The Dickinson press., 1916-09-16
INDIAN METHOD OF CURING
AND SAVING SEED CORN

Inc lnO1dnS OIL CH0 L.' OcICAO4u
Indian reservation in northwestern
North Dakota have raised corn longer
than the oldest members Of the tribe
can remember. Their fields have
been located all along the Missouri
river through North Dakota. One
field, located near the, old village,
where all three tribes, Mandan, Gros
Ventre and Arikarees, lived together
for some years, has been under culti-
vation for at least seventy-two years.
Beans and squash were raised; be-
side the principal crop, corn.
One of the important operations in
Indian corn culture is the curing of
the seed. The seed is picked early
but no particular field selection is
made. The corn is husked and spread
out on corn scaffolds which are made
by setting four or six posts, forked
at the top, and poles placed along
the, tops and then covered with will
lows. This allows circulation Of air
around the corn because willows are
not solid material. The willows are
close enough together to keep the ears
from falling through. The scaffold
is about six feet from the ground.
The corn is spread out all over the
top of this scaffold and left there
through rain and shine until it is
perfectly dry. The best ears are
picked out for seed and put in boxes
or barrels and stored in the house,
or, in the old days the corn was
buried in cache holes deep in the
ground. Other supplies such as
beans, squash and the feed corn were
also buried in these cache holes.
The principal thing in this Indian
curing process is getting the corn
perfectly dry. Practically every In
dian house at the present time has
one of these corn drying scaffolds in
front of the house and this scaffold
has always been part cf the homes
equipment.
An old Indian was asked how he
tested his corn. He said that he did
not test it because he knew it was
good and would grow. 1t always did.
The stand in every Indian field proves
his statement. 1t is very rare to find
a missing hill. Dry seed is the: reason
for this. Even the fields in the sum-
mer of 1916, when the year previous
1915, was a poor year, are practically
perfect stands.
The Mandan Indians have "keep-
er of the corn" A daughter of their
former chief holds the office at pres
ent and it is her sacred duty to pre-
serve the seed from year to year.
She cultivatcs her field very faith
fully and cures the seed and pre-
serves it very carefully. This is a
splendid example to the white man
of the value Of good seed corn and
caring for it carefully.
The exact method used by the In
dians in curing seed may not apply
to our dent corn as the dent contains
so much water and does not get as
ripe or as dry in the field, as the
flint corns, but the principle applies
to any corn, that is to get the seed
dry. There is no question but what
there would be much better supply
of good seed corn in North Dakota
from home grown fields, and good
seed to, if the farmer would go
through his fields and pick his corn in
q wagon and spread it out on scaf-
folds to dry during the fall. It Ger
tainly is far superior to the all too
common method of picking seed corn
out of the shock or bundle during the
fall or winter, or not saving seed at
all and depending on the seed firms
fer seed that may be shipped in and
is not raised in the immediate local
ity. :.
Much can be learned from Indian
corn culture and the North Dakota
farmer is going to prize corn more
highly as the years go by and he
raises more hogs and sheep. These
classes of livestock will harvest the
corn in the field without a::y waste.
In any event take this lesson from
the Indian. Get the corn out early
and dry it thoroughly if you want to
have good seed.