50 



THE UND 



be unreliahlc. Production of corn in the Depart- 

 ment of Solnifi in 1935 3G was oflicially esti- 

 mated at 62,249 hundredweight on 4,094 man- 

 zanas of cultivated land," or aljout 13.7 bushels 

 per acre, next year at 136,484 hutidredweight on 

 5,952 manzanas ,^'' or 23.6 bushels per acre. Ac- 

 cording to the same source the yield per acre in 

 the R(!public as a wholes dropped from 17.2 in 

 1935-36 to a litth- less than 16 in 1930-37. Even 

 were these estimates reliable, tht^ yield in Paiia- 

 jachel might b(\ (juite different from that of the 

 Department of Solold. 



In Panajachel tlie Indians consider "three bags 

 per cuerda" an average yield; they say they may 

 get only half of that or as much as four bags or 

 more. Offhand they say that om; bag gives 100 

 pounds of siiclled corn,'-' so that tlieir "(hree bags 

 per cuerda" may Ik; translated 30 bushels per 

 acre. Tins yield is attributed to hill land, un- 

 fertilized (except by the yeaily wild gi'owth and the 

 cornstallis burned or tvu-ned under. Town land is 

 known to produce more Ix^'ause, it is level and 

 usually fertilized with rotted leaves of coffee 

 bushes. Indications are that the Iiulians figure 

 too optimistically. In delta truck lands where 

 the soil is fertilized, the field easily guarded, and 

 the j)lants can even be watered if necessary, it is 

 true that tlu! yield is high. A reliable informant 

 for 15 consecutive years harvested from a cuerda 

 (0.178 acre) of sucli land as much as 46 bushels 

 per acre, which appears to be about the nnixi- 

 nunn. Judging from other data, the worst yield 

 from that piece of land is about 20 bushels per 

 acre. My only other information on delta yields 

 comes from an tixperimental milpa wc planted 

 in 1936;^* the area was small and the year bad; 

 too much reliance must not be placed on the re- 

 sidts. The yield for the whole plot was at the 

 rate of 25 bushels per aere, the range; between 57 

 and 4. In the portion i)lantcd in the siime manner 



<i Mrmmin. I)i>pt. Aprl., 1937, p. M2 (OllatPmala. 1938). 



" MemoTia. Ilcpt. AKri-, I'J.tH, ji. 213 (auateitmla. 1939). 



" EstirTi:it<'Sof t'risiial infdrrnaiils rant'cl frorii r.o li> \M pounds for a "laipi'" 

 bag. In good harvests, with more and larger kerneKs to the ear the net weight 

 of Uie grain is greater per liagfiil of harvested (jiirs. Sinew bags difler in size. 

 It is dlllicult to bo .satisfied in llie matter. I helped thresh only one bagful 

 of corn, so must depend upon statements of three reliable informants. They 

 seem to agree that in times of good harvest a standard .')0 by 10 bag — the 

 numbers refer to tlie number nf mesties -liolds eaoiigli ears to give 1110 pounds 

 of shelled corn. One says that a good harvest gives 11.'; poun.ls from a full 

 bag of this siie, but that in bail years the yield is only 100 pounds. Another, 

 who uses oversize (.W by 12), bags, gets 120 pounds, but that in tlio poor year 

 1939 each bag yielded only 95 |)ounds. 



" The experiment and its results aie outlined iu my mii'i<ifilmcd notes, 

 pp. HU-194. 



as the Indians nonnally do in the delta, the yield 

 was about^ 30 bushels per acre. However, the 

 experimental plants suffered extraordinary vicissi- 

 tudes. It. seems on the whole probable that the 

 normal yield in tin; delta is well over 30 bushels 

 per acre, and that it rnn to about 35 in 1936. 



The yield on the hillsides is certainly less. 

 Thn^e reliable informants furnished the following 

 information on their own harvests over a period 

 of years: 



(1) Ten cucrdas (1.78 acres), near the foot of the East 

 slope; mediinii incline; stony soil (consitlored good); 

 the land had l)con at rest tip to 193-1, when the vegetation 

 had been felled and tjurned and milpa planted. In 19.35 

 the informant .sowed tliis sccond-.vear land in the usual 

 manner, half with yellow and half with white corn. The 

 weather diirine; the growing season was favorable. The 

 yield was at the rate of 28 bushels per acre for the yellow 

 corn, 20 busliels per acre for the white; average yield, S4 

 huahcts per acre. 



(2) Same land as No. 1; [ilanli'd in 1930 with yellow 

 corn only. The weather conditions were loss favorable 

 tlian in lOS-'J; average yield, 25 bushels per acre. 



(3) Thirty cuerdas (.'j.3! acres) on the East slope; the 

 soil is black and loose, witli few stones; since 1914 it had 

 been used annually for milpa, but the cornstalks were 

 always tnrncfl back into the soil, and only occasionally 

 were the leaves removed from the field. The higher part 

 of the field is much more inclined than the lower, whicli 

 is almost levt-l; a barren rock cliff also shades jiart of the 

 liigher portion. In 1937 the informant planted one-half 

 of the piece, including higli and low portions. Cultivation 

 was as usual, except that hard i>laoes (in which clumps of 

 grass grew) were hoed up. Fourteen of the fifteen cucrdas 

 were sown with yellow corn; the other, at the liighest edge 

 of the land, at the foot of the rock cliff, was sown with 

 wliite corn. The harvest of yellow corn was at the rate 

 of 14,3 bushels, of white corn, 20 bushels; average yield, 

 l.'f,7 bu!:hels per acre. 



(4) Same land as No. 3, l)iit the entire pieces planted by 

 the informant and his family. Cultivated in the same 

 manner as usual, in 1938 white corn was planted in a strip 

 along the higher edge, occupying 8 of the 30 cords. The 

 rest was planted with a y(41ow corn that a local Ladino is 

 supposed to have brought from Puerto Barrios (on the 

 Atlantic coast) 2 years before and planted in I'anajachel. 

 The land was divided acro.ss the contour into four equal 

 stri[)s, each planted by one mc^mber of the family. The 

 yellow corn yielded 22. .'J bushels per acre, the center 

 strijjs 21 bushels and the other, 1 9. fi bushels per acre. The 

 white corn liid very piHirly, yielding at the rate of .5 

 bushels per acre; nveragv yield, 17.8 bushels per acre. 



(.')) Same land as No. A, i)lanted in 1939 entirely with 

 yellow corn. lieaiis were also i)lanted, l)Ut yielded nothing 

 for lack of rain. The weather was very unfavorable. One 

 outside strip yielded 18 bushels per acre, the other, 16.5; 

 one inside strip yielded Hi. .5 and the other, 1 1.-1 bushels per 

 acre; average yield, 15.6 bushels per acre. 



(G) Four cuerdas of 34 varus (0.784 acre) on the hillside, 



