Fall Cultivation
I have noticed that combine season is upon us. In honor of that, I have included an excerpt from “When Cherokees Were Cherokee” about some of the customs with the vegetables grown and harvested by the Cherokee. Hope you enjoy!
“CORN: "Inds. in the eastern United States began cultivating beans at about the same time they began cultivating the eastern flint corn, at around AD 800 to 1000. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) occurs in hundreds of varieties, including kidney, navy, pinto, snap, and pole beans. Some of these beans grow on bushy plants, while others grow on vines, requiring that they be planted alongside cornstalks or poles. Most of these varieties ripen in about ten weeks.
they "began cultivating squash perhaps as early as 1000 B.C., far earlier than they began cultivating corn and beans. They planted the northern species, Cucurbita pepo L., a species comprising pumpkins and summer squashes. Squash is a good vegetable because it is relatively easy to grow and it is highly productive. Some varieties of squash could be stored in a cool, dry place and kept through the winter.
"Corn, beans and squash were unusually well suited to each other. When grown in the same field they complemented each other, and in recognition of their basic compatibility the Iroquois called them the "three sisters"... Corn and beans are particularly suited to each other, because while corn removes nitrogen from the soil, beans replace nitrogen, and the soil is therefore exhausted more slowly. Moreover, beans and corn complement each other in a dietary sense. Corn supplies some of the protein which is essential for good nutrition, but it lacks the amino acid lysine, which, as it turns out, is relatively abundant in beans. Thus when eaten together corn and beans are a relatively good source of vegetable protein.
".... sunflowers... yielded "large quantities of oily seeds rich in vitamins. With their hard shells, sunflower seeds would have been easy to store for use in winter. And considering the importance of the sun in their belief system, the Southeastern Inds. would not have failed to notice that the sunflower turns to face the sun when it rises, and then follows it across the heavens to where it sets in the west.
Fields were cleared "...of large trees by girdling them with rings cut into the bark. Before contact they used stone axes for this, for European steel axes were so superior that they quickly became one of the items which were most desired. After the girdled trees died, they were either burned or simply left to stand and rot. Fields that had been used the year before had to be cleared in the spring of the weeds and cane that had grown up in the past season. Although agriculture was principally a woman's occupation, the initial clearing of the fields was done by men.
"The time when crops were planted depended upon the climate. The first planting of early corn usually came in March or April; in the northerly parts the first planting usually came in May. They planted the early corn as soon as the threat of frost had passed, but they waited another month or so before planting the late corn because by that time there were wild foods available to deflect the attention of crows and other pests. Early corn was planted in the garden plots in and around the town, and late corn was planted in the large fields in the river bottoms. The garden plots were planted by the women, but the large fields were planted by both sexes. The labor in the large fields was communal. Early in the morning of a working day, one of the old leaders would stand on top of a mound or in the plaza and call all of the people out to work. Those who failed to come had fines imposed upon them.
Before the Natchez planted seed, they took it to the Great Sun to have it sanctified. This may have been done in one form or another throughout the Southeast.
"Although labor was communal, the large fields were divided into individual allotments. Each household or lineage had its own plot, separated from the others by a strip of untilled soil. All the people worked together on one plot until it was worked up and planted, and then they moved on to another. In some cases, an entire field would be cultivated by the people... and its produce turned over to the chief to use for ritual occasions and for redistribution to people in need. Planting had a festive quality, and there was always a great deal of singing and joking. They worked the soil with digging sticks and with short hoes that had wooden handles and blades made of shell, flint, or the shoulder blade of a large mammal. The Inds. did not till the entire field, but instead worked up small "hills" a foot or more in diameter. This both prevented soil erosion and preserved the fertility of the soil longer than did the plow-agriculture introduced by the European colonists. Hills were laid out in straight lines and spaced three or four feet apart in both directions. Laying out the corn in a regular pattern made weeding easier later on. In each hill, they made a cluster of four to six holes spaced about one or two inches apart. Seed that had been soaked for a day to hasten germination was dropped in, one grain to a hole. A little hill of dirt was then piled over each group of seeds. Some of the Inds. carefully planted just four grains of corn in each cluster; others probably planted more and thinned out the less robust stalks after they came up.
"The kind of soil suitable for riverine agriculture was scarce, and because of its scarcity, the agricultural strategy of the Southeastern Inds. was designed to produce maximum yield from relatively small fields. They accomplished this by two techniques: intercropping and multiple cropping. Intercropping was the planting of several kinds of vegetables mixed together in the same field. As we have seen, corn, beans, and squash complemented each other. The Inds. planted corn and beans together so that the bean vines grew up they twined around the corn stalks. In between the hills of corn and around the edges of the field they planted gourds, squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers, and chenopodium (goosefoot plant) came up wherever they allowed it to grow.
"Multiple cropping was the planting of two successive crops on the same field in one season. They used this technique on their early corn, which ripened early and was picked and eaten green. As soon as they could clear the field of the first crop, they planted another crop in the same field to be eaten later in the season....
