Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/178

 some instances the beans were sowed in the interval of four feet between the holes in which the maize was placed, and in this interval there were also planted the seeds of peas, pumpkins, gourds, cymlins, and May-apples, doubtless upon some plan of alternation, as the soil would otherwise have been choked with vegetation. These seeds were not put in the ground until the blades of maize had not only risen above the surface, but also attained to a moderate size. The cymlins were planted in May, and the other seeds probably about the same time.

The first plantation of maize began in April and the second in May, and this was continued with interruptions until the middle of June, the object of this deferred planting being to secure until the arrival of frost a constant supply of roasting ears, of which the Indians were inordinately fond. The crop which was put in the ground in April was harvested in August; the May planting was harvested in September, and the June planting in October. As the young maize expanded in size, it was protected from the encroachments of weeds, the interval between the rows being kept as clean and well-ordered as a garden-bed, and when the stalks had risen to one-half of their expected height, hillocks of earth were drawn around their roots. The average number of ears found on a plant were, according to Smith, two; three were occasionally observed, but four very rarely. Spelman, however, states that there were commonly four or five attached to a single stalk. There were from two hundred