The Indians were able to clear fields, of several hundred acres in
extent, without the aid of metal tools, using fire as their chief
agent. Trees, too large to be cut with their stone hatchets, were
killed either by building a fire at the base or by girdling the bark.
The trees in dying furnished fire wood for domestic use. Planting
began among the dead trees wherever enough loose dirt could be
scraped together to make a hill for seeding. In the course of time
the fields became entirely free from forest growth. These fields were
cropped in most cases until their fertility was exhausted and then
abandoned. If there was no more available fertile land in the
vicinity, the tribe moved to a new location. The early white settlers
on the Atlantic Coast found many of these abandoned clearings.
Because of their unproductiveness they were called "poisoned fields."
The Indians had only the crudest sorts of farming tools. Near the
coast, sea shells were the most efficient implements they possessed.
The fresh-water clam-shells came next in usefulness. Where these
natural scrapers were not available, pointed sticks, and pieces of
flat rock served the purpose. One writer describing the Illinois
Indians' method of farming says:
This tillage consists in breaking up just the surface of the
earth with a sort of wooden instrument, like a little pickaxe,
which they make by splitting the end of a thick piece of wood,
that serves for a handle, and putting another piece of wood,
sharp pointed at one end into the slit. This instrument serves
them instead of a hoe or spade, for they have no iron tools.