Adams] SHONTO : ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 123 



AGRICULTURE 



The practical contribution of farming to Shonto's economy is 

 slight. District 2 has one of the lowest agricultural potentials on the 

 Navaho Eeservation (see Young, 1955, p. 123), and neither the topog- 

 raphy nor the elevation of most of Slionto community is well suited 

 to farming. The community has a total of about 250 acres of dry 

 farmland and some 30 acres of irrigated land, nearly all of the latter 

 being in Shonto Canyon. About half of this area was actually under 

 cultivation in 1955. 



Nonetheless, agriculture remains the most fundamental and neces- 

 sary of all Navaho subsistence activities (see EQuckhohn and Leighton, 

 1946, pp. 20-22), taking precedence even over livestock raising. Hill 

 (1938, p. 18) has observed that all Navahos "consider themselves pri- 

 marily farmers." The mieconomic sedentary character of subsistence 

 livestock practice (see above) is manifestly due to its supplementary 

 adaptation to a farming economy. Not only sheep raising but all 

 other phases of productive activity are subordinate at Shonto to the 

 agricultural cycle (cf. table 24). Railroad workers camiot be re- 

 cruited in any numbers until plowing and planting are completed, and 

 they generally return from their jobs in time for the harvest. 



Availability of farmland more than any other factor determines the 

 location of Shonto's hogans. Range resources, wood, and even water 

 are subsidiary factors. Consequently Shonto's population remains 

 heavily concentrated in the southern and especially the southwestern 

 portion of the community, although far superior range is found at 

 higher elevations north of Shonto Trading Post. 



Traditional Navaho agricultural practice, surrounded by ritual ob- 

 servations at every turn, survives almost intact at Shonto (see Hill, 

 1938, pp. 20-51) . A more up-to-date description of Navaho farming, 

 also generally valid for Shonto, is that of Landgraf (1954, pp. 58-60) . 



All but two of the community's residence groups farm. Primary 

 farmlands (see "Control of Resources," above) are normally as- 

 signed in the name of the residence group headman, but are thought 

 of as controlled collectively by the group, and exploited accordingly. 

 In only six cases is there more than one cornfield in a residence group 

 (see table 17). The average holding is about 5 acres; the largest 

 single assignment is 18 acres. In the drought year 1955, the area actu- 

 ally cultivated by each farming group probably averaged no more 

 than 21/^ acres. All Shonto fields are fenced. 



Corn is Shonto's one major crop. Melons and squashes are found 

 primarily in subsidiary patches near the hogans (see "Control of 

 Resources," above) . One man has an irrigated alfalfa field in Shonto 

 Canyon. There are no orchards as such in the entire community, but 

 perhaps a dozen families have tliree or four peach or apple trees each. 



