Bulletin 1 (1921) 
 
 PRIMITIVE AGRICULTU: 
 
 
 E INDIANS. 
 
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 The opinion seems i>o have been formed from tales and.traditions of 
 early Indian life that the Indians living north of Mexico at the time of the 
 first European settlements in this country were, virtually nomads having no 
 fixed abode, and hence giving but. little attention to agriculture. On the 
 contrary, the older records, particularly concerning.the temperate regions, 
 show that almost without exception the Indians were generally found from the 
 border of the western plains to the Atlantic, dwelling, in settled villages 
 and cultivating the soil* De Soto found all the tribes that he visited, from 
 Florida to western Arkansas, cultivating maize and various other food plants. 
 The early voyagers found the same thing' true along the Atlantic from Florida 
 to Massachusetts* Captain John Smith and his Jamestown colony, in fact all 
 the early colonies, depended: at first largely for subsistence on the products 
 of Indian cultivation. J.aques Cartier, the first European to ascend the St* 
 Lawrence, found the Indians in the present locality of Montreal cultivating 
 the soil and reports them as having "good and large fields of corn.” Champlain 
 and other early French explorers testify tothe successful tillage of the soil 
 for subsistence by' the Iroquois* La Salle and his. companions observed the 
 Indians of Illinois and along the Mississippi southward cultivating and large y 
 subsisting on maize* 
 
 Sagard, an eyewitness of what he reports, says, in speaking of the 
 agriculture of the Huron in 1623-26, "that they dug a round place at every 
 2 feet or less where they planted in the month of May in each hole nine or 
 ten grains of corn which they had previously selected, culled, and soake or 
 several days in water. And every year they thus planted their corn in the same 
 places and spots, which they renovated with their small wooden shovels* He 
 indicates the height of the corn by the statement that he lost his way qu^ker 
 in these fields than in the prairies or forests." (Histoire du Canada, I, 
 
 266, 1636.) 
 
 Indian corn, the great American cereal* "was found in cultivation 
 from the southern extremity of Chili to the 50th parallel of north latitude.” 
 (Brinton, Myths of the New World, 22, 1868)* "All the nations who inhabit from 
 the sea as far as the Illinois, and even farther, carefully cultivate the 
 maize corn which they make their principal subsistence*" (Du Pratz., History 
 of Louisiana, II, 239, 1763.) "The whole of the tribes situated in the 
 Mississippi Valley, in Ohio, and the lakes reaching on both sides of the 
 Alleghenies, quite to Massachusetts and other parts of. New England, cultivated 
 Indian corn* It was the staple product#" (Schoolcraft* Indian Tribes,1,80, 
 1851.) 
 
 Harshberger says that maize was introduced in the Unitdd States from 
 the tribes of Mexico and from the Carib of the West Indies* The ease with 
 which it can be cultivated and conserved, and its bountiful yield, caused its 
 
rapid extension among the Indians after it first came into use. With the 
 exception of better tillage the method'of cultivation is much the same today 
 among civilized men as among the natives- Thomas Hariot, who visited Virginia 
 in 1586, say3 the Indians put four grains in a hill “with care that they touch 
 not the others. 11 
 
 The great length of the period previous to the discovery during 
 which maize had been in cultivation is proved by its differentiation into va¬ 
 rieties,* of which there were four in Virginia; by the fact that charred corn 
 and impressions of com on burnt clay have been found in the mounds and in the 
 ruins of prehistoric pueblos in the Southwest; by the Delaware tradition; and 
 by the fact that the builders of the oldest mounds must have been tillers of 
 the soil. 
 
