A Botanical and Economic Sth i33 



bruise the barke of the trees neare the root, then doe they 

 SCOltch the roots with fire, that they -row no more. The 

 next year, with a crooked pieee of wood, they beat up the 

 weeds by the roots, and in that mould they plant their come. 

 Their manner is this: They make a hole in the earth with a 

 sticke [cf. "John Pope, his Tour," 1792], and into it they put 

 foure foote one from another the graine. Their women and 

 children do continually keepe it with weeding, and when it is 

 growne middle high they hill it about like a hopyard. In 

 Aprill, they begin to plant, and so they continue till the midst 

 of June. What they plant in Aprill they reap in August; for 

 May in September; for June in October. Every stalke of 

 their corne commonly beareth two ears, some three, seldom 

 any foure, many but one, and some none. Every eare ordi- 

 narily hath betwixt 200 and 500 grains. The stalke being 

 green hath a sweet juice in it somewhat like sugar cane, which 

 is the cause that when they gather their corne they sucke the 



stalks." 



Cabeca de Vaca landed in Florida in 1528, near Tampa Bay. 

 He found there maize, beans and pumpkins in great plenty 

 and abundance. 1 De Soto set sail for the New World in 

 1538. He landed in Florida in 1539. De Soto frequently 

 speaks of the Indian villages, that contained from 150 to 200 

 dwellings, guarded sometimes with tall palisades, and sur- 

 rounded by extensive fields of maize, pumpkins and beans. 

 In one instance, he narrates that his army passed through 

 continuous fields of maize for two leagues. His band soon ran 

 short of provisions, and the Indians were robbed to furnish a 

 supply. At one place, they took enough corn to feed the 

 Spanish company for five days. He writes: "On October 

 18, we came to Mobile, a walled city, which we captured, and 

 where we rested forty days. On March 3, we departed north 

 with maize enough for sixty leagues." 2 From Tampa Bay, 

 De Soto addressed a letter to the justice and board of 

 managers in Santiago de Cuba, informing them that Baltazzar 



1 Torrey Botanical Bulletin, vi, 86: Cabeca de Vaca Relations, 1528, translation by 

 Buckingham Smith. New York. it,;i 

 '-' Wise Academy of Sciences, vi, S7. 



