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SEMINOLE TRIBAL LIFE, 
We may now look at the life of the Seminole in its broader relations 
to the tribal organization. Some light has already been thrown on this 
subject by the preceding descriptions of the personal characteristics and 
social relations of these Indians. But there are other matters to be 
considered, as, for example, industries, arts, religion, and the like. 
INDUSTRIES. 
AGRICULTURE. 
Prominent among the industries is agriculture. The Florida Indians 
have brought one hundred or more acres of excellent land under a rude 
sort of cultivation. To each family belong, by right of use and agree- 
ment with other Indians, fields of from one to four acres inextent. The 
only agricultural implement they have is the single bladed hoe com- 
mon on the southern plantation. However, nothing more than this is 
required. 
Soil.— The ground they select is generally in the interiors of the rich 
hammocks which abound in the swamps and prairies of Southern Flor- 
ida. There, with a soil unsurpassed in fertility and needing only to 
be cleared of trees, vines, underbrush, Ge., one has but to plant corn, 
sweet potatoes, melons, or any thing else suited to the climate, and keep 
weeds from the growing vegetation, that he may gather a manifold re- 
turn. The soil is wholly without gravel, stones, or rocks. It is soft, 
black, and very fertile. To what extent the Indians carry agriculture I 
do not know. I am under the impression, however, that they do not 
attempt to grow enough to provide much against the future. But, as 
they have no season in the year wholly unproductive and for which 
they must make special provision, their improvidence is not followed 
by serious consequences. 
Corn.— The chief product of their agriculture is corn. This becomes 
edible in the months of May and June and at this time it is eaten in 
great quantities. Then it is that the annual festival called the “* Green 
Corn Dance” is celebrated. When the corn ripens, a quantity of it is 
laid aside and gradually used in the form of hominy and of what I 
heard described as an “exceedingly beautifal meal, white as the finest 
wheat flour.” This meal is produced by a slow and tedious process. 
The corn is hulled and the germ cut out, so that there is only a pure 
white residue. This is then reduced by mortar and pestle to an almost 
impalpable dust. From this flour a cake is made, which is said to be 
very pleasant to the taste. 
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