequent, until to-day they are practically unknown in civilized coimtries. This new cereal, Indian com, sustained the first settlers

vii viii The Preface

in their attempts to build homes in the New World, and as the settlers moved westward, it was Indian corn that drew them to the new lands and supported them while they opened the great states beyond the mountains. The upper Mississippi Valley, then, became the world's granary, and Chicago the greatest food market in the world.

The grain of the West stimulated the demand for better communication, and internal improvements became a great national issue. Highways, canals, steamboats, and railroads were built to connect the East and the West in order that the grain and grain products might reach the markets of the East. In this way the corn of America affected the politics of the United States; and to-day this nation employs a great army of people to study how to increase the food supply of the country in order that the people may continue to prosper.

The heroic tale to be found in The Story of Corn should be exceedingly profitable to the youth of the country, for it enables them to understand somewhat the widespread power of the man who produces the world's food.

The Story of Corn is a companion book to The Story of Cotton, and the two should make a good course in elementary economic history for the last year of the grammar school or the first year of the high school.

In the preparation of this book, thanks are due especially to the United States Department of Agriculture, to W. K. Boyd, Professor of American History, and W. T. Laprade, Professor of European History, Trinity College, Durhani, N. C.

Eugene C. Brooks Durham, North Carolina

A LIST OF THE MAPS

PAGE

The cereal-producing areas of the world 14

Map showing the transportation lines of the world in 1916. . . 54

North America in 1650 61

A physical map of the United States 82

Early highways to the West 95

Map showing the claims of the thirteen states. 114

The United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century, showing the distribution of population per square mile and

the center of population 124

Map showing the distribution of railroads in the United States

The distribution of population in the United States at the

beginning of the twentieth century 203

Map showing the areas in which hogs were raised in 1909. ... 210

Map showing the production of corn in the United States in

1849 216

Map showing the distribution of railroads in the United States

The production of corn in the United States 250

The corn-raising areas of the world 272

Photograph by King Prints Co.

A modern American silo, in which corn is stored for use as food for stock

AND THE WESTWARD MIGRATION

Chapter I

The Feeding Instinct. The first instinct of every being is to secure food for the needs of its body. The moment any Uving thing appears in the world it begins to feel about for food. The infant animal makes its wants known by signs, and the little plant begins to send its tiny rootlets around in the soil. The body is extremely sensitive to the pangs of hunger, and responds more readily to its call than to any other stimulus.

When the body is insufficiently nourished, both the mind and the body become abnormal. The child in the schoolroom is unable to respond to the demands of the teacher; the statesman is unable to hold firmly the reins of government; and the laborer in the fields, in the store, or in the factory is unable to render efficient service. When the weakening organs begin to call for support, and the life currents draw heavily on the stored-up energy of the body, all the native habits of the individual are greatly exaggerated or undergo a sudden change. In the lower animals, whether we consider the common earthworm or the monarch of the forest, the effect is the same; and among the races of men, whether we consider the most bestial cannibal that feeds on the captives taken in war or the most exalted ruler in the universe, the instinct is still the same. Hunger would turn a king into a savage; it can take away a mother's love and drive her to feed on her child; it sometimes fills the slums of our cities with thieves and thugs, makes null and void all law and order, and turns men into demons. Therefore the feeding instinct is one of the great motive powers that drive all life and that make all living things active. How to secure sufficient and wholesome food is a problem that confronts every individual. It is the chief concern of every family, and the prosperity of the home depends upon the ease with which its food may be secured and prepared.

This problem of securing food is one of the leading subjects discussed in our legislative halls, since it affects labor conditions, commerce, and international relations. Indeed, the struggle for food has been one of the determining factors in the development of the social institutions, and it is to-day a subject that concerns the average man in the morning when he begins his daily toil as well as in the evening when he lays aside the cares of the day for his needed rest.

Relation of Food to the Body. To be intensely hungry is a violation of a fundamental law of life.

