New Britain herald., 1920-03-09

 plorers and pioneers and thus enabled the latter to carry out their eXplora- tions; they also traded with the hunt ing tribes of the plains, securing furs and hcrSes and weapons. To the plains Indians the acquisition of corn meant the prevention of famine in the lean years when the buffalo and other game were scarce. \ buffalo robe used to be given in exchange for q braid" of corn, of about 50 ears, and the Sioux Indians used to trade the Arikarecs a horsc for a short braid of 10 cars.
 Lewis and Clark the famous eXplor- CTS sent out by President Jefferson to investigate the country of the Rocky mountains and bsynN !, stated that they would never have been able to ''gct through" without the food, prln- cipallN maize, obtained from the 1n- dian villages.
 There is nc crop plant which shows greater variation than Indian corn. The Indians themselves grew two main types of corn, the flint corns and the four corns. The flint corn was raised mainly for making hominy, and the flour corn, because of it's soft, starchy character. was easily ground in the crude stone mortarS and made into cakes. soups. buildings and corn bread. peculiar feature of the primitive Indian cOrns was their great variation in coloring. There was red corn. and pink corn. and blue and sal mon colored, white tipped With black, yellow and Variogated or mixed ears, all of these colors being found in both flint and flour corns. Nor have these many kinds of corn passed out of cul- tiNation. It is true that white men lD\-c 11,r,AraI varieties and strains from these first cOrns;" but the original varieties arc still planted year after year, even up to the present.
 Sacred Mystery of Indians.
 The Indians. especially those of the southwest. arc still persistent corn eaters. and thousands of them yet be- ieve as did their forefathers behind them,' in the sacred mystery of the sprouting and growing corn. The same corn is raised today by the Mo- qui and Hopi Indians that is occasion ally found buried along with pottery and crude implements, in the dry, agc-old dust of some ancient cliff dwelling where no mans foot has fallen for a thousand years.
 Our Department of Agriculture at Washington urges all farmers to test their seed corn, SincC it is obviously bad practice to plant anything except the best and strongest seed Yet when the pilgrims landed and for ages be- fore, the brown native American corn growers, from the Atlantic to the Pa C:ic, practiced methods of seed test ing which were as effective as those which science now suggests. Minne- Sota, Florida and Louisiana tribes, to whom moss was convenient, used this substance a germ ination medium. Other tribes made soft fiber mats, while the Middle Western tribes used thG nettle wood exactly Uncle sam now advocates what is called the rag doll' seed gcrminator. The net ties were rolled up into |, cylindrical bundle with the corn kernels inside and immersed in water. After soak ing for q day they were wrapped in buffalo hide and kept warm until the seed sprouted. The Indian took no chances on poor seed and he had no missing hills in his patch.
 Also Uncle sam tells us to carefully select our seed corn. In this he has nothing on the early American farm CTS of a thousand years ago. The In- dians practiced seed selection and had definite standards. Many tribes dis carded the butts and the tips, plant ing only the middle portions of the ear. Some threw out cObS with ir- regular rows and many tribes had the really advanced idea of selecting ears in the field from the stalk where the growth of the plant as we'll as the appearance of the ear itself was taken into consideration. The greatest care was taken to preserve the seed for the ensuing planting There were no seed stores available in case your own sup ply spoiled and the Indians went to the greatest lengths to insure them selves of a supply.
 Mailing a Lie.
 The Americap Indian has usually been spoken of as a daring yet shift less individual, living in plenty one month and with no thought of the morrow, and then starving the next month. This is a long way from the truth. Of course, great suffering and even starvation occurred in lean years; but there is starvation today. every year, among intelligent white people. As an invariable rule the Indians looked to the future and pro- Nided for it to the very best of their ability. The Indians of the North eastern and Middle Western states used the cache for storing corn. es- peciall that for seed. These caches were holes dug in the ground six or seven feet deep. The corntelds were on the lower lands,' but the caches were on the higher ground to avoid water seepage. and frequently they 1 were inside the wigwams or tepees. If you have ever tried 10 dig d six foot hole. even with a good spade |