58 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



State Museum, in 1850. It consists of strips of wooden splints a 

 little more than an -J inch wide laid longitudinally, bound together 

 with basswood cords and fastened tightly at either end making a 

 canoe-shaped basket. It was used for sifting the ashes from 

 parched corn and for sifting out the unburst kernels from pop 

 corn. The writer has not been able to collect another old specimen 

 of this basket and was told that the hominy sieve is now used 

 instead.- 



The corn sieve is an interesting survival of a form of basket (the 

 melon basket) now obsolete among the Canadian and New York 

 Iroquois. 1 It has been preserved, however, among the 'Cherokee 

 and is common among other southern tribes. Morgan's figure in 

 the Fifth Museum Report is a poor illustration of the specimen and 

 has confused several writers who have attempted to copy it. A 

 better drawing is shown in the accompanying cut, figure 13. 



Fig. 13 Popcorn sieve. Morgan specimen. This type is a survival of the melon basket 



now obsolete among the Iroquois except perhaps the Oneida. 



Specimen is 20 inches long. 



Planting and harvesting baskets 



Planting basket, Yundushinun'dakhwa'. 2 This is the small 

 basket used for containing the seed corn for planting. The basket 

 is generally tied to the waist so as to leave both hands free for 

 dropping the seed and covering it with the hoe. 



One planting basket in the museum collection is made of bark 

 doubled in such a maner as to leave pockets on either side and a 

 handle in the middle [see fig. i, pi. 19]. 



Carrying basket, Ye'mste n nek'wista' or Yuntge"dastha. 3 This 

 basket is generally tied by a carrying strap, gusha'a, to the head or 

 chest and the ears of corn thrown over the shoulders into it as they 

 were picked. The use of this basket is shown in plate 2, fig. I. 



1 Harrington collected some interesting forms from the Oneida, two of 

 which were acquired by the State Museum. 



2 Yu n terhaha'wida"kwa' in Mohawk. 



3 Yo n da"terhagehtslakwa in Mohawk. 



