BEANS, SQUASH, SUNFLOWERS, AND TOBACCO
BEANS
Beans seem to have arrived in the upper Midwest somewhat later than corn, perhaps around 1200 AD. Like corn, the beans grown in this area came from Mexico. Beans were grown in the American Southwest and probably spread east and north from there. The beans are all varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris which is an extremely variable species. Eaten green they are green beans/snap beans/string beans (all the same thing). Eaten at maturity and threshed out with considerable labor they may be Navy beans, red beans, pinto beans, Great Northern beans and many more. Probably all groups with gardens maintained several varieties, perhaps even a dozen or more. Families had their favorites then as now.
Beans have the advantage of not only providing energy in the form of carbohydrates but also of providing a number of desirable amino acids. Beans eaten in conjunction with corn could provide all the amino acids a human needs to manufacture all the proteins that make up our bodies. The Aztecs had very little meat in the extremely crowded Valley of Mexico, but maintained themselves largely on a diet of corn and beans. This would not have been a problem in the Midwest and the Plains where ample protein was available from deer and bison. Beans, like corn, can be stored for long periods of time and still maintain their nutritional value.
Beans were planted in hills about a foot long and a few inches high. Whether they were interplanted with corn is a matter for debate. The practice is described, and usually there is the notion that both the beans and the corn are deriving some sorts of mutual benefits. The corn provides support for the growing beans and the beans provide nitrogen (which rhizobial bacteria "fix" in nodules in their roots). In practice the beans compete with the corn for sunlight (and moisture) and make a great tangle which is very difficult to untangle at harvest time. It makes harvesting the corn more difficult and it makes harvesting the bean much more difficult. Planting the beans by themselves in hills and simply allowing them to sprawl is by far the easiest way of growing them. On the other hand the convention of having the beans growing on the corn does improve the yield of the beans. Just how important beans were is unknown, and the amount grown was probably determined by the individual preferences of the gardeners.
Once the beans had been harvested (the entire vine was pulled from the ground and taken to the threshing area), and the beans were fully dried they could be put into a container and placed in a storage pit with the corn. As winter wore on food would be removed from the storage pit and prepared for meals.
SQUASH
All squash grown north of Mexico seem to have been Cucurbita pepo. Here squash and pumpkin are interchangeable names for the fruit. This is a variable species as well. Pumpkins are the most obvious members of the group, but it would also include zucchini and acorn squash. The best known pumpkins - the orange, ribbed varieties - were not grown in the upper Midwest. At least in historic times they seem to have been a motley bunch with striped and multicolored fruits - probably Hubbard squash brought in by traders. The original pumpkins were probably green and white striped pumpkins which were usually five to eight inches in diameter and were eaten at every stage of development. Flowers might be eaten, spoons could be made from the leaves, three to five day old fruits could be boiled and eaten whole. When the skins were thin they could be eaten as summer squash or sliced and dried for winter consumption. And when fully ripe they could be kept for months if they didn't freeze. I have kept a pumpkin for more than a year in my office before it disintegrated into a smelly mess. Some varieties of pumpkins have edible seeds but those described have thin seeds with only a little "meat".
Fully mature pumpkins/squashes may be dried (some more easily than others) which turns them into gourds. Gourds have all kinds of possible uses as storage and carrying devices. They can also be used to make rattles which were an important part of many ceremonies in some societies. Another species of gourd producing plants is the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria). This species was grown in the what is now the southern United States south into Mexico and South America. It is extremely variable in both size and shape. This is the species which is sometimes known as the bird-house gourd. Bottle gourds apparently floated across the Atlantic and were picked up on the beach by someone who recognized their potential and planted the seeds - 7000 years ago or so. Bottle gourds are particularly durable and are still widely used in Africa and in Latin America. Cut at its widest the bottom of a gourd becomes a bowl. Cut near the top it becomes a bottle. Cut lengthwise it becomes a ladle.
Squash take up a lot of room and can turn a patch of corn into a jungle (personal experience). Therefore a row of squash hills makes a good division between different varieties of corn. Corn pollen is large and heavy, and although it can blow around it tends to fall not far from its source (a good reason for planting corn in clumps of plants - good pollination is guaranteed). Hills of squash can be planted about 8 feet apart with two to four plants per hill. They are susceptible to at least two kids of squash borers so by burying the vines at leaf nodes a gardener can induce the plant to send more roots into the ground and minimize (but not eliminate) damage. If recognized early enough it may be possible to kill the borer in the vine before it kills the vine.
SUNFLOWERS
Sunflowers grow wild over much of what is now the United States and are the only major domesticate from this area not imported from Mexico. The wild variety and the domesticated are the same species - Helianthus annuus. Wild sunflowers have flowers two or three inches across and rather small seeds. What the Indians selected for in this plant was larger seeds and therefore larger flowers. Sunflowers grown in Indian gardens typically had one large head (10-12 inches in diameter) and a multitude of smaller heads and stalks growing from the bases of the leaves of the main stalk. Sunflower seeds are the source of an oil which can be extracted by mashing the seeds and boiling them. The oil is skimmed off. This leaves a still oily and protein rich pulp which was formed into balls and used as a high energy food while hunting or traveling. Sunflowers were domesticated probably by 5000 years ago and grown from the Southwest to the East Coast, north practically to the Canadian border in North Dakota and south into Mexico. Because sunflowers are tall (to eight feet) and because they produce a chemical that causes adjacent plants to grow poorly Buffalo-Bird Woman of the Hidatsa says they were planted around the borders of the garden plot, which she also thought to be very attractive. She said the seeds from the large head produced a different quality of seed than the smaller heads which were often allowed to be frosted before gathering and threshing. Besides tasting good sunflower seeds a a very high energy food. Sunflowers are also resistant to drought.
TOBACCO
Tobacco grown in the Northern Plains was an import from the West Coast. Just as dentalium shells (long, conical shells used for decoration) were traded in well over a thousand miles so was the tobacco plant. Tobacco was a plant with many sacred associations and was grown by men in small plots away from the main gardens. This tobacco (Nicotiana quadrivalvis bigloveii) is not the same as commercially grown tobacco. It generally grows from about 18-24 inches tall and has a multitude of white flowers. It is slightly sticky and has a very strong smell. Because of its significance in many ceremonies it is deemed a very special plant. Tobacco seeds are very tiny (smaller than a pin head), but are easily collected by gathering the dried capsules and crushing them in the hands. Tobacco also reseeds but it does not grow well in any one spot for more than a couple years after which the plants fail to grow well.
Written by: Dr. Michael Scullin, 2003
