1 542 The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
A Story of Indian Corn 
Part 1. 
The three-lnmdredtli anniversary of the 
discovery of corn in New England is near 
at hand. 
On November 1C, 1620, a party from 
the Mayflower, exploring the country near 
Plymouth to find a desirable place for set¬ 
tlement of the Pilgrim Fathers, in follow¬ 
ing a party of Indians, came to their 
homes, and to fields that had been planted 
recently, and upon digging, found a quan¬ 
tity of corn buried there. From this fact 
of its use by the Indians the name of 
Indian corn has come to be used, in com¬ 
mon speech, in place of maize. Without 
this as a food the colonists from the May¬ 
flower could not have survived through 
the first two Winters; the settlement 
would have been given up—at least for 
that time—and the history of New Eng¬ 
land. and of the whole country as well, 
would have been greatly different. Very 
naturally the feeling of the colonists (as 
expressed by Win. Bradford, the writer of 
the “History of Plymouth Plantation.” 
who later became governor of the colony), 
was that “a special providence of God” 
had been manifested for their preserva¬ 
tion. The account in detail of this first 
discovery and knowledge of corn in New 
England by white men, as given in the 
Bradford story, follows. Should not its 
three-hundredth anniversary, November 
16, 11120. be fittingly celebrated? 
Being thus arrived at Cap-Cod ye 11. of 
November, and necessitie calling them to 
looke out a place for habitation (as well 
as the maisters and mariners importuni¬ 
ties). they having brought a large shalop 
with them out of England, stowed m 
quarters in ye ship, they now gott nor 
out & sett their carpenters to worke to 
trime her up;.but being much brused & 
ghatered in ye ship wth foule weather, 
they saw she would be longe in mending. 
Whereupon a few of them tendered them 
selves to goe by land and discover those 
nearest places, whilst ye shallop was in 
mending; and ye rather because as they 
wente into ye harbor there seemed to be 
an opening some 2. or 3. leagues of. which 
ye maister judged to be a river. It was 
conceived ther might be some danger in 
the attempte, yet seeing them resolute, 
they were permited to goe, being 16. of 
them well armed, under ye conduct of 
Captain Standish, having shuch instruc¬ 
tions given them as was thought meete 
They sett forth ye 15. of Novebr (16201 
and when they had marched about ye 
space of a mile by ye sea side, they espied 
5. or 6. persons with a dogg coming to¬ 
wards them, who were salvages; but they 
fled from them and rane up into ye woods, 
and ye English followed them, partly to 
see if they could speake with them, and 
partly to discover if ther might not be 
more of them lying in ambush. But ye 
Indeans seeing them selves thus followed, 
they again forsooke the woods, & rane 
away on ye sands as hard as they could, 
so as they could net come near them, but 
folowed them by ye tracte of their feet 
sundrie miles, and saw that they had 
came the same way. So, night coming on, 
they made their randevous & set out their 
sentinels, and rested in quiet ye night, 
and the next morning followed their tracte 
till they had headed a great creake, & so 
left the sands, & turned an otliex* way 
into ye woods. 
But they still followed them by geuss, 
hoping to find their dwellings; but they 
soone lost both them and them selves, 
falling into shuch thickets as were ready 
to tear their cloaths & armore in pieces, 
but were most distressed for want of 
drinke. „ , 
But at length they found water and 
refreshed them selves, being ye first New- 
England water they drinke of, and was 
now in their great thirste as pleasante 
unto them as wine or bear had been in 
for-times. , . 
Afterwards they directed their course 
to come to ye other shore, for they knew 
it was a neeke of land they were to 
erosse over, and so at length gott to ye 
sea side; and marched to this supposed 
river, and by ye way found a pond of 
clear fresh water, and shortly after a good 
quantitie of clear ground wher ye Indians 
had formerly set corne, and some of their 
graves. 