 Some idea of the extent of the cultivation of maize by some of the 
 tribes mhy be gained from the following estimates: The amount of corn 
 (probably in the ear) of the Iroquois destroyed by Denonville in 1687 was 
 estimated at 1,000,000 bushels (Charlevoix Histoire Nouvelle France,11,355, 
 
 1744; also Documentary History of New York, I, 238, 1849). According to 
 Tonti, who accompanied the- expedition, they were engaged seven days in cutting 
 up the corn of four villages*, General Sullivan, in his expedition into the 
 Iroquois country, destroyed 160,000 bushels of com and cut down the Indian 
 orchards; in one orchard alone 1,500 apple trees were destroyed (History of 
 New York, During the Revolutionary War, II, 334, 1879). General Wayne, writing 
 from Grand Glaize in 1794, says; "The margins of these beautiful rivers — 
 
 The Miami of the Lake'and the Au-Glaize — appear like one continuous village 
 for a number of miles, both above and below this place; nor have I eve»rhefore 
 beheld such immense fields of com in any part of America from Canada to Florida’* 
 (Manypenny, Indian Wards, 84, 1880). 
 
 If we are indebted to the Indians for maize, without which the peopling 
 of America would probably have been delayed for a century, it is also from them 
 that the whites learned the methods of planting, storing, and using.it. The 
 ordinary comcribs, set on posts, are copies of those in use among the Indians, 
 which Lawson described in 1701 (History of Carolina, 35, reprint, I860). 
 
 Beans, squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, tobacco, gourds, and the 
 sunflower were also cultivated to some extent, especially in what are now the 
 Southern States. According to Beverly (History of Virginia, 125-128,1722), 
 the Indians had two varieties of sweet potatoes. Marquette, speaking of the 
 Illinois Indians, says that in addition to maize, "they also sow beans and melonq 
 which are excellent, especially those with a red seed. Their squashes are not 
 of the best; they dry them in the sun to eat in the winter and spring" (Voyages 
 and Discoveries, in French Historical Collections, La., IV, 33, 1852). 
 
 The foregoing applies chiefly to the region east of the Rocky Moun¬ 
 tains, but the native population of the section now embraced in New Mexico and 
 Arizona not only cultivated the soil, but relied on agriculture to a large ex¬ 
 tent for subsistence. No com was raised nor agriculture practiced anywhere on 
 the pacific slope, but frequent mention is made by the chroniclers of Coronado t s 
 expedition to New Mexico of the general cultivation of maize by the Indians of 
 that section, and also of the cultivation of cotton. It is stated in the Re- 
 lacion del Suceso (Winship, in 14th Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, 575, 
 1896) that those who lived near the Rio Grande raised cotton, but the others 
 
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did not. The writer, speaking of the Rio Grande Valley, adds: "There is much 
 corn here," 
 
 The sunflower was cultivated to a limited extent both by the Indians 
 of the Atlantic slope and those of the Pueblo region for its seeds, which were 
 eaten after being parched and ground into meal between two stones. The limits 
 of the cultivation of tobacco at the time of the discovery have not yet been 
 well defined. That it was cultivated to some extent on the Atlantic side is 
 known; it was used aboriginally all over California, and indeed a plant called 
 tobacco by the natives was cultivated as far north as Yakutat Bay, Alaska, 
 
 The word "tobacco" is of American origin, and has been adopted, with 
 slight variation, into most foreign languages to designate the plant now smoked 
 throughout the world and largely produced in connection with American agricul¬ 
 ture. Tobacco was cultivated in most Indian tribes by the men alone, and was 
 usually smoked bv them only. The plant had a sacred character to the Indians; 
 it was almost invariably used on soiemn occasions, accompanied by suitable 
 invocations to their deities. It was ceremoniall^ryused to aid in disease or 
 distress, to ward off dangers, to bring good fortune, generally to assist one 
 in need, and to allay fear. 
 
 The planting of medicine tobacco is one of the oldest ceremonies of 
 the Crows, consisting, among other observances, of a solemn march, a foot race 
 among the young men, the planting of seed, the building of a hedge of green 
 branches around the seed bed, a visit to the sweat house, followed by a bath 
 and a solemn smoke, all ending with a feast; when ripe the plant was store 
 away, and'seeds were put in a deerskin pouch and kept for another plan ing* 
 
 The tobacco plant was carefully dried by the Indians and kept as free o 
 moisture as possible; that intended for immediate use was kept in bags of teer. 
 skin or birch bark, skins of small animals, or baskets fceatly woven of roots 
 and glasses. The bags were often elaborately decorated by the women. 
 
