, 1885-03-17
AGRICULTURE
As CONDUCTED BY THE ORIGINAL
MHABlTAhTs or AMERICA.
Women the First Farmers nj Our Country
How They Conducted the business
d OF the Soil Under
Primitive Culture.


Women we're the aboriginal -g~ar~te-gaids"
or farmers, OF North America, for tho saw.
age lords Of the soil scorned tlllags az does
a modern shop boy, and passed their time {,
fighting or in fishing. although they nay =
refused to eat the product of the soil When
a new field Was TO be cleared up in "wonn
fquam-sauksf the squaws would take thasr
hatchsts made Of sharpsned stonel all
girdls the trees by bruising of a wide Gree
OF tho bark: "mo. ME jeeg-kwai-wag," as
they called this employment The next
spring, twelve months after heaping dry
limbs and leayes around the decayed trunks.
they would apply fire. and while the flames
consumed the dead giants Of the forest, AMI
the heat killed the roots OF the underbrush,
the ashes would Leave the soil mellow and in
fine heat. A field thus titled would be used
by generations, thus proving the excellence
Of wood ashes as a fertilizer for Indian cora.
Great care was taken by the Indians to
select for seed the best ear for SHANNON, p
which was their name for Indian corn, al
though they had distinct Applications for
the white. the red, tho yellow. and the black
varieties, all Of which they possessed, and
kept pottags fish and flesh OF all sorts.
either new taken or dried, as shad, cells, ais-
wives, or a kind Of herring, or any other
sort Of fish. But they dried mostly those
sorts before mentioned. These they cut In
pieces, bones and.sli, and boiled them in the
aforesaid pottage. Also. they boiled in this
fermenty all sorts Of flesh taken in hunting
as v~enison, bears' flesh, beaver. moose. otter,
or raccooii, cut In small pieces. They also
mixed with 1t several sorts Of roots, as
Jerusalem artichoke and ground nuts, and
other roots and pumpkins and squashes
Also several kinds OF masts, as oak ncorns.
chestnuts, walnuts-these, husked and dried
and powdered, they thickened this pottage
herewith"
Melons were raised In great abundance, a.
" ere also gourds Of all sizes, from the large
"calabash" that would hold two or three
gallons to the tiny receptacle for pigments
u-ed In painting for war. From the sap OF
the maple they made a coarse-grained sugar,
which. when mixed with freshly pounded
Indian meal and seasoned with dry whortle-
berries, was baked into a dainty dish for
high festivals The dried meats Of oil-nuti
pounded and boiled in water, was their bov-
erage at such feasts, and from the green
wax Of the bayberry they made candles
with rush wicks, which gave clear light,
and yielded a pleasant fragrance while burn
ing. Several varietieA of beans were-raised
with the corn; that the .all dish OF 1musick-
quatush," or green corn, might be enjoyed.
IL was not, however dixie the "succotashn Of
our day.. simply composed of corn and
Leans, for Goodldn tells US that "they fire.
quently boil in this"
"Mishimin, " in the Algonquin tongue, sig
nihed apple, although it is the opinion Of
some learned writers that the fruit was UNI
known before the arrival OF Europeans. l
have in my possession, however, several old
printed compilations Of early oyagers, each
OF which reckons apples among the early
native fru its, and unless crab stocks were
found l do not clearly see how the large
orchards mentioned by the early writers
could have been made productive 50 soon.
Mr.. Wolcott, q distinguished Connecticut
magistrate. wrote In 1885 certainly not
more than 1--we years after this colony was
first planted: Il made 500 hogsheads OF
cider out OF my own orchard in ono year. '
This would have been almost impossible had
he been obliged to raise his orchard from
seed, or even had he carried trees Of such
size as could nave been transported through
the trackless wilderness Tho apple may not
be Indigenous to the soil OF New England,
and yet the Indians mny have possessed it,
as they did Indian corn, which unioubto dly
came from tho south, and which was never
found growing wild.
After the spring burning, when the oaks
began to leaf, the squaws would cultivats,
or, rather, would root up tho folds with the
fiat shoulder-blades OF the mooss, and then
mark the future hills by making small
holes about -four feet apart with a rude hos.
the blade OF which was a large clam she'll
Into each hole they would put an alewife.
caught in soma adjacent stream, or a horse
shoe crab from the seashore. ami on the
stimulant drop and cover a half dozen grains
of corn The land thus planted was guarded
against the depredations Of the birds. and,
as the corn grew, the earth WAS scraped
around the stalks with clam-shells until the
hills were TWO feet high. q mode OF culture
superseded by plowin although some per.
sist Ia laboriously following It at the present
day. Generally the stalks grow six or eight
feet In height, bearing two ears each, and
we are told that there were eight rows, con
tanning thirty grains, or over, on an ear.
Early in September the ears were pluckedi
leaving the stalks and leaves to enrich the
ground, and were carried In ~backbaskets tc
their wigwams. There the corn was placed
unhnsked, on frames resembling the fish
fakes Of our time, under which a smolder
ing fire was kept up.
When the corn was thoroughly drioi II
was husked, shelled and packed In large
blrch-bark boxes, which were buried in the
ground below the action Of the frost Some
times, when they cooked this corn, ii wal
soaked in lye until the hull came Off, thel
dried again, pounded in a wooden mortar
and called "nausamp." which was boiled
with venison fat and a bit OF dried salmon
to give 1t a flavor. "Omonee" was the dried
corn simply cracked in a stone mortar AM
and then boiled; Asuppaun" was the corn
meal, sifted through a basket, which the,
baked into cakes on fiat stones The war
riors and hunters, however. when away
away from home, subsisted upon Simple
parched corn, a supply of which they car
ried with them Roger Williams speaks o.
having Travelled with near 200 Indians Al
once, near 100 miles through the woods
every man carrying a little basket OF this a
his back, sufficient for one man three OF
four days. They call 1t "~nocake,r