And proceeding furder they saw new 
stuble wher corne had been set the same 
year, also they found wher latly a house 
had beene, wher some planks and a great 
ketle was remaining, and heape of sand 
newly padled with their hands, which 
they, digging up, found in them diverce 
faire Indeen baskets tilled with corne, and 
some in eares, fair and good, of diverce 
eollours, which seemed to them a very 
goodly sight (having never seen any shuch 
before)” Nov. 1(5. 1620, was so date of 
this discovery of Corn in New England, 
by the voyagers in the Mayflower. 
This was near ye place of that sup¬ 
posed river they came to seeck; unto 
which they wente and found it to open 
it selfe into 2. armes with a high cl iff e 
of sand in ye entrance, but more like to 
be dikes of salt water than any fresh, 
for ought they saw; and that ther was 
good liarborige for their sin lope leaving 
it furtlie” to be discovered b;> the* shalop 
when she was ready. So tin time Mul¬ 
cted them being expired, they returned to 
yc ship, least they should be in fear of 
their saftie; and tooke with them parte 
of ye corne, and buried up ye rest, and so 
like ye men of Escholl carried with them 
of ye fruits of ye land. & showed their 
breetliren; of which. & their return, they 
were marvelously glad, and their harts 
ineouraged. After this, ye shalop being 
got ready, they set out againe for ye bet¬ 
ter discovery of this place & ye mr of 
ship desired to goe him selfe, so ther went 
some .16. men, but found it to be no harbor 
for ships but ony for boats; ther was 
allso found 2. of their houses covered with 
matts, & sundrie of their implements in 
them, but ye people were rune away & 
could not be seen: also ther was found 
more of their corne. & of their beans of 
various eollours. Tim qor-'n and beans 
they brought away, purp >sing to give 
them ful satisfaction when they should 
meete with any of them (as about some 
6. months afterward they did, to their 
good conteute). And here is to be noted 
a spetiall providence of God. and a great 
mereie to this poore people, that hear 
they gott seed to plant them corne ye next 
year, or else they might have starved, for 
they had non nor any likelyhood to get 
any till ye season had beene past (as ye 
equell did manyfest). Neither is it lickly 
they had this, if ye first viage had not 
been made, for the ground was now all 
covered with snow, & hard frozen. But 
the Lord is never wanting unto his in 
their greatest needs; let his holy name 
have all the prais. 
***$*«$ 
This account of Governor Bradford of 
the first finding of corn in the early set¬ 
tlement of New England, gave us interest 
to learn more of its story; and, going to 
the United States Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment with this inquiry, the following facts 
of much interest to our theme were de¬ 
veloped in the reply coming from the 
Bureau of Plant Industry: 
The United States Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment advises that maize was widely cul¬ 
tivated in both North and South America 
for centuries before the discovery of the 
continent. MV. Safford, of the Bureau 
of Plant Industry, has in his possession 
specimens of charred grains and ears from 
prehistoric mounds in Ohio and the Mis¬ 
sissippi Valley, from the cave-dwellers of 
the Southwest and Mexico, and from the 
prehistoric graves of Peru, where great 
quantities of it were found, together with 
other food staples buried with the mum¬ 
mies. 
Columbus found maize extensively cul¬ 
tivated on the Island of Haiti. Ilis ac¬ 
count of it, under the date November 5, 
1420, is the first on record. The Span¬ 
iards were established both in Mexico and 
in Peru more than a century before the 
arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in North 
America, and on their arrival they im¬ 
mediately adopted maize as one of their 
princip i food staples. The Spaniards 
found, on their arrival, that maize was 
accorded religious homage by tin* Aztecs 
and other tribes, some of whom repre¬ 
sented certain gods with ears of maize 
either in their hands or in their head¬ 
dresses. Popcorn was used by the ancient 
Aztecs strung into garlands for the adorn¬ 
ment of their idols and for those taking 
part in religious ceremonies. John Smith 
and his companions found it among the 
Algonquin Indians of Virginia as their 
principal food staple. Its use by the 
Indians of the upper Missouri has recent¬ 
ly been described in the interesting work 
of Will and Hyde, who picture the im¬ 
plements used in its cultivation, gather¬ 
ing. etc., as well as the principal varieties 
cultivated. 
