CROPS IN THE EARLY DAYS 



of loose stones and boulders. There were many tradi- 

 tions of "bees" where men and teams turned in to help 

 a neighbor clear a field of rocks, which were afterwards 

 utilized in making great walls about the fields. After 

 the rude plow, the heavy, wooden, peg-toothed harrow 

 was used for fitting the seed bed, and after seeding, the 

 brush was dragged over to scratch in the seed. These 

 were the only implements of tillage, excepting, of 

 course, the strictly hand tools, in use until after the 

 Revolution. "^ 



Corn was planted by hand, following the old Indian 

 custom. A child often carried a sack of corn, walking 

 up and down the plowed field and dropping in the tra- 

 ditional five kernels, 



"One for the bug. 

 One for the crow. 

 One to rot 



And two to grow." 



Following the dropper came a stalwart man armed 

 with the heavy, clumsy hoe, who drew the earth over 

 the kernels and gave it three pats to fix the earth 

 about them. 



The sown crops needed little care till harvest, but 

 progressive farmers, or those having many boys to keep 

 employed, always hoed the corn. A man who in his 



1231 



