308 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



Carolina. It is usually planted in April, and the largest ripeneth not 'till 

 October, and is frequently left standing in the field 'till December before it is 

 gather'd in: the smaller grain opening in half the time of the large, recom- 

 mends it to the Indians, who according to their custom, do not provide corn 

 for the whole winter; this by its quick ripening affords them early food, and 

 is therefore by them most propagated: this kind is also cultivated in New 

 England, where heat is deficient for ripening the larger kind. . . . The 

 large kind grows usually nine or ten feet high, and sometimes in strong 

 land, to the height of fourteen feet. The smaller sort grows commonly five 

 or six feet high. In planting this corn, six or eight grains are drop'd in the 

 circumference of about thirty inches, and covered with a hough: when it 

 appears some inches above ground, the supernumeraries, if any, are pulled up, 

 and three left in a triangle to grow, they are also weeded and earth raised 

 about them with a hough, which being repeated three or four times in the 

 summer, raises a hill about them. After the corn has come up some small 

 height, there are drop'd into every hill two or three beans called Bonavis, which 

 as they shoot up are supported by the stalks of the corn, and are ripe and 

 gathered before the corn. These hills of corn are at the distance of about 

 four feet or under, regularly planted in lines or quincunx order: in June the 

 plants are suckered, i. e., stripping off the superfluous shoots. In August they 

 are topped, and their blades stripped off, and tied in small bundles for winter 

 jjrovender for horses and cattle. About the same time the spikes or ears 

 of corn that grow erect naturally, are bent down to prevent wet entering the 

 husk that covers the grain, and preserves it from rotting. In Octo'ber, which 

 is the usual harvest month, the spikes of corn with their husks are cut off 

 from their stalks, and housed, and in that condition is preserved till it is 

 wanted for use. It is then taken out of the husk, and the grain separated 

 from the Placenta or Core. Then it is made saleable or fit for use. (Catesby, 

 1731-43, vol. 2, pp. xvi-xvii.) 



This is the method of cultivation among the whites after they had 

 had about one century of experience with this Indian product. The 

 earlier part of the cultivation seems to follow the Indian pattern 

 very closely; the later treatment has been added. 



For Timucua agricultural methods, we have two parallel narratives, 

 by Rene de Laudonniere and Jacques Le Moyne, respectively. 



Laudonniere : 



They sow their maize twice a year — to wit in March and in June — and all 

 in one and the same soil. The said maize, from the time that it is sowed until 

 the time that it be ready to be gathered, is but three months on the ground; 

 the other six months, they let the earth rest. . . . They never dung their 

 land, only when they would sow they set weeds on fire, which grow up the six 

 months, and burn them all. They dig their ground with an instrument of 

 wood, which is fashioned like a broad mattock, wherewith they dig their vines 

 In France; they put two grains of maize together. . . At the time when the 

 maize is gathered, it is all carried into a common house, where it is distributed 

 to every man, according to his quality. They sow no more but that which 

 they think will serve their turn for six months, and that very scarcely. 

 (Laudonniere, 1856, pp. 11-12; S wanton, 1922, p. 359; French, 1869, p. 174.) 



Le Moyne (pi. 51) : 



The Indians cultivate the earth diligently ; and the men know how to make a 

 kind of hoe from fish bones, which they fit to wooden handles, and with these they 