Sweet corn was sometimes dried in its 
immature state and stored for future use. 
In North America, as well as in Mexico, 
Central America, and South America, a 
number of distinct types of maize had 
be i developed before the discovery, those 
in , e cold countries adapted for the short 
seasi i and cold climate and those of the 
othe countries adapted either for dry 
condii os or for mJ- f climates. Certain 
northern Mbes gathered the corn before 
it was i*ipc, allowed it to ferment like 
silage, and ate it in this condition. Some 
of the early travelers said that, in spite 
of its offensive odor, it was much relished 
bv the Indians. The preservation of 
maize in this form may be compared to 
that of breadfruit in the Pacific Islands 
and to sauerkraut in Germany. 
E. F. DICKINSON. 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
The first week in October has been 
more like July, for day after day the 
mercury scored above 90 degrees, once as 
high as 95 degrees. And yet the tem¬ 
perature does not seem to stir any new 
life in the mature plants in the garden. 
The eggplants have indicated that they 
are done making more fruits, the corn has 
got too hard for the table, and the stalks 
are simply ripening. The Cannas and 
Dahlias arc glorious, and it seems hard 
that the frost may come soon, hard enough 
to spoil their beauty. Last week I was 
down through the Eastern Shore counties 
of Virginia, and then to Norfolk, and 
about 200 miles into North Carolina. In 
the hill country of North Carolina, from 
the Roanoke River to Raleigh, it looks 
like starvation. I have never seen such 
a failure of crops. In that distance I did 
not see a cotton field that could possibly 
pay the cost of growing it if the grower 
got 40 cents a pound for the crop, and 
you would suppose that the farmers are 
rolling in wealth and profiteering scan¬ 
dalously. I was told that near the coast 
on the fine lands reclaimed from the 
swamps that usually make fine crops of 
corn, many farmers will not make corn 
enough to make meal for their families. 
Drowned out by the floods of rain in 
Summer, then after the rains the hill 
lands have been parched by a prolonged 
drought. But through the Eastern Shore 
of Virginia the great sweet potato crop 
was being dug, and at every railroad sta¬ 
tion trains of cars were being loaded for 
the North. So far as they have been 
shipped right here, the sweet potato crop 
has been paying $259 an acre, and prob¬ 
ably more in the Virginia counties which 
had the advantage of the earliest digging. 
Then, too, the two Virginia counties are 
rejoicing in a big crop of corn, made after 
they sold the early Irish potatoes from 
the same land in June. Coming into this 
beautifully cultivated region from North 
Carolina the contrast was wonderful. The 
red clay hills of North Carolina have 
been scratched over and washed away, 
and they have not maintained the organic 
decay in the soils so that, with shallow 
plowing, the land cannot stand lute Sum¬ 
mer droughts. In the tobacco sections 
along the same route they have kept their 
land poor to grow the fine gold leaf to¬ 
bacco which the cigarette fiends want, 
and they contend enriching the land with 
cow peas and clover will ruin their to¬ 
bacco, making it coarse and giving few 
fine wrappers for covering the plug style. 
Only the war demand has saved them of 
late, while now there are indications of 
returning normal conditions, and the to¬ 
Oetober IS, 1019 
bacco grower will go back to starving the 
soil and themselves, instead of farming 
and improving its fertility whether the 
tobacco likes it or not. 