The Struggle for Food j

Therefore nature has endowed all animals, the worm as well as the lion, with complete organs for securing food. The dog, the fox, the cat, and other animals of their kind have a keen scent which leads them to food; the hog has a stout nose for rooting, the chicken long claws for scratching, the wolf dangerous fangs for tearing its prey to pieces. In short, every animal, according to its nature, is endowed with the means for providing itself with food. There are many different kinds of animals, and in many cases one kind feeds upon another. Therefore, in the bodily structure of each are found organs for fighting, or for escaping a natural enemy. The deer has fleet feet, the bird has swift wings, the porcupine has prickly quills, the stag has antlers, the horse has strong legs, while the lion's strength makes him king of beasts.

The structure of an animal determines in a measure the nature and kind of food it must have. In all this struggle for food some animals, like the deer or horse, depend upon roots, herbs, leaves, and grasses, while others, like the lion and tiger, feed upon other animals. But in either case they take the food in its raw state and eat it as nature provides it. The beast of the forest takes little thought for the morrow. He eats of what he finds to-day until the body is satisfied; then much of his vicious nature disappears and he lazily drowses his time away until the pangs of hunger begin to reappear and drive him forth again. He is unable to provide for the future, and hunger is at the same time his greatest enemy and his greatest stimulus to action. Animals, such as the wolf, the tiger, and the lion, that live chiefly

Courtesy of Field Museum, Chicago

A Pygmy home in the Philippines. By many students the Pygmy

people are thought to he more like the primitive man

than any other existing race

on the flesh of other animals are usually more vicious than those living on vegetable food.

We are not able to prove conclusively that certain kinds of food produce traits of character alike in man and beast. But, nevertheless, wherever man roams wild, naked in body save for the coarse hair that covers him, and digs in marshy places for roots which he eats raw, he would certainly seem to be not so far removed from the animal that has similar tastes and habits. The primitive man who

•

prowled around, club in hand, and who slept in caves, was no doubt a being superior to the bear or lion. Yet we are told that he fed on raw meat and drank blood, and that he could tear his enemy's heart out and eat it raw. He does not, therefore, appear to have been far removed in character from lions or tigers that lay in wait for their prey and tore their victims limb from limb, and, after feeding on the flesh until the stomach was full, lapped up the blood and strolled lazily away. Consequently we seem to be justified in concluding that the character of an animal is in a great measure shaped by its food.

The Story of Prometheus and Epimetheus. The superiority of man over the lower animals is well illustrated by the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus as told by Plato:

' ' Once upon a time there were gods only, and no mortal creatures. But when the time came that animals should also be created, the gods fashioned them out of earth and fire and various mixtures ; but when they were about to bring them into the light of day, they ordered Prometheus and Epimetheus to equip them, and to distribute to them severally their proper qualities. Epimetheus said to Prometheus:

*' 'Let me distribute, and do you inspect.'

*'This was agreed, and Epimetheus made the distribution. There were some to whom he gave strength without swiftness, or again swiftness without strength; some he armed and others he left unarmed; and devised for the latter some other means for preservation, making some large, and having their size as a protection, and others small, whose nature was to fly in the air or burrow in the ground. This was to be their way of escape. Thus did he compensate them with the view to preventing any race from becoming extinct. And when he had provided against their destruction by one another, he contrived also a means of protecting them against the seasons; clothing them with coarse hair and. thick skins sufficient for defending them from the cold and heat, and for a natural bed of their own when they wanted to rest. He furnished them also with hoofs and hair and hard and callous skins under their feet. Then he gave them varieties of food — to some herbs of the soil, to others fruits of the trees, and to others, roots; and to some again he gave other animals as food. In this way the race was preserved. *'Epimetheus, however, not being very wise, forgot that he had distributed among the brute animals all the qualities that he had to give, and when he came to man, who was still unprovided, he was terribly perplexed. Now, while he was in his perplexity, Prometheus came to inspect the distribution, and he found that the other animals were suitably furnished, but that man alone was naked and shoeless and had neither bed nor means of defense. The appointed hour was approaching in which man was to go forth into the light of day; and Prometheus, not knowing how he could devise man's salvation, stole from the gods fire and the art of working in metals, and gave to him the foresight and wisdom necessary to the support of life."

