ern cities it is possible to get such articles practically throughout the year.

So far we have considered man's control of the plant world almost solely from the standpoint of food supply; but there are other very important aspects to be mentioned. Up to the present time most of these other uses have illustrated man's dependence upon nature rather than his control. A large part of the human race depends directly upon wood for its supply of fuel. Trees have also furnished the bulk of man's building materials. These two combined have resulted in the destruction of the forests over large areas. The growing scarcity has forced man to try to find substitutes for wood and also has led to the planting of forests. Our great railroad corporations are planting extensive tracts to provide ties, etc., for the future. In such countries as Germany, forestry has become a profession and strict public control is exercised over the timber resources. In large part also man's supply of medicine is still gotten from wild plants, though this is decreasingly true.

That a 66 man shall not live by bread alone" was recognized long ago. One of the most important uses of plants is as ornamentals." The beauty of leaf and flower, the pleasing perfume early caught man's attention. Gradually he began to cultivate flowers. Western Europe thinks of the Turk as the embodiment of cruelty, forgetting among other things that to the Turk's love of flowers it is indebted for the tulips, lilacs, hyacinths, fritillaria, impatiens, buttercup, mimosa, hibiscus and horsechestnut. The devotion of various peoples to certain plants is well known, for instance: the Egyptians to the lotus and the Japanese to cherry blossoms or iris. Man has taken his

flowers whenever possible on his migrations. Indeed, some of our weed pests were carried because of their flowers. From Europe came with early settlers crown imperials, bleeding hearts, peonies, and many others to fill "the old-fashioned hardy garden." In truly human-like fashion, our forefathers ignored in large measure the native plants, but returning ships took back many of the types not known in Europe. There our native laurels, rhododendrons, etc., won great favor and today the agaves and opuntias impress one as having always belonged to the Mediterranean district. To further penalize our neglect, we purchase from European nurseries thousands of dollars' worth yearly of young plants of our own native species. More recently American plants have been given larger recognition. Asters, goldenrod, columbines, hepatica, bloodroot, cardinal flower and many others are now generally cultivated; and perchance the day will come when our country places as well as our city parks shall be decorated with that glorious small tree-the dogwood. The world-wide trade in flowers and plants is enormous. In a recent American catalogue, fifty-two pages were used in listing flower seeds and one hundred and eighteen for ornamental plants, and our catalogues are as nothing in comparison with some of the European.

Man's growing mastery and his interest in flowers is well shown by the increase in the varieties. From the three species of dahlias native to Mexico have come over eight hundred varieties known to commerce. From one or two peonies of Chinese origin the Europeans have in one century developed some hundreds of varieties. In a few years, by careful crossing, the canna in addition to having beautiful leaves has developed enormous flower heads. The improvements thus secured show in size,

color, length of flowering period and manner of growth and perfume. It will be noted that the list of ornamentals is far longer than the one of food plants. Here personal likes play a larger part and uniformity is not so necessary.

Quite as important as man's control of plant life is his domestication of animals. Here also the beginnings go back beyond our records. The search for the originals of our domestic animals is complicated by several factors: (1) we are ignorant of the amount of variation since domestication; (2) we lack definite records as to place of domestication; (3) the fact that many different wild species are known to have existed. Practically all of the larger mammals were represented in Europe and in Asia. It seems very probable that centers of domestication are to be sought on both continents whence the domestic forms were scattered and later interbred in endless variety.

Bird life is peculiarly valuable in warm lands where meat will not keep long. Geese were kept in ancient Egypt and the art of incubating eggs in manure was apparently understood. Ducks were first domesticated in the East by Chinese; in the West by the Romans. Chickens were unknown to the peoples of classifical antiquity. Homer and Hesiod never mention the hen nor do the older parts of the Old Testament. Yet Cæsar found the chicken in southern England. It was scattered through Europe by the Germans, if we may judge by the similarity of the name in all the old European languages. It was brought from northern India in the Medo-Persian campaign and gradually became known about the Mediterranean. It is a descendant of the bankiva or jungle fowl. Now it has spread all over the earth. From Africa came in olden time the guinea hen. The pea fowl of

India during the Middle Ages was valued highly for the table; now, as an ornament only. Hawks, falcons and other birds once were kept in large numbers, but now relatively few are esteemed worth the trouble. One recent addition to the list of which Americans boast is the turkey. The ostrich was not kept until the middle of the nineteenth century.

Of four-legged beasts not a single one of any special importance has been domesticated within historic time. The horse, cattle, ass, camel, sheep, goat and pig were in bondage when our records begin. These have generally been the most important, though not known to all the groups of men. Aside from these, the reindeer in Arctic regions, the elephant in India, the llama (kept by the ancient Peruvians in herds of thousands on the mountain pastures of Lake Titicaca) and the water buffalo in Asia are most noteworthy.

The dog has been one of the best loved and least useful companions of man throughout the ages. He seems to have been domesticated in many quarters of the earth. The first traces of dogs are found in the kitchen middens of Europe and somewhat later in the pile dwellings of Switzerland. These are small dogs, on the order of the terriers. At first the type is very uniform and no marked variations are found till the end of the later Stone period. By the end of the Neolithic era came the large dogs of the mastiff type. Various species of jackals and wolves probably have been tamed in divers sections of the earth. Apparently the first dogs were of jackal descent. Keller believes that the shepherd dog is descended from the Indian wolf. "It is easily demonstrated that the original home of the great 'dogge' is to be found in the highlands of Thibet. They became established in Europe at the time

of Alexander the Great, and appeared in our Northern Alps at the beginning of the first century, where they were distributed by the Romans." 5 The grayhounds are descendants of the Abyssinian wolf.

The only people, so far as we know, who domesticated the cat were the Egyptians, who paid it high honor. They had tamed it at least 1300 years before Christ and had portrayed it on their monuments for the thousand years preceding. The history of the long-haired Angoras is not known. They appear to have come from Central Asia. It is likely that these strains have not only been crossed with each other but also with the common wild cat of Europe. The cat was not largely kept outside of Egypt until the later days of the Roman empire, even though Greece and Rome had been plagued by mice whose name indicated a thief and whose natural enemy is described as the weasel. It spread to Italy about the fourth century of our era and to the balance of Europe by the sixth. About the time of the German invasion of Europe there came in from Asia the common gray rat in great hordes. Thenceforth cats were more highly esteemed, so some think. The more savage brown rat arrived on the scene early in the eighteenth century, driving out the gray rats and giving the cats added employment we may assume. The cats of today are not great rat catchers, while the damage done by them to bird life is a serious

matter.

Man has brought about another serious problem by his attitude toward the domestic cat. In many cases he permits it to become wild and the result is a great destruction of bird life estimated for states like Illinois at 2,500,

5 KELLER, C. Derivation of European Domestic Animals in Report of Smithsonian Institute, 1912, p. 483 ff.