"After they planted their corn, cultivation consisted of "hilling" the corn, keeping predators away, and keeping the weeds down. After the corn came up a few inches, they hilled it by piling loose dirt around the roots. Corn requires a large quantity of water during its growing season, but it also needs good drainage so that the plants do not drown. Hilling helps satisfy both of these requirements. Furthermore, corn has roots that are relatively weak and shallow for its size, and hilling helps keep the stalks from being blown over by the wind.
"People stayed on watch in the fields during the day in order to frighten away bird and animal pests. At night fires were sometimes built around the fields for the same purpose. This job of watching the fields fell to old women, or to young boys under the supervision of old men. Watching the fields was a rather dangerous and sometimes fatal occupation because enemies would seize upon the watchman's lack of protection for a surprise attack. (Note: there is not one recorded incidence that this ever happened.).
"Some... employed a particularly clever way of keeping pests out of their gardens. They placed poles around the gardens and on the poles they hung gourd houses for purple martins. Purple martins not only consume large numbers of insects each day, but they are also aggressive toward crows and blackbirds, both of which are especially destructive of newly planted corn... also, some "may also have encouraged the nesting of swifts and wrens, which also eat insect pests and chase away crows and blackbirds.
"When the corn was about one-foot-high, they went through their fields with hoes, cutting down the weeds. Some repeated this weeding several times during the summer, but others were less meticulous, letting the weeds grow up to compete with their crops. Each they weeded the corn, they hilled it a little more, until by the end of the summer a noticeable mound of earth was piled around the bases of the Stalks. Some "suckered" their corn by breaking off the secondary shoots which grew at the bases of the stalks. This was to make the ears grow larger, increasing the yield. In August, after growth had stopped, the ears of the late corn were bent down against the stalk to keep water from running into the husk and rotting the corn.
"They harvested this late corn as soon as it was dry enough, usually in September or October. Each household or lineage harvested its own plot of corn, though in some places the plot assigned to the chief was harvested with volunteer labor from the entire town. They went through the fields collecting the ears of corn in large pack baskets carried on their backs. In some places each household or lineage contributed a portion of its crop to the chief's store.
"The last essential step in raising a crop of corn was storing it and keeping it safe from field mice and other animals. In some places, (they) stored their corn in cribs raised seven or eight feet from the ground on posts which were polished so mice could not climb them. The crib itself was plastered inside and out with mud. The only entrance was a small door which was sealed with mud each time it was used. They stacked the ears of corn in rows, with the better corn near the back of the crib, and the poorer corn near the entrance where it could be used first. In other places, “they” stored their corn in special rooms in the houses in which they lived." ... "sometimes... ears of dried corn "were protected from insects by wrapping each one with grass and then plastering it all over with wet clay mixed with grass. In this manner they were able to keep corn from one year to another." (Hudson, 292-299). “
“CORN: "Inds. in the eastern United States began cultivating beans at about the same time they began cultivating the eastern flint corn, at around AD 800 to 1000. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) occurs in hundreds of varieties, including kidney, navy, pinto, snap, and pole beans. Some of these beans grow on bushy plants, while others grow on vines, requiring that they be planted alongside cornstalks or poles. Most of these varieties ripen in about ten weeks.
they "began cultivating squash perhaps as early as 1000 B.C., far earlier than they began cultivating corn and beans. They planted the northern species, Cucurbita pepo L., a species comprising pumpkins and summer squashes. Squash is a good vegetable because it is relatively easy to grow and it is highly productive. Some varieties of squash could be stored in a cool, dry place and kept through the winter.
"Corn, beans and squash were unusually well suited to each other. When grown in the same field they complemented each other, and in recognition of their basic compatibility the Iroquois called them the "three sisters"... Corn and beans are particularly suited to each other, because while corn removes nitrogen from the soil, beans replace nitrogen, and the soil is therefore exhausted more slowly. Moreover, beans and corn complement each other in a dietary sense. Corn supplies some of the protein which is essential for good nutrition, but it lacks the amino acid lysine, which, as it turns out, is relatively abundant in beans. Thus when eaten together corn and beans are a relatively good source of vegetable protein.
".... sunflowers... yielded "large quantities of oily seeds rich in vitamins. With their hard shells, sunflower seeds would have been easy to store for use in winter. And considering the importance of the sun in their belief system, the Southeastern Inds. would not have failed to notice that the sunflower turns to face the sun when it rises, and then follows it across the heavens to where it sets in the west.
Fields were cleared "...of large trees by girdling them with rings cut into the bark. Before contact they used stone axes for this, for European steel axes were so superior that they quickly became one of the items which were most desired. After the girdled trees died, they were either burned or simply left to stand and rot. Fields that had been used the year before had to be cleared in the spring of the weeds and cane that had grown up in the past season. Although agriculture was principally a woman's occupation, the initial clearing of the fields was done by men.
"The time when crops were planted depended upon the climate. The first planting of early corn usually came in March or April; in the northerly parts the first planting usually came in May. They planted the early corn as soon as the threat of frost had passed, but they waited another month or so before planting the late corn because by that time there were wild foods available to deflect the attention of crows and other pests. Early corn was planted in the garden plots in and around the town, and late corn was planted in the large fields in the river bottoms. The garden plots were planted by the women, but the large fields were planted by both sexes. The labor in the large fields was communal. Early in the morning of a working day, one of the old leaders would stand on top of a mound or in the plaza and call all of the people out to work. Those who failed to come had fines imposed upon them.