The late Irish potato crop is looking 
fine. More late and second crop fields 
were seen in Accomac and Northampton 
counties, Virginia, than usual. The grow¬ 
ers there are rapidly coming to the con¬ 
clusion that it will be better for all of 
them to use their own home-grown seed 
potatoes. The only trouble is that they 
will make a rather later crop. They 
largely outyiehl the Maine seed, and many 
assume that they are more profitable by 
l’eason of this fact than the earlier ones, 
but each grower, while using some home 
seed, always plants the bulk of his crop 
in Northern seed, for fear he will be be¬ 
hind his neighbors. If all would agree 
to drop the Maine seed they would get 
rid of some diseases they have brought 
in, and I believe would get more profit 
from the larger bulk of the crop. The 
New Jersey growers are now seeking the 
Virginia seed, as they, too, have found 
it greatly more productive than the North¬ 
ern seed. Just why this is so is mainly 
because the Virginia seed potatoes are not 
usually dug till December. Then, planted 
in February, they have had no chance to 
sprout in the cellar and be weakened by 
rubbing the sprouts off, as occurs to the 
Northern crop. The Northern potatoes 
grow from lateral buds, while the home 
seed starts with the strong terminal bud, 
and with an undiminished store of food 
in the tuber. The Southern growers 
usually store their Northern seed in the 
Fall, and, of course, they are more liable 
to sprout in the Southern cellars than in 
the Northern ones. w. f. massey. 
An Enthusiast for Tile Drainage 
Some weeks ago we printed an inter¬ 
view with Mr. W. A. Bahlke of Gratiot 
Go., Mich., in which he gave some figures 
regarding the cost of raising various 
crops. Mr. Bahlke is a great advocate 
of tile drainage, and like all enthusiastic 
men, is emphatic in stating what he be¬ 
lieves. Here is the way he puts it: 
The first thing to be done to make the 
farm productive in Central Michigan is 
to underdrain it. We do not realize the 
swiftly changing conditions in agriculture. 
The removal of the forests, changing air 
currents and winds, caused thereby, and 
other agents have changed our rainfalls 
and our seasons. The rainfalls, coming 
now so much more rapidly and suddenly, 
are making our fields left in a natural 
condition unproductive and uncertain. To 
obtain the minimum cost of production 
and the maximum production, tiling is in¬ 
dispensable. The one works hand in hand 
with the other. Together they widen the 
difference between gross expense and 
gross receipts. 
To make this point clear, I must make 
a personal reference to my farm work 
My present farm was purchased in 1916. 
Without discrediting those who had 
farmed on it before my purchase, I may 
say that not an acre of it was tiled or 
fit for farming. It was sold to me in 
recognition of that fact. For profitable 
cultivation it needed underdrainage. In 
191(5 there were thoroughly tile drained 
with hard glazed tile 175 acres of this 
240-acre tract. The tile was laid upon 
120 acres of the farm parallel and four 
rods apart. Tile emptied into large 
mains and they in turn into a county 
ditch. I cleaned out over one-half mile 
of the open ditch for my outlet. Our 
work during the tiling season was cour¬ 
ageously enlivened by the frogs, which 
sang heedlessly by night and day. We 
harvested about 150 tons of hay during 
the 1916 season. It contained so much 
swamp grass that it was sold for bedding 
rather than for feed : the price was $7.50 
per acre. Do you wonder the farm was 
on the market? I could have made more 
money selling frogs’ legs taken from the 
land during the 1916 season than making 
hay at $7.50 per ton delivered. After 
draining in tin* Fall of 1916 the land was 
plowed and all stones within reach of the 
plow removed. We planted and sowed 
SO acres of beets and beans upon this tiled 
land in the Spring of 1917. We sold 
from it $11,537.81 of beets and beans. 
The net profit, over and above cost of 
production very nearly paid for the pur¬ 
chase price of the land and the cost of 
the tiling. Further, the land is in con¬ 
dition to duplicate the result the coming 
season. 
There were about 160 acres of beets and 
beans grown on farms adjoining my 
farm in 1917. The soil was naturally as 
good as that on my farm, and if in the 
same state of productiveness by drainage 
and cultivation, there would have been 
produced upon these lands in 1917 crops 
equally as good as on my farm. Still. I 
state as my best judgment, without know¬ 
ing the exact facts, that the 160 acres of 
beets and beans upon these neighboring 
fields did not produce on the whole a crop 
value equal to the cost of production. The 
lesson taught by this contrast is too clear 
for further discussion 
The Corn Roast Ts in Progress 
