The Old and the New in Com Culture. 7 



bundle, with the corn kernels on the inside. The bundle 

 was tied around with strings cut from buffalo hide and 

 then immersed in water. After soaking for a day or two, 

 the bundle of nettles was wrapped in a buffalo skin or 

 other covering and kept warm. In a few days the kernels 

 sprouted, and when the sprouts were a quarter of an inch or 

 more long they were planted. Kernels not sprouting or 

 showing swollen germs were not planted. 



The slender nettle was used for this purpose because it 

 was the first plant to reach any considerable height by corn- 

 planting time. Furthermore, the fact that the plant was 

 protected by stinging hairs, or spines, gave the Indians the 

 idea that corn germinated with it would be protected from 

 plant enemies during the growing season. 



PRIMITIVE CORN-PLANTING METHODS. 



Location and climatic differences are no doubt responsible 

 for the fact that three distinct planting methods were in 

 vogue among the Indians. These were as follows: (1) The 

 Hopi method; (2) the Omaha, or mound, method; and (3) 

 the usual " hill " method. 



The Hopi and other tribes of the Southwest, in order to 

 reach moist soil in the sandy areas which they cultivate, 

 make use of the planting stick in planting. This stick is 

 about 3 feet in length and has a stiltlike projection about 10 

 or 12 inches from the bottom. The stick is pressed into the 

 soil with the foot, and holes are made from 8 to 12 inches in 

 depth. Into these holes as many as 20 kernels are dropped. 

 The hills are about 10 feet apart: The number of plants in 

 the hill may seem excessive, but none are thinned out, being 

 left as a protection against wind and sun. 



The Omaha, or mound, method was used by the Omaha 

 Indians of Nebraska. ' In this method the earth was pul- 

 verized and heaped into mounds about 18 by 24 inches in 

 area. The northern end of the mound was 18 inches in 

 height, sloping to the south, the south end being level with 

 the ground. The mounds were from 2 to 3 feet apart on all 

 sides, and 7 kernels to the mound were planted. Sometimes 

 a ditch was dug around the mound, into which water was 

 poured in dry seasons. 



