136 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
LycopEesM1A JUNCEA (Pursh) D. Don. Skeleton Weed. 
The Omaha and Ponca made an infusion of the stems of Lygo- 
desmia for sore eyes. Mothers having a scanty supply of milk also 
drank this infusion in order to increase the flow. 
In the north where Silphiuwm laciniatum is not found Lygodesmia 
was used for producing chewing gum. ‘The stems were gathered 
and cut into pieces to cause the juice to exude. When this hardened it 
was collected and used for chewing. 
ANCIENT AND MODERN PHYTOCULTURE BY THE 
TRIBES 
In former times the plants cultivated by the tribes inhabiting the 
region which has become the State of Nebraska comprised maize, 
beans, squashes, pumpkins, gourds, watermelons, and tobacco. I 
have not found evidence of more than one variety each of tobacco 
and watermelons. By disturbance of their industries and institu- 
tions incident to the European incursion they have lost the seed of 
the larger number of the crop plants they formerly grew. By search 
among several tribes I have been able to collect seed of many more 
varieties than any one tribe could furnish at the present time of the 
crops once grown by all these tribes. Of maize (Zea mays) they 
cultivated all the general types, dent corn, flint corn, flour corn, 
sweet corn, and pop corn; each of these in several varieties. Of beans 
(Phaseolus vulgaris) they had 15 or more varieties, and at least 8 
varieties of pumpkins and squashes (Pepo sp.). 
After diligent inquiry, the only cultivated crop plants of which I 
am able to get evidence are corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins, 
tobacco, and sunflowers. ‘These are all of native origin in the South- 
west, having come from Mexico by way of Texas. But a large num- 
ber of plants growing wild, either indigenous or introduced by human 
agency, designedly or undesignedly, were utilized for many purposes. 
No evidence appears that any attempt was ever made looking to the 
domestication of any of these plants. The reason for this is that the 
necessary incentive was lacking, in that the natural product of each 
useful native plant was always available. In their semiannual hunt- 
ing trips to the outlying parts of their domains, the Indians could 
gather the products belonging to each phytogeographic province. 
The crop plants which they cultivated, however, were exotics, and 
hence supplemented their natural resources, thereby forcing a dis- 
tinct adjunct to the supply cf provision for their needs. 
But since the advent of Europeans the incentive is present to 
domesticate certain native plants which were found useful. This 
incentive arises from the fact that the influx of population has 
greatly reduced or almost exterminated certain species, and, even if 