 Kinnikinnick, an Algonquin word meaning "mixed by hand," designates 
 a mixture of tobacco with some other plant for imparting a more pleasant odor, 
 or to reduce its strength, as the trade tobacco is commonly too strong to suit 
 the Indian's fancy. Among the western tribes tobacco was ordinarily usea by 
 mixing it with gum, sumac, and bearberry, the bark, leaves, an roo ® 
 kinds of willow, manzanita leaves, Jamestown weed, arrowwood, and a vane y 
 of other woods, barks, leaves, twigs, and even insects. 
 
 In much of the southwestern country, such as among the Hopi of 
 Arizona, the Indian is the original dry farmer. He has 
 
 bered years of coping with arid and semi-arid conditions the fundamentals 
 getting seeds to grow and produce somewhat more than the S^ity * th 
 
 first experiments of the white fanners in this region were sad failures by the 
 side of the native's methods. His corn planted at the usual depth made a fine 
 start ahead of the Indian's, but soon withered and yielded practically nothing, 
 
 while the corn which the Indian planted in a hole a foot or : T^it’had 
 
 by a pointed implement, rooted into the necessary moisture by the time it had 
 to contend with conditions above the surface and brought fair results. By 
 studying the Indian's methods, the white farmer has added some improvements, 
 maintain cultivation, such a’s maintaining a dust mulch to prevent evaporation, 
 proper thinning, removal of suckers, etc# 
 
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The Indians of New Mexico and Arizona had learned the art of 
 irrigating their fields before the appearance of the white m&n on the con¬ 
 tinent* This is shown not only by the statements of early explorers* hut by 
 the still existing remains ofntheir ditches* "In the valleys of the Salado 
 and Gila, in southern Arizona, however* casual observation is sufficient to 
 demonstrate that the ancient inhabitants engaged in agriculture by artificial 
 irrigation to a vast extent* * -* * * judging from the remains of extensive 
 ancient works of irrigation* many of which may still be seen passing through 
 tracts cultivated today as well as across densely wooded stretches considerably 
 beyofcd the present non«irrigated area, it is safe to sa^ that the principal 
 canals constructed and used by the ancient inhabitants of the Salado Valley 
 controlled the irrigation of at least 25,000 acres” (Hodge in American Anthro¬ 
 pologist, July, 1893)* Remains of ancient irrigating ditches and canals are 
 also found elsewhere in these territories* 
 
 It is found that some of the ancient canals were about 7 feet deep 
 and 4 feet wide at the bottom, but the sides sloped gradually, rising in steps, 
 giving the acequia a width of about 30 feet at the surface* Both the bed and 
 the sides were carefully tamped and plastered with clay to prevent waste 
 through seepage* Remains of what are believed to have been wooden head gates 
 have been exposed by excavation* Where canal depressions have disappeared, 
 owing to cultivation or to sand drift, the canals are still traceable by the 
 innumerable boulders and water-worn concretions that line the bawkte, these, 
 according to Cushing, having been placed there by the natives as "water-tamers” 
 to direct the streams to the thirsty fields* Several of the old canal beds 
 have been'utilized' for miles by modern ditch builders; in one instance a saving 
 of $20,000 to $25,000 was effected at the..Mormon settlement of Mesa., Mariaopa 
 bounty, Arizona, by employing an ancient acequia that traversed a volcanic 
 knoll for 3 miles and which at point was excavated to a depth of 20 to 
 25 feet for several hundred feet* 
 
 Even where the water supply of. apueblo settlement situated several 
 miles from a stream was obtained by t means of <ranale, each house cluster was pro¬ 
 vided with a reservoir; and in many instances through the Southwost, reserve!rs, 
 sometimes covering an area measuring one mile by one-half mile, designed for 
 the storage of rain water, were the sole means of water supply both for domestic 
 purposes and for irrigation,* In the valleys of the Rio Grande and its tribu¬ 
 taries, in New Mexico, small reservoirs were the chief means cf supplying water 
 to the ancient villages* 
 
