The Opelousas courier., 1892-01-09
THE INDIAN AS A FARMER,
HOW he cULTIvATEs THE SOIL
in ARIZONA.
No Flowing is Done-Pianting Corn
The Indian Not Partial to Tools
His PRINCIPAL Crops.

His Principal Crops.
Speaking of the Indian methods Of
farming in Northern Arizona, a writer
for the Chicago Herald says:
OF course the farmers as a rule are
Indians, for there is still a marked alb
sence of white men in the northern part
of the Territory. The sagebrush plain
does not offer them much encouragement
in the way of crops. Given the most
favorable conditions they will not do very
we'll, but when they attempt to produce
a crop on the unwatered plain failure is
almost sure to attend them. They do
very little irrigation, and indeed they
could do none, no matter how well they
tried. There is not water enough IN the
rivers of the Territory to irrigate the land.
Here and there they find little valleys in
which water has fingered longer than
ia the plains at large, or where the
natural dampness of the ground promises
moisture, and there they clear away the
sage brush and scratch the soil for the
planting of crops.
There is nothing in the nature of plow-
ing done-at least that kind of blowing
the Eastern farmer finds necessary. The
ground is not turned to a depth of two
inches. But the corn is planted at a
depth uninterrupted in the States. The
Indian takes what he calls a planting
stick-being a piece of hard wood about
three feet long with a short projection
at right angles midway-and this he
drives into the loose, dry soil often to a
depth of eighteen inches. He seldom
plants his corn at a depth of less than a
foot. In the hole thus made he drops
half a dozen or more grains of corn and
covers them up. Usually they all grow,
and when they do come up there is a
clump of small stalks of corn with the
weakest sort of a promise OF rlpeniug.
Hills are about ten feet apart each way.
This does not seem to be because the
land will not produce if taxed more
closely, but because the idea of utilizing
all his does not seem to occur
to the Indian at any time.
The Government has provided all Indi-
ans who care for them such farming tools
as they need, and one can find t'walk-
ing cultivators'' in every pueblo village
Of the plains. But the hoe is less
affected. They have hoes of their own
manufacture, and in the best farming
tribes of the Territory | found machine
made hoes of the Eastern manufactures.
There are not many weeds to trouble the
farmers, but they understand the necss-
sitY of tillage, aud the ground about the
struggling stalks is carefully mellowed
and drawn into hills. One of the pa
thetic sights OF the farmer here IS the
shade he provides for his growing corn.
In many fields one will find every hill
protected by a fat stone set edgewise to
| shelter the root from the hot sun and the
| blasting wind. The shelter may be
made Of a bunch of weeds or grass, but
every hill is guarded.
There is no regularity in the size or
| shape of the fields, or in the rows of the
corn. A hill is planted here, another
| there, and when all is done it is found
| that the Indian has simply followed his
natural instincts of neglectiug form and
order. He has no fence about his field
as a general thing. but relies upon watch
| ing his crop to keep straying animals
from devouring or injuring it. In some
| of the valleys a good many herds of cat
tie, horses or sheep are roaming, AMI
here the farmer usually builds a fence,
but it is of the weakest kind. It does
not seem capable of turning stock. Iu-
! side the field, whether fenced or not,
ssscare crows are stationed, and some of
| them would amuse the mostsolenn man.
They are upright poles with cross arms,
much the same as the women used to set
up in their gardens at home, aud hang
ing on them here and there are the
w~orst-looking rags it has ever been my
pleasure to see. Some of them had be-
sides the hideous appearance of the ghosts
two or three pieces of tin and stone that
ratified together in the breeze which is
| almost constant here, and frightens away
most birds.
One of the pests of the Indian farmer
is the prairie dog, which never looks
high enough to see the efigy and ney.r
cares for the sound of tinkllue tin. He
is . great turnover and eau find the
seed corn, no matter how deeply it has
been planted. The Indian hates the lit
tie animal more than he does either vul-
ture or coyote; but he does not kill him
so often. He sets all manner of traps
for him, but the sly rogue avoids them
and gallops home in safety. The range
of crops is not wide with the Indian
farmer. Corn is Che staple, and ia ad-
dition he raises a quantity Of beans,
some Watermelons and a far supply of
peaches. These latter are pitted and
dried much in the same manner as they
were at the East in another day, barring
the fact that they were there a good
deal cleaner than the Indians keep them.
But they serve for relishes all through
the winter. For you would be surprised
to know what proyidenb housekeepers
some of the pueblo Indians are. Tho
melons are simply passing delights. They
are scarcely permitted to ripen, when
they are eaten to break the long fast
from last season. e the crop happens
to be abundant, many Of the melons will
fully ripen before voraeious demands
compel p~lucking, and then they are
found to be excellent eating. They are
small IS to variety, ind not so good as
they might be il care were taken in the
matter Of seed, but they are a godsend
IN a dry country. Peaches also are seed
lings, and not what they might be. But
this is emphaticalIy a fruit country, and
wen handicapped a they are the
peaches are good. As to beans, they do
not seem To need either selactinn as 10