Show THIS INDIAN KNOWS AND HAS EATEN this introduces a new writer from among the indiana indians to our read ere ers and lie ile draws drans well to allu what lie ile saw knows knous dose jose and lias has eaten it we follow with a tale from prince charming kanosh utah feb 17 1931 A friend mr beckwith deckwith after very interesting reading S weekly paper I 1 have been very glad to see how peoples are telling you about the apples and I 1 thought I 1 would like to gives you little ad vices of the apples because I 1 ate many of these tine fine sweet and far more I 1 know of them foods but there another we called yeta very nearly alike same 1 I wonder it yeta Is what the whites call yucca FB only grows from stalk which grows from soap weeds alike but the spears are little longer than soap weeds and the yeta have still lar ger spears and then the when its full grown will be like big gest cucumbers and when indiana indians roasting use to throwing them into tire fire than ate them and opens them for dry ing for winter or keep and in fall of year will come ripen and it could be eaten raw too I 1 will be glad to see the little ad vi cement in next paper and arid I 1 hope the reader will have their minds very consideration ot of the be cause I 1 tella tells what I 1 ate and how it compare with the other floods foods also I 1 was raised among them right down on nearest bankes of grand canyon then he draws me a very well made highly accurate sketch of this plant with the central stem sticking up bearing the pods or apples on the spike or stem these there apples all droop or hang over like young cu cumbers hanging down very nice exactly like what is in the big die dic flonary as yucca bacata bacaba the edible yucca FB from your friend R C 1 I met robert in joe s a very fine looking handsome handa ome indian big broad shoulders round barrel chest and of a very pre possessing appear ance whom one la is drawn to at once and very smart well educated and manners the best very open face thanks robert I 1 am very glad to publish it frank beckwith sr refer to an unabridged dictionary dic under the term yucca baccala the edible variety of yucca also F H cushing says on page of his wonderful volume zuni Bread stutts during early summer the unripe pods of the yucca spanish bayonet or palmita ai a quart or two of which may sometimes be gathered from a single stalk or spike were very much sought after by the ancient zunis they were boiled excessively in water or in water and ashes when afterwards aft cleansed they had much the appearance of gherkins gherkin si which indeed they prove similar bo to in taste when pickled in vinegar they were eaten either plain or with a liberal allowance of the flavored brine sauce k la ia thi k ose like them gummy with a flavor of cauli flow ers were the hearts of a species of century plant agave which were prepared in the same manner lat er on the large green fruit of the soapweed or dabila a plant similar in appearance appear lance to both ef of the above mentioned either roasted thor hughly in the ashes or else boiled were esteemed quite as much as the yucca pods both forms of food are still prepared in their season the century plants however more pare rare ly because not native to the present habitat of the zunis either was equal to the other as food not infrequently you will hear some old member of the zuni house hold tell the youngsters stories like the following which cause uni versal laughter and clapping of tiny hands the eld w arthy mentioned very likely with h a mouth tall full of boiled fruits will champ a little faster and exclaim 0 yes little ones by the way did you ever know that in ancient times w when hen plants and animals talked some palmitas pal and some dalllas dwelt on opposite mesas and grew extremely quarrelsome with one an other f well it was this way you see is the pads pods grew big en on the palmita and the fruit swelled out on the da was they kept looking across at one another until the biggest and oldest dabila bent over in the breeze and sang out 0 palmita pods palmita pods your ribs are split your ribs are split listen father listen said the young palmita the dalllas ever there are scolding us and calling us split ribs wait a bit said the old pal mita and III give them back as good as they send whereupon he stretched him self and retorted dabila dat dati i a your forehead Is blood your forehead is bloodstained blood stained that s the way the plants of the beloved scolded one another in tha days beyond guessing but all the same the Pal mitta keeps splitting down the belly and the dalllas grow very red at the ends of th thir lr noses where the sun strike them even to this day was there ever a finer writer than cushing 9 you ve got to be an indian to hear the plants talk and the leaves whis per the white man may have talk ing papers and ev n rad 0 a but they cant can t catch tai taunting bi bl n K and forth of the plants from canyon wall bo to canyon wall as qs the I 1 idling can I 1 in going over to kanosh this summer and learn to be an in dian than learn to be mart and live close to nature and listen to the spir it of each thing give forth its mes sage tor for hill dale canyon spring stream bird beast fish or fowl has a spirit cont talking needing but one attuned to catch the retrain our own poets say so there never was a better writer about the indian than that rare gen lus frank hamilton gushing cushing who sat closer to the indian heart than any white man who ever lived among them AND WROTE the picture robert made tor for me Is almost exactly like the sketch gushing cushing made to illustrate his own text so now we have haidi had ted indian draper abbott and back with this to robert indian and gushing cushing all tell us about and some of them have eaten it in our delightful rambles we ve learned of its brothers father mother cousins uncles aunts and the whole plant family we ve even heard them in their jealousy taunt and bicker nag and annoy one another from canyon wall to canyon wall which the whites down in the spaces be tween would say were the breezes playing in the shrubs but which we indians know was the voice ot of flower talking to flower the won drous language of nature which none not attuned to its pitch will ever hear or know it exists doubt ing even when told scoffers never hear beware of 4 0 1 I believe almighty jove heaven la is about us and gods there are above thanks robert and thanks to all who have talked to me of frank beckwith sr don t leave straw around to be a breeding place tor for flies plow it un der or burn it one nice thing about this arid region j we re not bothered with ter mites rf remove droppings from poultry boards often otherwise parasites will breed and drain the life out 0 of the fowls farmers bulletin no 1652 F triam the department ot of agriculture will give you lots of good informs shows what the former owner sites the twelfth federal reserve dis brict says business has bas still at a low ebb during january dairy and poul try prices continued still low iowa produces more mote pop corn than any other state use old crank case oil for spray ing or swabbing chicken houses or perches rats can quickly get to be a real pest and millions of dollars in a year are lost because of them |