America's Crop Heritage


 Several varieties each of nearly two dozen familiar garden
vegetables were imported from England, France, and Germany.
Irish potatoes were again brought from England and Germany.
The Chinese yam brought in from France was proposed as a substi-
tute for the Irish potato because of the potato blight then raging.
By 1857 it was well adapted and proved to be a possible substitute
for potatoes. The Patent Office expected immediate adoption of
the earth almond, or chufa, imported from southern Spain as a
feed for cattle and hogs.
 Opium-Import statistics were often used by the Patent Office
to prove that certain items should be produced in the United
States for the home market. One such suggestion was that opium
be produced to supply the $400,000 market in this country. A
variety of the common or Opium Poppy was distributed in the
South and proved easy to cultivate in that region. Directions for
cultivating and processing the extract were printed and the experi-
ences of growers related.
 Liquorice roots were imported and distributed in the middle
and southern states to supply the $300,000 import market which
existed. The Report of 1854 carried an article on the cultivation
and preparation of the plant, and growers reported successful
cultivation of the roots.
 Grapes-The Patent Office printed long articles in support of
the current experimentation with grapes. But failure of the
European varieties caused growers to turn to the native grapes.
Plant explorers were sent to Texas, Arkansas, and some of the
northern states in 1857-58 to collect cuttings of native varieties
for trial. Twelve thousand vines were ready for distribution from
both foreign and native stocks in 1858.
 The possibilities of growing figs and olives in the South were
 studied in 1859 and American consuls were to procure seeds and
 cuttings. Cork production would provide an auxiliary industry to
 wine culture. Thus wine, grapes, figs, cork, and olive oil were
 expected to become staple crops for the South.
 Cork Oak-Acorns of the cork oak, an evergreen tree grown
 commercially in Europe and Africa, were secured from France in
 1856 and from Spain two years later. The tree proved to to be adap-
 table to the climate and soil of the southern states, and the acorns
 were considered a valuable hog feed. It was also considered essen-
 tial that America free herself from dependence upon foreign
 sources for cork in the event that war might deprive the country