506 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



squash or pumpkins are ideal for this kind of farming, for their vines 

 spread all over the ground and over the fallen logs and heaps of brush 

 that have not been burned. Thus every bit of land is actually in use, 

 and each crop gets its quota of sunshine. Near the house, especially 

 where the slops are thrown, will usually be the patch of cooking 

 bananas, one of the first plants to be planted and a great producer of 

 food for all. One of the most significant food plants is yuca, a patch 

 of which is usually found near most huts. It grows from cuttings in 

 about any kind of soil — sandy, rocky, moist, dry, etc. — seems to have 

 few pests, always makes a crop of some kind, and has the advantage 

 of keeping well in the ground after it has matured ; thus there is no 

 storage problem, as the roots can be dug up whenever needed from the 

 time they are small, the size of young carrots, to when they are full 

 grown, weighing many pounds. 



It is difficult for the author to draw a clear line between garden 

 agriculture and fire agriculture. Undoubtedly, even the most primi- 

 tive farmers had, and have today, dooryard gardens. As seeds of 

 fruits and vegetables were thrown out on refuse heaps, some of them 

 sprouted, grew up as "volunteers," and began themselves to produce 

 fruits and vegetables right there, handy to the house dwellers. As this 

 process continued, more ground would be cleared for them, first by fire 

 alone perhaps, then later on by the felling of brush and small trees, the 

 girdling of larger trees, and the firing of the whole complex when it 

 is dry — the slash-and-burn agriculture of today. It is a short step 

 from the dooryard gardens created accidently or casually, to the well- 

 kept gardens achieved by design, in which rare plants, such as exotics 

 and spices, would be grown. As has been seen, the diet of the sub- 

 sistence farmer is apt to be monotonous, at least for certain parts of 

 the year when only one food item is available. When one has lived for 

 weeks or months on cooking bananas, sweet yuca, or farina, it is 

 small wonder that powerful herbs such as small green onions, chives, 

 coriander, hot peppers, and so on, may be resorted to, both for variety 

 as well as for purgatives. 



The subsistence farmer is in a closed, almost hermetically sealed, 

 economic unit or cocoon that he spins around himself ; he may try to 

 work his way out of this cell by taking to market a bag of raw cotton, 

 or perhaps an extra bunch of cooking bananas, or even a few kilos of 

 yuca, but these small surpluses usually are not produced by design. 

 The load of firewood or charcoal, however, carried by mule or canoe 

 or even on one's back, is expressly cut or made for sale and is often 

 the only and seemingly very tenuous economic thread that gives the 

 slash-and-burn cultivator contact with his fellows on the regional 

 scene. It also serves the purpose of getting him and his family to 

 the village or market town, where they gorge themselves on items 



