THE LAND 



51 



near th<^ lake shore, of San Bueiiavoiitiire; stony soil that 

 had been used for seven consecutive years. Informant 

 l)lanted niilpa in 1939, burning the old cornstallcs and 

 using no other fertilizer; sowed the yellow Puerto Barrios 

 seed referred to in No. 4, at intervals of 1% varus instead 

 of the more usual l}^. Weather unfavorable; average 

 yield, 19.6 bushels per acre. 



(7) Three and a half cuerdas (0.623 acre) at the foot of 

 the cast hill and the lower part almost level; soil clayey; 

 protected on one side by neighboring niilpa, and below by 

 truck garden. The land had been continuously cultivated 

 with milpa since 1924 by the informant, who burned the 

 stalks and leaves each year as its only fertilizer. Planting 

 yellow corn in the usual manner, except that lie cuts away 

 the first growth before the "first cultivation," and at 

 intervals of 1% varus, the informant says that good harvests 

 have yielded 287 pounds. This is at the rate of 29 bushels 

 per acre. In 1939, however, when the weather was very 

 unfavorable, the yield was at the rate of only 15 bushels 

 per acre. Probublc average annual yield, some 25 bushels 

 ■per acre. 



(8) Four and one-half cuerdas (0.8 acre) contiguous and 

 similar to No. 7. Tliis land has the same history as No. 7, 

 except that from 1933 to 1937 it was mortgagc<l to and 

 iLsed by another Indian who, according to the informant, 

 planted the same seeds by the same methods as he does 

 himself. This was planted in 1938 with the same yellow 

 seed; yield, S3.1 bushels per acre. In the year 1939, witli 

 unfavorable weather, the harvest was like that of No. 7; 

 yield, 15 bushels per acre. 



These arc records of informants. In 1940 I was 

 able to check some of them: 



(9) The owner of the land of cases Nos. 7 and 8, who 

 planted the whole 8 cuerdas (1.42 acres) in 1940, measured 

 oS a cuerda in the cent(!r of the field and harvested the corn 

 of this section separately. The harvest consisted of three 

 50 by 10 mesh bags, one containing small huskc^d ears, the 

 second large ears in tlie husk, and the third some of each. 

 I could not shell the corn (for the owner would have no way 

 of storing the grain), but I weiglicd tlie bag.s on an accurate 

 balance. The first bag weighed just 150 ijounds, the 

 second 140, and the third (which was not full) just 75. 

 We carefully calculated that we should reduce the total 

 by 40 pounds for the bags, husks, and cobs. The re- 

 mainder was 325 pounds of grain, which meant that the 

 measured cuerda yielded at the rate of 32.6 bushels per 

 acre. The measured-olT cuerda obviously yielded better 

 than the field as a whole, as the center usually does. We 

 calculated, simply by counting the total number of bags 

 husked and of unhusked corn and a.ssuming that they 

 weighed the .same as did our samples, that the yield of 

 the wliole field, including white maize that did poorly, 

 was at the rate of just So bushels per acre. This is just 

 what we had previously calculated from his information 

 alone. 



Tlie iufdiiiiaiit said Ihal (he yield in 1910, that 

 we had just niea.sured, was ulxml the same as 

 that of 19:58, and nuieh better than that of 19:59. 

 A i^lance at tlie fij^iires of cases Nos. 7 and 8, 



inch'pendenlly colleeted in 19:59, will show how 

 nearly correct his judgment was. ''{''hei-C! seems 

 little qnestion that the yields nu^ntioned in these 

 last three cases are very nearly correct. It is 

 especially signilicant, therefore, to note again 

 that this land began to produce corn in 1924 and 

 without the addition of any outside fertilizer in 

 1940 it still yiolch^l 25 bushels per acre. 



(10) An informant who had not previou.sly supplied me 

 with information allowed me to weigh the harvest of corn 

 yielded by what he said were 3 cuerdas (0.54 acres) of 

 steep Santa Catarina hillside which he had rented. I did 

 not see or measure the land, but I saw the five small bags 

 of corn that it produced and noting that they were equal, 

 we shelled but one of the five and weighed the grain. 

 The grain weighed 05 pounds, so that it may bo calculated 

 that the total yield was 325 pounds, or at the rate (if the 

 land area was correctly calculated) of 11 bushels per acre. 

 Unfortunately, I neglected to ask th.e informant how much 

 corn he had oaten before the harvest; since he is poor, it 

 may be that such a factor was impoitant in the case. 



A casual informant said that his 1940 yield from 

 4 cuerdas was four large bags, each containing ir)0 

 poTuids, or at the rate of 20 bushels per acre. A 

 very reliable Indian told me that a e(>rtain 30 

 rtirnld.'i (5.4 acres) planted for the second year, 

 yielded 48 large bags; if tlu; bags averaged (as in 

 case 9) 1:50 pounds of shelled corn, the yield per 

 acre on this largo })iece was 21 bushels per acre. 



If sueli iceords are typical, the yield of hillside 

 corn rarely if ever reaches :5I) l)ushels per acre. 

 The range in eases icporled is fi-om 29 down to 

 11 bushels per ncrc (leaving out the disastrous 

 white corn of case No. 4), the average of 

 good and bad years about 20 bushels per acre. 

 In the long run "bad"' years may be less frequent 

 and the long-lime average yield closer to 30 

 than to 20 bushels, as tin; Indians believe. Never- 

 theless, for 1930 I have set it at 20 bushels. It 

 shoidd be emphasized that Panajachel hill land 

 is not exhausted as (juickly as reputed here and 

 elsewhere using the same system of agriculture. 

 (McBryde, 1947, i)p. 17-18). The land of cases 

 3, 4, and 5, in use continuously since 1914, yield- 

 ed 22.5 bushels per acre of yellow corn in 1940, 

 com|)ar(>d with the yieUls of 28 and 25 bushels 

 per acre for second and third year land (cases 1 

 ami 2). Cases 7, 8, and 9, in continuous use since 

 1924, show a yield of 25 bushels per acre in 1940. 

 The evidence is not conclusive; soil analys(>s were 

 not madcr, it is also conceivable that tlu^ Indians 

 who say that animals W(>re never grazed on the 

 land err in their historical accounts. 



