1 40 HarsJiberger. — Maize : 



hole in the ground from twelve to eighteen inches deep, in 

 which he drops the kernel of corn. As a guard against 



floods and winds the corn is planted in bunches. In the 

 Moqui fields five, six, and even ten stalks will be seen 

 growing close together with another cluster ten feet off, 

 and so on ; each cluster is almost surrounded at the foot 

 by small branches, wisps of hay, and little piles of mud 

 brought down by rain currents. 1 



The Mexicans, having neither plows nor oxen, used a hoe 

 called coatl, made of copper, fitted with a wooden handle. 

 The fields, in many cases, were surrounded by stones and a 

 hedge of aloes. The maize sower drilled the ground with 

 a stick and dropped the grain, covering the kernel with his 

 foot. 2 



The production of maize was manifold. Gomara 3 cites the 

 yield as 100 to 150 fold : " Suelo dar una hanega de maiz en 

 sembradura seys, diez, veynte, treynta, cinqiienta, ciento e 

 aun ciento e cinqiienta e mas e menos hanegas segund la 

 fertilidad e bondad de la tierra donde se siembra." 4 Hum- 

 boldt says : " In the fine plain between San Juan del Rio 

 near Queretaro, one bushel produces eight hundred bushels. 

 It can be laid down, as a general rule, that the production of 

 this cereal in New Spain was about 150 fold." 



Division 3. Indian Use. — Dr. Franklin mentions one of 

 the methods that the Indians adopted in the preparation of 

 their maize as an article of food. A vessel of sand was heated. 

 The corn was then mixed with this sand and slowly heated 



1 Bourke, J. G., Moquis of Arizona, 96; Loew, Oscar, Popular Science Monthly, 

 v, 354- 



2 Clavigero, Bk. vn, ch. 28. 



8 Steffen, Die Landwirthschaft beiden Alt Amerikanischen Kulturvolkern, Leipzig, 

 1883. 



4 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., Lib. 7, cap. 1. 



