10 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture. 



Seed ears were selected each fall and the husks braided to- 

 gether, so that a braid would contain about 50 ears and 

 would be about 5 feet long. Practically all the Indian tribes, 

 seem to have practiced braiding. The tribes of the South- 

 west hung the braids up to dry or else spread unbraided 

 ears on the ground or on the roofs of their flat-topped 

 houses. After the drying was completed, the corn was 

 stored in the lower stories of the dwellings. Some of the 

 southwestern tribes used large storage baskets. 



The Indians of the New England and Middle- Western 

 States used the cache for storing corn and other foodstuffs. 

 These caches were holes dug in the ground, usually to a 

 depth of 5 to 7 feet and several feet in diameter. They 

 were either jug shaped or cylindrical. Although the fields 

 of corn were usually on the lower lands, the caches were 

 dug on the higher ground so as to avoid danger from seep- 

 age waters. Caches were dug either inside or outside of the 

 dwellings. Considering the rude tools at the disposal of 

 the Indians, the digging of a cache was no small task. 



Shelled corn and braided corn were both put in the caches. 

 Usually the shelled corn was placed in buffalo or deer-skin 

 sacks before caching. Indians in the forest country cached 

 their corn after placing it in bags made of cedar bark. A 

 fire was often started in the cache after completion, in order 

 to dry it out before storing corn. Grass and bark were used 

 in lining the sides and bottoms. The final covering was 

 earth, and when well covered the cache could not be dis- 

 tinguished by strangers, and so was not in much danger of 

 being robbed. Sometimes one family had as many as two 

 or three caches. 



INDIAN CORN FOODS. 



The colonists obtained their first knowledge of how to 

 use corn as a food from the New England Indian tribes. 

 Capt. John Smith, in his accounts, mentions the preparation 

 of several corn foods. The Iroquois Indians had at least 40 

 different ways of cooking corn. The "travelling food" of 

 this tribe is an interesting example, as showing Indian food 

 combinations. Soft or flour corn was used. It was shelled 

 and parched slightly in the embers of a wood fire. Then it was 

 thrown into a mortar, maple sugar was added, and it was 



