Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-08-03

49, for his work on this comment III ue-
veloping and cultivating food plants
has been nothing short of colossal Not only staple
products but also numerous varieties of edible
grains, vegetables and fruit owe their present
useful forms to his SKILL 1t is a popular fallacy
that the Indian merely a hunter, that he lived
q haphazard and hand-tO-mOuth existence by fish,
ing and the chase and that his tling the soil was
only an incident of his communal life 1t is late
day to give the guerdon of recompense to a race
which so many times kept our forefathers from
starvation and furnished the cornstalk bridge on
which civilization came to these shores, and yet
even now credit should be given where it is due.
Most of the valued articles of diet of which the
discoveries and explorers of the early day found
the Indian in possession was not indigenous at all,
and many of them came originally from tropical
countries many thousands of miles distant. Inc
Indian tribes made frequent war excursions to
the lower ATTITUDES and brought back grains and
Vegetables of all kinds which they used as seed.
! Maize or Indian corn in it's present form repre-
sents one of the great achievements of primitive
planters It came originally, it is now generally
accepted from southern Mexico and was eaten by
the Maya tribes. At first it was nothing more than
a coarse grass which were tiny ears resembling
the top of the wheat stalk Each grain had its own
envelope of husk. Occasionally even now grams
of corn are found which have their 1ndlvldual
husk, thus showing how the maize of our day
reverts to type. The plant essentially tropical
and after centuries OF culture IN the ten-
perate zone it is sensitive to frost.
The tribes of North America saw the posslblll-
ties of the grain and FASTENED its evolution Ihere
has been crossbreeding since by white farmers yet
as matter of fact the corn culture of the present
day is practically it came from the hand OF the
Indian He has adapted and modified it to various
sections of the country by process or care1ul
selection. .:1-~-sT- +tss@a 49, "ssA~s@"~. ~
All the kinds of corn which exist today are de-
scrbed in the accounts of the white settlers
Die rod viii
corn are all mentioned, not forgetting the soft
sweet variety, the so-called gummy corn OF the
Indians. The culture of corn was more than
farming-it religion. The selecuon OF the
seed for the next planting was done with sucn
care the various colorings were so studied and
modified that there grew up vertable maize ira
dition.
All the methods of raising corn were taken over
directly by the early settlers and although there
have come into being mechanical appliances Tor
blowing planting and harvesting the methods
have really not changed since they were de-
yeIoped by the Indian The ground was loosened
with hoes made either of wood or of bone Or
antler or flint with wooden handles. The we'll
chosen grains were put in holes made by planning
sticks If the planting season had been deayeu
nv frost the Indians soaked the grain in water so
that lost time might be made up in termination
Frenuentlv a little hellebore some other power
full drug was added to the water This did not IN
iura the grain and either stupefed or killed any
of the crows which might dig up the seed Often
snares were laid for the feet of the birds, and
later fantastic human figures were placed IN the
corn clearings the precursors OF the modern scare
crows The weeds were hoed away from the young
plants. and as the season advanced the young corn
was billed The main work of cultivating corn
was done by women among the Eastern tribes
while in the tribes of the West and the southwest
the crop was looked after by the men,
Tho manning of the corn was in reality fes-
tival. as was the harvesting. The success which
attended the development of the scraggly little
tropica plant to the splendid stalk often 10 feet
tall and with ears foot and half long, as speci-
mems of the raising of the Iroquois are described
xos dino IN tbe zeal and the scrupulous care OF the
planters, inspired by romance. Corn in the Indian
tradition became the food which came direct from
the breast of Mother Earth. The keeping OF the
nroner seed was a matter of sentiment and OF
f;ta nriobtv Mondamin committed TO the grave
was to rise again. and it was the duty OF the diiers