20 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO.. 4 
some regions merely of old leaves of maize and other 
plants where the soil is good (Santiago Atitlan, Pana- 
jachel), or animal manure, which may be bought or 
gathered from the stables by the Indians, as at Solola. 
It is mainly obtained from their own animals (espe- 
cially cattle; Cajola, Chiquilaja, San Andrés Xecul) 
and mixed half-and-half with leaf litter. Estimates at 
Solola and at San Juan Ostuncalco agreed that about 
10 or 12 sacks (80-100 Ib. each) of this mixed leaf 
and manure fertilizer are used per cuerda (about 30 
yd. sq.). A small amount is generally applied to each 
hill. The commonest and most important manuring 
practice of the Highlands in the sheep country, above 
2,000 m. (6,562 ft.), is that of keeping the sheep at 
night in small movable pens, each about 10 to 15 yards 
square, made up of broad, vertical boards. These 
pens are shifted every fourth to seventh day, depend- 
ing upon the number of sheep, each time to a new spot 
contiguous to the previous one. In this manner, a few 
dozen sheep may enrich a field of considerable size 
during a year. Special benefits to soil fertility are at- 
tributed to sheep urine. I have observed this prac- 
tice at Solola, Cantel, San Francisco el Alto, San 
Juan Ostuncalco, San Andrés Xecul, Pié de Volcan, 
and all through the Cuchumatanes Mountains, and 
have been informed of it in many other parts of the 
high sheep country. In many cases one may observe 
these enclosures, next to rows of adjacent squares of 
uniform size, the darker ones nearer to the pen obvi- 
ously being those recently occupied (pl. 32, d, e). 
Pigs furnish fertilizer at San Francisco el Alto. 
Chicken manure is often saved (observed especially 
at Santa Cruz la Laguna), and human refuse was re- 
portedly used at many localities, notably San Andrés 
Semetabaj. 
Tilling of the soil.—Before planting milpa in the 
Highlands of the southwest, the Indians do as good 
and often even a better job of furrowing with a hoe 
than they could do with a plow and animals, though 
the labor involved is enormously greater. Furrows 
as deep as 12 to 18 inches (30.5 to 45.5 cm.), about 
3 feet (91.4 cm.) apart, extremely even and straight 
(and, on irregular slopes,}? always “‘contoured”) are 
made with a giant, heavy hoe about a foot wide and 
almost square, having about a 5-foot handle, and 
used like a mattock, cutting deeply (pl. 30, a, b,c). 
Probably this was a Spanish Colonial introduction 
to replace pre-Columbian types, doubtless of bone 
and wood. 
ise tiremendous |) steep slopes are cultivated. The angle of slope of a 
milpa on a lava terrace at San Pedro was 40°, or nearly the limit at 
which man can stand upright. 
Only in one Highland locality of the southwest _ 
was the digging stick reported for tillage. That was 
in Momostenango, canton of Tunayac, according to ~ 
Don Ernesto Lang, an intelligent German store- 
keeper who has long lived in that town, and who is 
steele to a native Indian woman. He said that 
“prior to about 50 years ago (1886)”’ all Indians 
used hardwood digging sticks of the Tunayac type, | 
6 feet (nearly 2m.) long, with a wedge point. 
In rows along each side of these freshly turned 
furrows, several grains (usually 5)!4 are planted in 
each hole, a few inches deep. The holes, about 
2 feet (60 cm.) apart, are made in some sections by 
sticks but often they are made by the hoe blade. 
They are usually made to alternate in adjoining rows 
so that the transverse space between the holes is the 
width of two rows. 
As the maize grows, earth is hilled up around each 
group of plants, sometimes into mounds 2 feet or more 
in height, probably a defense against the frequent 
high winds of the plateau and mountain regions 
(pl. 10, ¢). Ox-drawn plows are not uncommon in 
the western Highlands. I have seen a few on the 
nearly level terrain near Quezaltenango, notably at — 
San Mateo, and many near Huehuetenango, where 
they are used mostly by Ladinos (pl. 31, c). In the 
Cuchumatanes Mountains many Indians as well as — 
Ladinos plow. This is especially true at Todos 
Santos Cuchumatan (pl. 31, f). Though plowing 
is usually confined to fairly level terrain, it is some- 
times practiced on remarkably steep slopes, following 
contours as nearly horizontally as possible. 
In Huehuetenango farmers said that, for the rainy- 
season planting, they plowed once, early in May, 
after two or three rains. The furrows were about 
5 inches deep. Often some animal manure was 
added. For the dry-season planting, during January 
and February, there were three plowings—the first 
about November 1, some 10 inches (25 cm.) deep; the 
second about November 20, 5 inches (12.5 cm.) deep, 
and crossing the furrows of the first at right angles; 
and the third about December 10, the same direction 
and depth as the first. The growing period during 
both wet and dry seasons is 7 or 8 months. 
14 Information as to the number in each hole runs as follows: San 
Pedro Laguna and Santiago Atitlan, 5; San Andrés Semetebaj, 5 aver- 
age, 4 good land; San Francisco el Alto, 5-7; San Cristébal Totonica- 
pan, 5; San Andrés Xecul, 7; Cajola, 6-8. This varies with soil 
fertility; apparently, more seeds are used in poorer soil. 
15 Usually 4-6 in. (10-15 cm.) except in dry-season planting, where 
it is deeper (8 in. or more); at Santiago Atitlan 6-8 in. (15-20 cm.) 
seemed usual, as also at San Juan Ostuncalco in the high valley. 