 Hand irrigation is still practiced to some extent by the pueblo In¬ 
 dians* Formerly the Zuni women, in order to raise their small crops of onions, 
 chili, etc*, were obliged to carry wat . *• in jars on their heads, sometimes for 
 several hundred yards* It w r as then poured on the individual plants with a 
 gourd ladle* At the Middle Mesa villages of the Hopi, garden patches were 
 watebed in much the same way, except that here the gardens are within easier 
 reach of the springs and were irrigated by means of a gourd vessel fastened to 
 the end of a long pole* Both the Hopi of today and the ancient inhabitants 
 of the vicinity of the present Solomonsville, on the Gila, constructed reser¬ 
 voirs on the mesa sides from which terraced gardens below were readily irri¬ 
 gated, the reservoirs being supplied by impounding storm water* Throughout 
 the Southwest where pueblos occupied the summits of mesas, reservoirs were pro¬ 
 vided* For hundreds of years the pueblo of Acema has derived its entire water 
 supply for domestic purposes from a natural depression in the rock which re¬ 
 ceives the rainfall from the mesa summit* 
 
Although rit has been stated that the Indians did not use fertilizers, 
 there is evidence that they did# The-Plymouth colonists were told by'the In¬ 
 dians to add fisfiato the old grounds (Bradford* History'Plymouth plantation, 
 Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 4th seriepm III, 100, 1856) , It 
 is also stated that the Iroquois manured their land# Lescarbot says the 
 Armouchiquoia, Virginia Indians, and others '’enrich their fields with shell and 
 fish# 1 ' The implements they used in cultivating the ground are described as 
 "wooden howes" and "spades made of hardwood* 1 ’ "Florida Indians dig their ground 
 wikh an instrument of wood fashioned like a broad mattock," "use hoes made of 
 shoulder blades of animals fixed on staves," "use the shoulder blade of a deer 
 or atortoise shell, sharpened upon a stone and fastened to a stick, instead of 
 a hoe;" "a piece of wood, 3 inches broad, bent at one end and fastened to^a 
 long handle sufficed them to free the land from weeds and turn it up lightly# 
 Mention is also mane ofshhells used as digging implements, and Moore and Ch 
 Cushing have found in Florida many large conch that had served this purpose# 
 
 Such are some of the earlier statements in regard to the agricul ura 
 implements used by the Indians; however, certain stone implements have been 
 found in vast numbers which are generally conceded to have been used in break¬ 
 ing the soil* Of these the most characteristic are the hoes and spades of the 
 middle Mississippi Valley* 
 
 Formerly the field work was generally done by the women* Hariot 
 (Hakluyt, Voyages, III, 329, 1810) says, "The women with short pickers, or 
 parers (because they use them sitting) of a foot long, and about five inc es 
 in breadth, do only break the upper part of the ground to raise up © wee s, 
 
 grass, and old stubs or cornstalks with their roots#" j S frnm 6 weeds and ° m 
 
 to burn over the-ground before planting in order to free it from weeds ana 
 
 rubbish* In the forest regions patches were cleared by girdling e r > 
 thus causing them to die, and Afterwards butrnigg them down# 
 
 Though the Indians as a rule have been somewhat slow in 
 plant 3 and methods introduced by the whites, this has no been w , e _ 
 
 of their dislike of labor, but in some cases has been due ©- r g e y manv of the 
 movals by the Government and to the unproductiveness of e a01 0 f 
 
 reservations assigned them* Where tribes or portions of. ri tprritorv 
 
 the Cherokee and Iroquois, were, allowed to remain in eir ong - 
 they were not slow in bringing into use the introduce p_a.n s 
 methods of the Abates, the fruit trees, livesbbcbl*, > erCo * 
 
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