400 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



was pointed out to me that "no one from the government ever comes 

 out here. A man from Bogota might spend the day in Florencia be- 

 tween planes, but we never see him !" The bus drivers were amazed 

 that I should want to go to Montanita, the end of the line. 



In the environs of Florencia, with a radius of 8 to 10 miles, the forest 

 has been cleared away and permanent pastures have been established. 

 This area has been settled long enough so that trees and stumps have 

 all completely decayed. However, from Venezia southeastward to 

 Montanita the country has been cleared much more recently; dead 

 trees are still standing in the fields and not all of the felled trees have 

 rotted away. The foothills of the mountains look as if they had had 

 a very irregular "soup bowl" haircut. 



SOILS 



The soils between Florencia and Montanita, in the areas with almost 

 no gradient as well as on the slopes of the low hills, are fine-textured 

 but fairly well drained. Those southwest of town, on the road to 

 Belen, are poorly drained. Ponds of water, some small, others acres 

 in extent, stand in the pastures for days after each rain. They dry up 

 only when there is a week or so without rain. 



MONTAfilTA 



Montanita itself, 20 miles southeast of Florencia, is in an area of 

 rapid colonization. It was just a group of houses (caserio) till 1940 

 when a central square, or plaza, was laid out where meat and other 

 products were brought in for sale. The case of Mr. Muiioz is typical 

 (pi. 5, fig. 2) . He had settled on a piece of land half a mile from Mon- 

 tanita when he came to this sector in 1922. The whole area was in 

 forest at that time, and tied to the outside by a very poor mule trail. 

 He worked on the telegraph line for four years while clearing land for 

 pastures and food crops. By now he has some 300 hectares cleared — 

 75 where he lives and 225 on the trail to the village of Puerto Rico. 

 The farmer is self-sufficient as far as basic foodstuffs are concerned. 

 He has l 1 /^ hectares of plantains, one-half hectare of yuca, and one- 

 quarter of sugarcane. The cane continues to produce enough sweet 

 juice each year for household use, although it has not been replanted 

 in 30 years. The soil is good, but not so good as it is in Huila. It is 

 especially poor in calcium, and deficient in nitrates and phosphates. 

 Fertilizers would be a great boon, but chemical fertilizers are too ex- 

 pensive, and animal fertilizer is not collected. The existence of vast 

 areas of unoccupied land means that ranchers are not interested in 

 intensification in the use of land already cleared to the extent of stall 

 feeding of soilage crops in order to make use of the stable manure for 

 restoring the fertility of fields under cultivation. Citrus fruits would 

 do well, but no one plants or tends them systematically. Vegetables 



