However, the origin of corn is still controversial. It is generally believed that corn comes from Mexico and has been widely spread in the American continent for thousands of years. Corn evolved from a wild plant called Mexican corn. This evolution process is quite dramatic. Jared. In his book Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond said that the value of Mexican corn as a food crop did not impress collectors: because wild Mexican corn produced less than wild wheat and produced fewer seeds. In order to turn Mexican corn into a useful crop, it must undergo a mutation in reproductive biology ... Diamond even pointed out that the advantages of wheat and barley and the cultivation of Mexican corn may be important factors in the development difference between the New World and Eurasia.
"The most critical step in the transformation from wild plants to planting plants is seed selection and a new round of planting." Stephen, Ph.D., Corn Chemistry, University of Birmingham, UK? Smith said.
Corn, wheat and barley belong to the Gramineae, and this family also includes rice, oats, sorghum and sugarcane. It is generally believed that these plants have a common ancestor, probably in the past 55 million to 70 million years, that is, the end of the dinosaur boom.
Through thousands of years of history, around 3500 BC, corn came to the southwest of the United States today; By the year 1000, corn had been planted in New England in the northeastern United States. Indians all over America have fully developed corn planting technology, and they are familiar with various uses of corn, such as cooking, baking, blasting, grinding and brewing. When Columbus arrived in the New World of America, corn had become an important part of Indians' daily diet.
/kloc-At the end of 0/6, Columbus landed in America and later returned to Europe. Along the way, Columbus's ships brought corn to Europe, Africa, India and parts of the Far East. Columbus also brought sugarcane to the American continent and planted it in Santo Domingo in the Caribbean.
When the British colonists arrived in today's Virginia more than 400 years ago, corn was not their main concern. "1607, the colonists sent by the London company arrived in Virginia and established Jamestown. They know little about agriculture and are not interested. They came here to get rich overnight, counting on the London company to transport food and other necessities from Britain for them. " In order to survive, the colonists had to rely on the help of the local Indian tribe-powhatan tribe. We should pay attention to the early exchange activities between Indians and colonists, because this produced today's modern corn industry. Many people are familiar with a Disney movie "Frozen in the Wind", which tells the story of a local Indian princess and British Navy Captain John? The love story between Mr and Mrs Smith. Corn fields in India appear in the background of the film. However, there is another version of this story that everyone is not familiar with.
Accept corn
The real John? Smith undertook the task of finding local tribes who were willing to exchange corn and fish for British copper and glass beads. Smith successfully solved the problem of feeding the colonists, although he personally preferred gunboat diplomacy. "God asked the Indians to send us half-cooked corn to restore our strength, which has made us quite satisfied." In September, they "sent us more corn and ready-made bread", navy captain John? Carrie quoted Smith in her book 1923 edition. Finally, the Indians taught these colonists a lesson in agriculture.
There is also an Indian named Squanto, who also played a great role in the early corn planting in the British colonies on the American coast (although there are many unrecorded stories). Squanto spread the knowledge of planting corn to the Puritans who came from the city and didn't understand agricultural production at all. After the first corn harvest in Virginia, the Puritans were very grateful to the Indians for their help. This is the origin of Thanksgiving Day, which is one of the most important festivals in America. This is also a long-standing traditional festival between Mexicans and South American Indians, but the specific customs and etiquette are different. This festival expresses their gratitude to God for having a bumper harvest and enough food for the winter. The significance of corn to modern American traditional festivals mainly lies in that it, together with turkey, pumpkin, cranberry and beans, is a symbol of Thanksgiving. 165438+ Thanksgiving Day at the end of each year 10 was originally a festival to celebrate the harvest, because it happened to be the day of corn harvest, and farmers also knew how much food they had reserved for the coming year.
Corn is an important part of American colonists' daily diet, because corn grains can be eaten directly or ground into corn flour to make bread. Corn leaves can be used as forage for cattle, and corn husks can be used as mattresses, mats and ropes. Fermented corn residue can be made into beer and whisky, and the remaining corn residue can be used to feed cows, pigs and chickens. These animals provide more meat, eggs and milk for human beings. Once the colonists learned corn rotation and sowing from the Indians, they didn't need to learn other agricultural skills from the natives.
Push westward
The process of corn advancing from the east coast of the United States to the midwest was a portrayal of the great development of the western region of the United States at that time. 1776 When the United States became independent, 90% of the 2.8 million people lived in rural areas, and tobacco grown in the southern United States was the most important cash crop at that time. The journey of maize from the tropics to the grasslands in the midwest of the United States is an unprecedented rapid change in the history of maize development. By the 1965-1938+1930' s, corn planting belts in the United States were mainly concentrated in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. However, with the defeat of Black Hawk, the leader of the "Pocket Fox" tribe in 1832, the fertile farmland in Illinois and Iowa is facing the fate of being developed, and the corn planting belt extends further to the west and north. Illinois soon became a major corn producing area; With the development of the19th century railway, Chicago is also becoming the main producing area of corn and livestock in the United States. So the Chicago Board of Trade was established at 1848. Its original purpose was to establish a special place for grain trading.
A man named John? Deere's blacksmith invented the iron plow, which further promoted the skyrocketing agricultural population in the central and western regions. Deere later established a company with the same name, which is famous for producing green and yellow agricultural equipment.
1862 On May 20th, President Lincoln promulgated the Homestead Act. This bill makes the Midwest 160 acre land owned by federal soldiers, and the rest of the Americans who want to own land must meet certain conditions: they must live in this area for one year and build houses on the vast land in the West and Midwest.
At this time, corn has become the largest crop planted in the United States, but its political and economic influence is far less than that of cotton, which is still known as the "king of the South".
By 1866, just one year after the American Civil War, the corn planting area in the United States was 30.02 million mu (less than 1/3 of the planting area in 2007), and the corn output was 1/6 of the current average annual output. This is similar to the output of barley at that time, but lower than the output of oats (now the output of corn is 2? 5 times). After the United States completed the development from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast, the whole country was covered with railways extending in all directions. The railway system has created new opportunities for farmers, because their grain can be transported to the whole country and even ports by railway and exported abroad. The highly competitive railway companies regard agriculture as an important freight customer; They even provide farmers with agricultural technical services that keep pace with the times and provide corresponding training. "We went to the Midwest by train and explained to people there how to grow corn." Smith of Pioneer Seed International said. In 19 10, corn quickly reached the planting peak of 102 267 mu, which is13 of all cultivated land in the United States, and this record is still higher than the corn planting area in 2007 and 2008.
At the beginning of the 20th century, with revolutionary machines such as diesel tractors, harvesters, lawn mowers, sprayers and circuit breakers becoming part of agricultural equipment, agriculture is undergoing rapid technological changes. By using tractors, farmers have been "liberated" and realized the transformation from animal power to machine power, from manual harvesting to machine picking. Mechanical power replaces manpower and animal power, which fundamentally changes the land use situation. 19 15, about 93 million acres (accounting for 27% of the total planting area) were used to grow feed crops for horses and mules in the United States, but by 1960, this planting area had been reduced to 4 million acres, leaving14 of the national crop planting area for other crops. The land for raising horses is actually the early form of the biofuel industry, because more than 1/4 of the land is not used to grow food crops. At that time, the proportion of this planting area to the farm area in the United States was larger than that in the past 10 years. President Lincoln signed the Land-grant College Act in 1862, and then established some land-grant colleges in the middle of 19 century, where farmers' children studied agricultural science.
Since the American government has not further expanded the land, the increase in output can only rely on better production methods, such as farming, crop rotation, farming, the use of chemical fertilizers and pest control.