 Before the arrival of European settlers, Native Americans farmed portions of Connecticut, growing corn, beans, and squash, among other plants; and tilling land using stone hoes, bones, turtle shells and wood.Native American tribes in New England are thought to have rotated crops, allowed land to lie fallow, and cleared land for cultivation using fire.Colonial settlers assimilated some practices of Native American farmers, particularly their reliance on corn as a crop; the use of fish and marine mud as a fertilizer; and their gathering of wild-growing "Indian rice", berries and hemp.