66o 



Handbook of Nature-Study 





Seneca Indian women husking corn for braiding. 



Photo by Arthur C. Parker. From Bulletin 144 of New York State Museum, "Iroquois uses 

 of Maize and other Food Plants" by Arthur C. Parker. 



THE MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN 



Teacher's Story 



"Hail! Ha-wen-ni-yu! Listen with open ears to the words of thy people. Continue 

 to listen. We thank our mother earth which sustains us. We thank the winds which have 

 banished disease. We thank He-no for rain. We thank the moon and stars which give us 

 light when the sun has gone to rest. We thank the sun for warmth and light by day. Keep 

 us from evil ways that the sun may never hide his face from us for shame and leave us in 

 darkness. We thank thee that thou hast made our corn to grow. Thou art our creator and 

 our good ruler, thou canst do no evil. Everything thou doest is for our happiness." 



HUS prayed the Iroquois Indians when 

 the corn had ripened on the hills and 

 valleys of New York State long before 

 it was a state, and even before Columbus had 

 turned his ambitious prows westward in quest of 

 the Indies. Had he found the Indies with their 

 wealth of fabrics and spices, he would have 

 found there nothing so valuable to the world as 

 has proved this golden treasure of ripened corn. 

 The origin of Indian corn, or maize, is shrouded 

 in mystery. There is a plant which grows on the 

 table-lands of Mexico, which is possibly the 

 original species; but so long had maize been cultivated by the American 

 Indians that it was thoroughly domesticated w r hen America was first 



