Indian Ackiclltl-re in Arizona 533 



varieties for dry-farming, including Hopi Lima, White Hopi, and 

 Bates' beans, and White Hopi and Bkie Hopi corn. 



The agricultural implements of dry-farming Indians are few. 

 While a number of them have plows, many have none. Virtually 

 all cultivation is done with hoes, and planting with a long hardwood 

 dibber. Oftentimes the land farmed is covered with a thin veneer 

 of sand which acts as a mulch and renders comparatively little culti- 

 vation necessary. At certain times of the year, often regardless of 

 climatic conditions, they make their plantings, usually several inches 

 deeper than varieties developed by white men will emerge from. 

 In planting corn, the dibber is inserted twelve or fifteen inches deep 

 and, as it is pulled out vertically, horizontal pressure is applied 

 leaving a wedge shaped opening into which "a little boy's handful" 

 or about twelve kernels are dropped. The seeds are covered loosely 

 with soil, and the plants emerge with astonishing rapidity. The In- 

 dians have long since learned to properly space their plants, and 

 rarely seed too thickly. Weeds are kept down by hand labor, and 

 the farming is quite intensive. 



When the season is especially dry and summer rains are de- 

 layed, seeds are often inserted in balls of moist clay, and the 

 masses thrust into the dry earth. The moisture in these balls of 

 clay is usually sufficient to germinate the seeds and supply the 

 young plants until rain comes. An advantage of two or three 

 weeks' additional growing season is thus secured. 



Fruit growing is not practiced to a great extent among the 

 Indians, though numerous peach orchards exist and oftentimes a 

 fair quality of seedling fruit is produced. The trees grow in clumps 

 and are never pruned or cultivated. The shifting of sand by wind 

 oftentimes covers the tree trunks well up past the first forks of the 

 limbs. Most of the orchards are planted in sandy and silt loams 

 along washes and river bottoms where underground water exists 

 near the surface. There are a few small irrigated orchards of ap- 

 ples, pears, and plums as well as peaches. 



While the Piman family has contributed a number of very 

 drought resistant varieties, natural selection must be given the 

 credit. These Indians farm under extreme conditions, and destruc- 

 tion of the unfit through a long period of time has left only drought 

 resistant strains. Since "seed is seed" with Indians, varieties are 

 badly mixed : for instance, in a field of supposedly white corn, white, 



