Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/179

 to five hundred grains on each. Four varieties of maize are said to have been cultivated by the Indians, two of which were only distinguishable from each other by the difference in the size of the ear and stalk, the time for the ripening of both being the same. The remaining varieties were unlike only in the size of the grain; both were frequently yellow, red, white, blue, and streaked. The Indians did not place any scarecrows in their fields; near the centre of each they raised a scaffold, and upon this they erected a small cabin, in which a young Indian was stationed to protect the crops from every form of damage by birds or animals. Enjoying an extensive view from this elevation, he was able to detect the depredators at once. The beans put in the ground with the maize sprang up and were allowed to attach their vines to the stalks; their pods were smaller than the pods of the English bean, of greater diversity of color, and very different in the shape of the leaf. The peas were not so large as the beans, but were similar in their form. Both were sufficiently developed at the end of ten weeks to be eaten, and were therefore gathered before the last of the grain was harvested. The maracocks matured in July, and remained on their vines until September, while the pumpkins required a heavy frost to ripen them. Many maracocks or squashes were in a ripe condition in September, and this vegetable continued to mature in turn until the end of October.

A field of maize on the Powhatan, long before the vessels of the first English explorers appeared upon its waters, was almost the exact counterpart of the same