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THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



SIMBOir FRAXCIS, Editor. 



BAIIiHACHE <& BAKER, Publibhees. 



Voi. 2. 



AUGUST, 1857. 



vn». 8. 



Agriculture of the Natives in Early Times. 



We do not expect to learn much of value 

 from the agriculture of the natives of this coun- 

 try at an early date, but the subject has some 

 interest for the general reader. When the 

 northern part of the country now known as the 

 United States, was discovered, it was found that 

 the natives cultivated corn, to some extent, 

 probably about as much as the Indians of the 

 Upper Missouri and Mississippi do at the pres- 

 ent day. They did not aim to procure their sub- 

 sistence from the grain of this plant; but. only 

 raised it to a small extent, by the labors of the 

 women, as a luxury, and the maturity of which 

 was generally announced by the "green corn 

 dance." In the southern part of the country, 

 however, considerable crops of diflferent articles 

 were raised as food, and the Indians themselves, 

 it is said, were delighted with the labors of the 

 field. Of course (in the words of Frederick 

 Kidder,) their eflforts were not to be compared 

 with those demanded in our own time. Their 

 circumatanoes and necessities did not require it; 

 for with a mild climate, the virgin soil yielded 

 abundant harvests, without the manures or deep 

 ploughing now required. But that their main 

 subsistence was acquired from the productions of 

 their fields, there can be no reasonable doubt. 

 The variety of their productions must have been 

 much greater than has been generally supposed. 

 The most important of these was the Indian 

 corn. To what particular part of the continent 

 this plant was indigenous, has never yet been 

 fully ascertained; but certain it is, thas nowhere 

 does it seem to be more prolific, or show a more 

 splendid appearance, than on the alluvial lands 

 in the eastern part of North Carolina. There 

 mauy fields have continued to produce large 

 crops for two centuries without showing any ap- 

 parent diminution of fertility. Cultivated as 

 this plant is over the entire extent of our nation- 

 al domain, it may be considered as the best 8ym«< 

 bol of our country, more expressively represent- 

 ing plenty than any other production of our soil. 



The ease with which it was planted, gathered 

 and preserved, without risk of injury from in- 

 sects or the elements, as well as the rapidity 

 with which it could be prepared for use, made it 

 invaluable to the aborigines. 



They also cultivated extensively a great var- 

 iety of beans; some of which, particularly cala- 

 vancies, are in use among the white people at 

 the present day. Watermelons, squashes, 

 pumpkins and gourds, were quite abundantly 

 raised, as also ground-nuts, and uadoubtedly po- 

 tatoes. 



With regard to this last vegetable, considera- 

 ble doubt has been expressed whether it had 

 been known to the aborigines of this part of our 

 country previous to the arrival of the Europe- 

 ans; but if we-cousider it a well authenticated 

 fact that the earliest colonists carried it te 

 England, and that Raleigh took great pains to 

 cultivate it on his estate in Ireland, and dissem- 

 inate it through that island, it would seem but 

 a fair inference that it was once a native of 

 Roanoke Island or its immediate vicinity. But 

 as botanists have in vain looked for the plant in 

 its wild state in that neighborhood, it has been 

 decided that it could never have been indigenous 

 to that locality. May it not, like the corn, have 

 been a native of some uiore southern clime, and 

 cultivated and perpetuated by the Indians, as 

 no other vegetable would seem to answer as well 

 the description which Harlot (the historian) 

 gives of one of their principal productions. 



Perhaps the most remarkable production of 

 their fields was tobacco. This plant was indis- 

 pensable to their comfort and happiness, and 

 was highly valued. The only use made of it 

 was in smoking, and this was the manner in 

 which it was consumed in Europe for a long 

 period after its introduction there; and it is 

 certainly to be regretted that its use was ever ex- 

 tanded to chewing. 



-<•»- 



To Faemers. — Take care of all vour manure, 

 and especially the liquid portion' as that con- 

 tains a larger per centage of fertilizing matter 

 than the solid part. 