Plato wrote this story to teach the Greeks that man has the wisdom to change all things around him and the foresight to store up for the future, but that the lower animals must use without change what they can find in nature. The animal walks always with his face toward the earth, looking . for what is prepared by nature for his use; but man walks always erect, with his head up, looking beyond himself.

Wisdom and Foresight developed slowly. Since in his daily life man differs from the lower animals according to the amount of wisdom he displays, it is interesting to study different people and their characteristics — their manner of life, the food they eat, the foresight they display, and the wisdom they use in securing and preparing food. There are races of men so much like the lower animals that they labor only so long as they are hungry or uncomfortable. In Africa and South America certain very primitive races live mo^e like beasts than men. They roam about from place to place, sleeping in tents, caves, or thick underbrush. They feed chiefly on roots, fruit, snails, grasshoppers, and ants. They have few cooking utensils ; a stone, or a hole in the ground, is all they need. They gorge themselves and then sleep until hunger calls them again to action. They have little foresight and less wisdom. The finer human characteristics have not yet been developed in them, and their habits in many respects are more like those of the beasts.

The North American Indian progressed farther than these men. The Indian possessed some of the gifts of Prometheus. He had learned the art of

Photograph by Rau

The Bedouins of Algeria still lead a wandering life, driving their

cattle from place to place in search of pasture. Though

superior to the primitive man, from generation

to generation they are hut little more

civilized than their ancestors

making superior weapons ; he had stone mortars for grinding his grain; he knew how to dry his meat in order to preserve it for use later ; he had learned to bury his grain in the ground and wait for it to bring forth again; he had learned to lay up the unused portions of his food for future use. There was cooperation in the home : the fathers and sons went hunting and fishing to secure the animal food, while the mothers and daughters cultivated the patches around

The Struggle for Food g

the wigwams and thus provided the vegetable food.

It is quite probable that women invented agriculture, and were the first to understand the art of sowing and reaping.

Among primitive people wild animals were taken captive for food. When there was more food than was needed for immediate use the live animal was probably kept in captivity until the previous supply was exhausted. Gradually the captive animal lost its wild nature, and thus was developed our first domestic animal, perhaps the dog. In the cultivation of the soil, the women were governed in theif selection of food by the native food plants in their community, and by the ease with which that food could be preserved for future use. While the men were domesticating animals and thereby learning to provide food for times when they could not engage in hunting, the women were learning how to cultivate the land and to reap more than they had sown, and to lay the surplus away for time of need. In this way mankind received the gifts of Prometheus.

How Man made the Animals help him. We have already seen that certain tribes of men were little better than the beasts of the forest. It was not until man learned to provide a fixed home and to take better care of his family that he showed himself greatly superior to the beast. When home life began, family ties were strengthened, love for the different members of the family increased, and all the finer attributes began to develop.

But man needed helpers in his struggle with the outside world, and so did the animals of the forest. Man had wisdom and foresight ; animals had physical strength. Man needed the animals, and they needed man. But before man learned the value of different animals it is quite probable that he used them only for food. The dog, at first used as a food, later learned to aid man in capturing other animals, and gradually ceased to be looked upon as a food. Instead it became an important factor in securing food. The horse and the camel were also probably used for food at first, but on account

of their superior strength they became beasts of burden, — -the means of securing food, and aids in fighting the enemies of the tribe.

The sheep, the goat, and the cow were also domesticated, to be eaten in time of need. These animals were of double value to man, for their milk was a wholesome food and could be preserved in the form of butter and cheese, and the hair or hides could be converted into clothing; besides, they could also be used like the horse, as beasts of burden. But man did not stop here. He went into the forest and caught the wild hog, tamed it, and improved the quality of its flesh, until it has become

From 'The Tree Dwellers"

The wild hog of the for est ^ iamedy and fed upon cereals^ has developed into the domesticated hog

The Struggle J or Food ii

a very important food to-day. The fowls of the air were Hkewise domesticated. The hen, the goose, the duck, the turkey, the pigeon, and the peacock gave their eggs and their flesh for food and their feathers for bedding and even for clothing.

