^OL. xrr.] t^YldidlfntCAL transactions. 467 



the ear, so much as to make a little hill, like a hop-hill; after this, they have no 

 other business about it, till harvest. After it is gathered, it must, except laid 

 very thin, be presently stripped from the husks ; otherwise it will heat, grow 

 mouldy, and sometimes sprout. The common way is to weave the ears together 

 in long traces by some parts of the husk left thereon. These traces they hang 

 upon stages or other bearers within doors, or without ; for, hung in that manner, 

 they will keep good and sweet all the winter after, though exposed to all weathers. 

 The natives commonly thresh it as they gather it, and dry it well on mats in the 

 sun; then bestow it in holes in the ground, well lined with withered grass and 

 mats, and then covered with the like, and over all with earth : and thus it is 

 kept very well till they use it. The English have now taken to a better way of 

 planting by the help of the plough, in this manner : in the planting time they 

 plough single furrows through the whole field, about 6 feet distant, more or less, 

 as they see convenient. To these they plough others across at the same distance^ 

 Where these meet they throw in the corn, and cover it either with the hoe, of 

 by running another furrow with the plough. When the weeds begin to overtop 

 the corn, then they plough over the rest of the field between the planted fur- 

 rows, and so turn in the weeds. This is repeated once, when they begin to hill 

 the corn with the hoe; and thus the ground is better loosened than with the hoe, 

 and the roots of the corn have more liberty to spread. Where any weeds escape 

 the plough, they use the hoe. Where the ground is bad or worn out, the Indians 

 used to put two or three of the fishes called aloofes under or adjacent to each 

 corn-hill; whereby they had hfiany times a crop double to what the ground would 

 otherwise have produced. The English have learned the like husbandry, where 

 these aloofes come up in great plenty, or where they are near the fishing-stages; 

 having there the heads and garbage of cod-fish, at no charge but the fetching. 



The fields thus ploughed for this corn, after the crop is off^, are almost as well 

 fitted for English corn, especially summer grain, as pease, or summer wheat, as 

 if lying fallow, they had had a very good summer tilth. The Indians and some 

 English, at every corn-hill, plant with the corn, a kind of French or Turkey 

 beans : the stalks of the corn serving instead of poles for the beans to climb up 

 with. And in the vacant places between the hills they plant squashes and pom- 

 pions ; loading the ground with as much as it will bear. And many, after the 

 last weeding, sprinkle turnep-seed between the hills, and so after harvest have 

 a good crop of turneps. 



The stalks of this corn, cut up before too much dried, and so laid up, are 

 good winter-fodder for cattle. But they usually leave them on the ground for 

 the cattle to feed on. The husks about the ear are good fodder, given for change 

 sometimes after hay. The Indian women slit them into narrow parts, and so 

 weave them artificially into baskets of several fashions. This corn the Indians 



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