478 Use of Fertilizers by American Indians, &c. [July, 
Indians on the Pacific coasts. In describing the customs of the 
Maya tribes of Yucatan (Vol. ii, p. 717) he paraphrases a transla- 
tion of the Quiché MS. by Brasseur De Bourbourg, in relation to 
the culture of maize by them: “ And from the time of its tradi- 
tional discovery by Gucumatz or Quetzalcoatl (the creator and 
former) down to the conquest by the Spaniards, and even down’ 
to the present time, the yellow and white maize, or their several 
varieties, have been the chief reliance of the Maya as of the Nahua 
nations for daily food. Every year, during the latter month of the 
dry season, from March to May, the farmer busied himself in pre- 
paring his sz/pa or cornfield, which he did by simply cutting or 
up-rooting the dense growth and burning it. The ashes thus pro- 
duced were the only fertilizer ever employed, and even this was 
probably never needed in this land of tropical fertility, Just be- 
fore the first rain fell, equipped with a sack of seed-maize on his 
shoulder and a sharpened stick in his hand, he made holes at 
regular intervals among the ashes, and in each deposited five or 
six grains, covering it with the same instrument, aided perhaps 
with his foot,” etc., etc. This is evidently accidental rather than 
intentional fertilization, the main object of the burning being 
doubtless to clear away the obstructions to planting the seed. 
Dr. Rau also showed me accounts of the agriculture of various 
American tribes, and particularly a very full one of the culture 
of maize by the Iroquois, in Lafittau’s “ Mceurs des Sauvages 
Americains,” Paris, 1724, none of which referred in any way to 
the use of manure. 
While traveling on the north shore of Lake Superior last sum- 
mer, Prof. Atwater learned that the Indians of that region employ, 
to some extent, white fish and lake trout in manuring their fields. 
Mr. W. H. Dall tells me that a rude system of agriculture is prac- 
ticed by the Indians of Alaska, a system learned from the Rus- 
sians since their occupation of the territory. 
I have presented these few notes, not as a contribution to 
knowledge, but to call attention to a subject which seems to 
have been neglected in a most unaccountable manner. Can it be 
that the aborigines of the Northern Atlantic States are the only 
uncivilized people who have understood the use of agricultural 
fertilizers? Fish fertilizers naturally are inaccessible except to 
peoples living on large bodies of water abounding in schools of 
fish, which may be taken with ease in quantities greater than are 
