DICTIONARY OF INDIANS. 



13 



Agriculture. — Continued. 



on agriculture to a large extent for 

 svibsistence. Frequent mention is 

 made by the chroniclers of Corona- 

 do's expedition to New Mexico of 

 the general cultivation of maize by 

 the Indians of that section, and also 

 of the cultivation of cotton. It 

 is stated in the Relacion del Suceso 

 (Winship in 14th Rep. Bur. Eth., 

 575), that those who lived near the 

 river raised cotton, but the others 

 did not. The writer, speaking of the 

 Rio Grande valley, adds, "There is 

 much corn here." 



"From the earliest information we 

 have of these nations [the Pueblo In- 

 dians] they are known to have been 

 tillers of the soil, and though the im- 

 plements used and their methods of 

 cultivation were both simple and 

 primitive, cotton, corn, wheat [after 

 its introduction], beans, with many 

 varieties of fruits were raised in abun- 

 dance" (Bancroft, Nat. Rac, i, 53S, 

 1S82). 



The Indians of New Mexico and 

 Arizona had learned the art of irrigat- 

 ing their fields before the appearance 

 of the white man on the continent. 

 Tliis is shown not only by the state- 

 ments of early explorers, but by the 

 still existing remains of their ditches. 

 "In the valleys of the Salado and 

 Gila, in southern Arizona, however, 

 casual observation is sufficient to 

 demonstrate that the ancient inhabi- 

 tants engaged in agriculture by arti- 

 ficial irrigation to a vast extent. . . . 

 Judging from the remains of exten- 

 sive ancient works of irrigation, many 

 of which may still be seen passing 

 through tracts cultivated today as 

 well as across densely wooded stretch- 

 es considcrabl}'' beyond the present 

 non-irrigated area, it is safe to say 

 that the principal canals constructed 

 and used by the ancient inhabitants 

 of the Salado valley controlled the irri- 

 gation of at least 250,000 acres" 

 (Hodge, Preh. Irrigation in Arizona, 

 Am. Anthrop., July, 1893). Remains 

 of ancient irrigating ditches and 

 canals are also found elsewhere in this 

 southwestern section. 



How far to the north on the Pacific 

 side the cultivation of maize had been 

 carried in prehistoric times is not 

 positively known, but, judging by the 

 Indian names applied to the cereal, it 

 is believed that the northern limit 

 was yet south of the present northern 

 boundary of California. 



The sunflower was cultivated to a 

 limited extent both by the Indians of 

 the Atlantic slope and those of the 



Pueblo region for its seeds, which were 

 eaten after being parched and beaten 

 into a meal between two stones. The 

 limits of the cultivation of tobacco 

 at the time of the discovery has not 

 as yet been well defined. That it 

 was cultivated to some extent on the 

 Atlantic side is known ; that it was 

 in use in the sixteenth century as 

 far north on the Pacific side appears 

 probable. 



Although it has been stated that 

 the Indians did not use fertilizer, there 

 were exceptions to this rule. The 

 Plymouth colonists were told by the 

 Indians to add fish to the old grounds 

 (Bradford's Hist. Plym. Plan., Mass. 

 Hist. Coll., 4th ser., iii, 60). It is 

 also stated that the Iroquois manured 

 their land. Lescarbot says the Ar- 

 mouchiquois, Virginiens, and others 

 " enrich their fields with shells and 

 fish." The implements they used in 

 cultivating the ground are described 

 as "wooden howes" and "spades made 

 of hard wood." "Florida Indians dig 

 their ground with an instrument of 

 wood fashioned like a broad mattock," 

 "use hoes made of shoulder blades of 

 animals fixed on staves," "use the 

 shoulder blade of a deer or a tortoise 

 shell, sharpened upon a stone and 

 fastened to a stick instead of a hoe"; 

 "a piece of wood, three inches broad, 

 bent at one end and fastened to a long 

 handle sufficed them to free the land 

 from weeds and turn it up lightl}'." 

 Such are the earlier statements in re- 

 gard to the agricultural implements 

 used by the Indians ; however, a cer- 

 tain class of stone implements has 

 been found in great numbers, which 

 are generally conceded to have been 

 used in breaking the soil. 



The field work was usuallj'', though 

 not entirely, done by the women. 

 Hariot (Hakluyt, Voy., in, 329, 

 iSoi) says, "The women, with short 

 pickers or parers, because they use 

 them sitting, of a foot long, and about 

 five inches in breadth, do only break 

 the upper part of the ground to raise 

 up the weeds, grass, and old stubs or 

 corn-stalks with their roots." It was 

 a general custom to bum over the 

 ground before planting in order to 

 free it from weeds and rubbish. In 

 the forest region patches were cleared 

 by girdling the trees, thus causing 

 them to die, and afterward burning 

 them down. 



Though the Indians as a rule have 

 been somewhat slow in adopting the 

 plants and methods introduced by 

 the whites, this has not been wholly 

 because of their dislike of labor, but 