Before the Natchez planted seed, they took it to the Great Sun to have it sanctified. This may have been done in one form or another throughout the Southeast.
"Although labor was communal, the large fields were divided into individual allotments. Each household or lineage had its own plot, separated from the others by a strip of untilled soil. All the people worked together on one plot until it was worked up and planted, and then they moved on to another. In some cases, an entire field would be cultivated by the people... and its produce turned over to the chief to use for ritual occasions and for redistribution to people in need. Planting had a festive quality, and there was always a great deal of singing and joking. They worked the soil with digging sticks and with short hoes that had wooden handles and blades made of shell, flint, or the shoulder blade of a large mammal. The Inds. did not till the entire field, but instead worked up small "hills" a foot or more in diameter. This both prevented soil erosion and preserved the fertility of the soil longer than did the plow-agriculture introduced by the European colonists. Hills were laid out in straight lines and spaced three or four feet apart in both directions. Laying out the corn in a regular pattern made weeding easier later on. In each hill, they made a cluster of four to six holes spaced about one or two inches apart. Seed that had been soaked for a day to hasten germination was dropped in, one grain to a hole. A little hill of dirt was then piled over each group of seeds. Some of the Inds. carefully planted just four grains of corn in each cluster; others probably planted more and thinned out the less robust stalks after they came up.
"The kind of soil suitable for riverine agriculture was scarce, and because of its scarcity, the agricultural strategy of the Southeastern Inds. was designed to produce maximum yield from relatively small fields. They accomplished this by two techniques: intercropping and multiple cropping. Intercropping was the planting of several kinds of vegetables mixed together in the same field. As we have seen, corn, beans, and squash complemented each other. The Inds. planted corn and beans together so that the bean vines grew up they twined around the corn stalks. In between the hills of corn and around the edges of the field they planted gourds, squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers, and chenopodium (goosefoot plant) came up wherever they allowed it to grow.
"Multiple cropping was the planting of two successive crops on the same field in one season. They used this technique on their early corn, which ripened early and was picked and eaten green. As soon as they could clear the field of the first crop, they planted another crop in the same field to be eaten later in the season....
"After they planted their corn, cultivation consisted of "hilling" the corn, keeping predators away, and keeping the weeds down. After the corn came up a few inches, they hilled it by piling loose dirt around the roots. Corn requires a large quantity of water during its growing season, but it also needs good drainage so that the plants do not drown. Hilling helps satisfy both of these requirements. Furthermore, corn has roots that are relatively weak and shallow for its size, and hilling helps keep the stalks from being blown over by the wind.
"People stayed on watch in the fields during the day in order to frighten away bird and animal pests. At night fires were sometimes built around the fields for the same purpose. This job of watching the fields fell to old women, or to young boys under the supervision of old men. Watching the fields was a rather dangerous and sometimes fatal occupation because enemies would seize upon the watchman's lack of protection for a surprise attack. (Note: there is not one recorded incidence that this ever happened.).
"Some... employed a particularly clever way of keeping pests out of their gardens. They placed poles around the gardens and on the poles they hung gourd houses for purple martins. Purple martins not only consume large numbers of insects each day, but they are also aggressive toward crows and blackbirds, both of which are especially destructive of newly planted corn... also, some "may also have encouraged the nesting of swifts and wrens, which also eat insect pests and chase away crows and blackbirds.
"When the corn was about one-foot-high, they went through their fields with hoes, cutting down the weeds. Some repeated this weeding several times during the summer, but others were less meticulous, letting the weeds grow up to compete with their crops. Each they weeded the corn, they hilled it a little more, until by the end of the summer a noticeable mound of earth was piled around the bases of the Stalks. Some "suckered" their corn by breaking off the secondary shoots which grew at the bases of the stalks. This was to make the ears grow larger, increasing the yield. In August, after growth had stopped, the ears of the late corn were bent down against the stalk to keep water from running into the husk and rotting the corn.
"They harvested this late corn as soon as it was dry enough, usually in September or October. Each household or lineage harvested its own plot of corn, though in some places the plot assigned to the chief was harvested with volunteer labor from the entire town. They went through the fields collecting the ears of corn in large pack baskets carried on their backs. In some places each household or lineage contributed a portion of its crop to the chief's store.
"The last essential step in raising a crop of corn was storing it and keeping it safe from field mice and other animals. In some places, (they) stored their corn in cribs raised seven or eight feet from the ground on posts which were polished so mice could not climb them. The crib itself was plastered inside and out with mud. The only entrance was a small door which was sealed with mud each time it was used. They stacked the ears of corn in rows, with the better corn near the back of the crib, and the poorer corn near the entrance where it could be used first. In other places, “they” stored their corn in special rooms in the houses in which they lived." ... "sometimes... ears of dried corn "were protected from insects by wrapping each one with grass and then plastering it all over with wet clay mixed with grass. In this manner they were able to keep corn from one year to another." (Hudson, 292-299). “
