of important plants than any other people of Asia (and I should even
venture to add, of Europe), the exact and critical history of a plantcultivation
can be written only by heeding all data and consulting all
sources that can be gathered from every quarter. The evidence accruing
from the Semites, from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, from the Arabs,
India, Camboja, Annam, Malayans, Japan, etc., must be equally
requisitioned. Only by such co-ordination may an authentic result be
hoped for.