The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-11-13
An Indian on Indian Corn.
by r., II. UOSRINS, NJ. ID.

Some ten wears ago received from an edu
Gated Indian of the PenobsCot tribe (Maine)
named PeOl Susup, n letter in regard to the
cultivation and selection Of corn with reference
10 its improvement, especially in carliness.
Mr. Susup wrote:
"ludiau corn is called by the Indians weach.
in, and is believed by them TO have originated
IN Mexico. When white men discovered
America they found it in cultivation over the
two continents, from latitude 40 south to the
island of Orleans IN the st. Lawrence river.
That was PROBABLY its extreme limit in the
northeast How it could have been propa-
gated and rlpened so far north Of its native
tropical home has been a subject of curious
speculation Every cultivator has doubtless
noticed how difficult 1t is to perfect the plant
from seed obtained at any considerable dis
lance south of the region in which he endeav.
ors to raise it. Seed procured from New
York will seldom or never perfect itself in
Maine, and it is deemed unsafe to plant that
brought from Massachusetts. How then did
the Indian, without other agricultural educa-
ton than that derived from his own unrecord.
ed and imperfect observations, push its pro-
duction from the Gulf of Mexico to the st.
Lawrence? He certainly accomplished this
result ages before the white man visited him,
and It was to the natives that the early white
settlers of New England were indebted tor
their seed corn of the varieties now in use.
|. IAN annual plant may extend Itself east or
west along the lsothermal lines by accidental
causes, but it could not have moved into a
colder climate requiring cultivation and care,
without great attention, and the application OF
more than ordinary skill. 1t must have re-
CURED ages to have been acclimated in that
country now constituting Canada and the New
England States
THE Indian has his tradition regarding the
method by which the northern varieties of
corn were obtained and perfected. Like all
the grasses and many other annual plants,
corn grows upward by JOINTS or sections. The
Indians observed that the time required to
produce and perfect Joint was one change of
the moon, and as the ear of corn starts only
from a iOlnt there was necessarily about seven
DAYS between the forming of the ears on sue
cpssivc joints Now If an ear could be made
to start at the second joint, it would mature
some five weeks IN advance Of that which
should he formed on the seventh joint. BY
constantly selecting for seed the lowest ears he
finally obtained varieties that produced from
IONS lower than the original plant, and very
much earlier Thus in time corn was pro
duced small IN stalk and ear, and adapted to
the short summers of the North. Slowly but
permanently it passed into the eightrowed
corn, producing constantly on the lower
joints, and ripening IN three months from the
day &C planting
This Indian account of the origin Of early
varieties of corn accords with my own obser.
vauons. In Northeastern Vermont and the
lnct-h' oring townships OF Canada, corn sets
upon the second and third joints In tbesouth,
ern part of the state in the Connecticut and
Champlain valleys, the large ten and twelve
rOwed varieties produce their ears from the
fourth and fifth JOINTS Such corn will not
thoroughly ripen near the Canada line, except
upon Lake Champlain. FIVE plant Southern
corn, as many do for green fodder, we find the
ears upon the seventh joint and above, and
this corn never ripens anywhere IN New Eng
land. Whatever the variety observed, the
period required for its perfection is measured
bv the number OF JOINTS from the ground at
which the ears are formed. If, therefore, the
cultivatOr of this plant wishes to advance the
ripenlng OF his future crops, let him initiate
the Indian in selecting the seed, and "pck
low. Erdniher.