Education Department Bulletin 



Published fortnightly by the University of the State of New York 



Entered as second-class matter June 24, 1908, at the Post Office at Albany, N. Y., under 



the act of July 16, 1894 



No. 482 ALBANY, N, Y. November i, 19 id 



New York State Museum 



John M. Clarke, Director 

 Museum Bulletin 144 



IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE AND OTHER FOOD 



PLANTS 



BY 



. • ARTHUR C. PARKER, Archeologist 



PREFATORY NOTE 



These notes on the preparation and uses of maize and other vege- 

 table foods by the Iroquois have been gathered during a period of 10 

 years, while the writer has been officially concerned with the arche- 

 ology and ethnology of the New York Iroquois and their kindred in 

 Canada. They embrace all it has been possible for him to gather, 

 from the Iroquois themselves concerning the uses of their favorite 

 food plants. Scores of Indians were questioned and many interest- 

 ing facts were brought out from almost forgotten recesses of their 

 minds. 



The greater part of this treatise is the result of a purely original 

 inquiry. An attempt has been made to cite the records of early ex- 

 plorers and travelers where the case seemed of interest or importance, 

 but no general historical review of the subject is given .^ The aim is 

 rather to present an ethnological study of the Iroquois uses of food 

 plants. This it is hoped will also have an economic and sociologic 

 value. 



Maize played an important part in Iroquois culture and history. 

 Its cultivation on the large scale to which they carried it necessitated 

 permanent settlements, and it was, therefore, an influential factor in 



1 For a general review of the subject of Indian foods consult Thomas. 

 Mound Explorations, Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-91 ; Carr. Mounds of the 

 Mississippi Valley, Smithsonian Rep't, 1891 ; Carr. Foods of Certain Ameri- 

 can Indians, Am. Antiq. Soc.N 1895. 



