America's Crop Heritage


Mura in the province of Wakayama, Japan, there is a monument
to one Taji Mamori who went to China in 61 A.D. on an imperial
order to bring back citrus fruits to Japan. He spent nine years
on this project and the monument records, "How magnificent is
the result of Taji's work." (2)
 The introduction of new crop industries is necessarily a
responsibility of governments. Plant exploration and introduc-
tion is generally too costly and risky an undertaking for individ-
uals. A great deal of time and effort must go into a plant before
the grower can realize a profit, and even then he is not well
protected by patent laws. While individuals have made many
contributions to plant introduction, the recognition by govern-
ments of the importance of this work is largely responsible for its
effect on agriculture.
 COLONIAL INTRODUCTIONS
 America's adoption of European crops began with the second
voyage of Christopher Columbus to found the colony of His-
paniola (Haiti). Columbus brought with him livestock and the
seeds of many Spanish crops, as well as sugar cane from the
Canaries. Cane thrived so well in the new colony that the sugar
industry spread rapidly to Cuba, Mexico, and other provinces
of the New World. The Spanish conquerors brought with them
many introductions which later found their way into the United
States. Cultivation of figs, dates, grapes, olives, and pomegranates
dates back to the founding of the Spanish missions in New
Mexico and California. The Spaniards also gave us such crops
as alfalfa, lemons, oranges, and ginger.
 Lyman Carrier, in Beginnings of Agriculture in America,
quotes an English fisherman's letter published by Hakluyt, con-
cerning the fisherman's experiences in Newfoundland in 1578.
The letter stated: "I have in sundry places sowen Wheate, Barlie,
Rie, Oates, Beanes, Pease and seeds of herbs, kernels, Plumstones,
nuts, all of which prospered as in England."
 Several explorers have mentioned such instances of sailors'
testing European plants in American soil. Cartier recorded that
on his voyage to Canada in 1541, his men sowed European cab-
bage, lettuce, and turnips. The chronicles of Sir Humphrey
Gilbert's Expedition to Newfoundland in 1583 show that peas
were sown and harvested. Carrier suggests the possibility that