In answer to feeding Gallic armies, etc.... One question was on Caesar indicating the amount of 'corn' stored by the Gauls. Apparently the Latins called wheat 'corn' which is why it appears as such in Caesar's commentaries. MB. Corn is native to the Americas and was the staple grain of the region for many centuries before Europeans reached the New World. The origin of corn remains a mystery. Conclusive evidence exists, from archaeological and paleobotanical discoveries, that cultivated corn has existed in the south- western United States for at least 3000 years. Discoveries in the Tehuac-n Valley of southern Mexico have yielded evidence that wild corn existed there 7000 years ago and was not much different in fundamental botanical characteristics from the modern corn plant. Modern crops evolved in the regions of their ancient centres of origin. Wheat, barley, oats, millet, sugar beets, and most forage legumes and grasses were developed in the region encompassing the Middle East, North Africa, and southern Europe. Corn, potatoes, peanuts, sunflowers, and tobacco were cultivated in the Americas. Soybeans, onions, lettuce, and peas were first grown in China. Sugar cane and rice, most citrus fruits, and bananas came from southern Asia. Crops spread widely even in the ancient world. Corn and potatoes were grown throughout North and South America long before Europeans arrived; and early wheat and barley were distributed throughout the Near East well before the time of the pharaohs. With the close of the Neolithic period and the introduction of metals, the age of innovation in agriculture was largely over. The historical period/known through written and pictured materials, including the Bible, Near Eastern records and monuments, and Chinese, Greek, and Roman writings was devoted to improvement. A few high points must serve to outline the development of worldwide agriculture in this era, roughly defined as 2500 BC to AD 500. For a similar period of development in Central and South America, somewhat later in date. Some plants became newly prominent. Grapes and wine were mentioned in Egyptian records about 2900 BC, and trade in olive oil and wine was widespread in the Mediterranean area in the 1st millennium BC. Rye and oats were cultivated in northern Europe about 1000 BC. Many vegetables and fruits, including onions, melons, and cucumbers, were grown by the 3rd millennium BC in Ur. Dates and figs were an important source of sugar in the Near East, and apples, po-, megranates, peaches, and mulberries were grown in the Mediterranean area. Cotton was grown and spun in Ind,ia about 2000 BC, and linen and silk were used extensively in 2nd-millennium China. Felt was made from the wool of sheep in Central Asia and the Russian steppes. The horse, introduced to Egypt about 1600 BC, was already known in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. The ox- drawn fourwheeled cart for farm work and twowheeled chariots drawn by horses were familiar in northern India in the 2nd millennium BC. Improvements in tools and implements were particularly important. Metal tools were longer lasting and more efficient, and cultivation was greatly improved by such aids as the ox-drawn plough fitted with an iron-tipped point, noted in the 1 Oth century BC in Palestine. In Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC a funnel-like device was attached to the plough to aid in seeding, and other early forms of drills were used in China. Threshing was done with animal power in Palestine and Mesopotamia, although reaping, binding, and winnowing were still done by hand, Egypt retained hand seeding through this period, on individual farm plots and large estates alike. Storage methods for oil and grain were improved. Granaries, jars, dry cisterns, silos, and bins of one sort or another containing stored grain/supported city populations. Indeed, without adequate food supplies and trade in food and non- food items, the high civilizations of Mesopotamia, northern India, Egypt, and Rome would not have been possible. Irrigation systems in China, Egypt, and the Near East were elaborated, putting more land into cultivation. The forced labour of peasants and the bureaucracy built up to plan and supervise the work of irrigation were probably basic in the development of the city-states of Sumer. Windmills and water mills, developed toward the end of the Rordan period, increased control over the many uncertainties of weather. The introduction of fertilizer, mostly animal manures, and the rotation of fallow and crop land made agriculture more productive. Mixed farming and stock raising were flourishing in the British Isles and on the continent of Europe as far north as Scandinavia at the beginning of the historical period, already displaying a pattern that persisted throughout the next 3000 years. According to region, fishing and hunting supplemented the food grown by agriculturists. Shortly after the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus described the Germans' as a tribal society of free peasant warriors, who cultivated their own lands or left them to fight. About 500 years later, a characteristic European village had a cluster of houses in the middle, surrounded by rudely cultivated fields comprising individually owned farmlands; and meadows, woods, and wasteland were used by the entire community. Oxen and plough were passed from one field to another, and harvesting was a cooperative effort. Rome appears to have started as a rural agricultural society of independent farmers. In the 1st millennium BC, after the city was established, however, agriculture started a capitalistic development that reached a peak in the Christian era. The large estates that supplied grain to the cities of the empire were owned by absentee landowners and were cultivated by slave labour under the supervision of hired overseers. As slaves, usually war captives, decreased in number, tenants replaced them. The late Roman villa of the Christian era approached the medieval manor in organization; slaves and dependent tenants were forced to work on a fixed schedule, and tenants paid a predetermined share to the estate owner. By the 4th century AD, serfdom was well established, and the former tenant was attached to the land. From: Microsoft Encarta '95 - So might be a little dated... 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