Thus man continued to rise superior to the beasts of the forest and the fowls of the air. They contributed to his needs; but, as they did so, man's wisdom had to be increased in order that he might provide food for them also, and preserve them so that they might be of more value to him. One must help the other, and the value of the domestic animals is determined by the care man takes of them. In providing food for them it was discovered that the hard cereals that had already been found so valuable to man made the best food for his domestic animals. Therefore the cereals became the chief food of both man and beast.

The Corn of the World. The term '^corn'' is applied in agriculture to the seed of the cereal plants. The word is often understood locally to mean that kind of cereal which is the leading crop of the district, and it may be wheat, barley, oats, maize (Indian corn), rye, millet, or even rice. It is written in Genesis: ''And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn; because the famine was sore in the land.'' The grain mentioned in this quotation was probably wheat. Ruth gleaned ears of corn in the barley fields of Boaz, while in Pharaoh's wonderful dream the seven good ears of corn that devoured the seven thin and blasted ears were probably ears of wheat. Again, in Roman history we read of a great popular uprising because bread was scarce, and the Gracchi became great tribunes of the people because they advocated more favorable corn laws. The grain referred to then was wheat. Rice is the corn of China and Japan, rye of northern Europe, oats of Scotland, and wheat of England. In America an ear of corn means an ear of maize, or Indian corn, the national grain of our country.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

A housewife of the Ecuador highlands grinding oats for bread, Oats^ originally the grain food of Europe^ is still the ^^corn" of Scotland

It was natural that the cereals should become the source of all our bread. They can be preserved easily, while tubers and fruits soon decay. Wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, millet, and rye, if properly cared for, remain for the most part unhurt by cold, heat, dryness, or dampness. Hence their great value to the world.

The Value of Corn. In the earlier ages a man's wealth was measured by the number of his domestic animals. But in order to care for them as well as for himself it was necessary for him to store up enough food in the harvest season to last until the harvest came again. Therefore, as the size of the family and the number of domestic animals increased, how to secure food became a greater and greater problem. Man had to stop his wandering life and make the land increase its yield. But cultivating the soil requires time, labor, and patience. The stronger domestic animals, such as the horse, the ox, and the camel, were trained to work in the field. Man's wisdom and foresight increased, and he began to observe the seasons and note their influence on the soil, the plant, and the health of his family. He learned to plan and plant, and wait for results. He built a home for his family and shelters for his animals ; he measured the boundaries of his own land and became king of the earth.

As his foresight developed, more and more cereals were pfoduced. With them man has been able to make the wild hogs beg food at his hands. Geese and ducks, no longer wild, call for their portion as the sun rises and sets. His sheep and goats, his cows and horses, all acknowledge him their lord and master. By owning the land and controlling the products thereof he controls the food, clothing, and shelter of mankind. Thus it was natural that those who controlled the land should become, on account of their wisdom, kings of men and lords of the land, or landlords. How man rose to this lordship is a long story, and one full of the greatest interest.

m

HI

H

^^1

■■■pill

H iipj^vinniil

Copyright by Uaderwood & Underwood, N. Y.

Plowing in the valley of Ajalon, Palestine. The ox, one of the

first animals trained to work in the fields, still performs its

humble tasks for man in many regions of the world

CHAPTER II Mythica-l Stories of Our Food -Giving Plants

The Mystery of Life, ''The earth is the mother of all, and the stones are her bones/' said the ancients, and those who understood only partly the strange processes going on in the earth were considered the wisest of men. In fact, primitive peoples in all ages have had the notion that this strange process, seen in the growth and fruitage of the plants, is controlled by special gods, and we find many strange religious customs associated with cultivating the plants and harvesting the grain. So important were the coming and going of the seasons, and so regular were they in obeying some mysterious law, that earlier peoples felt instinctively that the seasons were also controlled by special deities, probably in many instances the same as those directing the growth of the plant. Therefore, much of the religion of the people in ancient times was given to the worship of the deities that made the plant to grow and the grain to ripen.

Although in those early ages man did not know how to make the soil increase its yield, he did observe that the river valleys were the most fertile parts of the earth. Therefore, the great civilizations of ancient times were always located in the great river valleys. Here resided the gods who controlled