THE BUSINESS OF AGRICULTURE 



121 



running to about $10 for a horse and $15 for a 

 mule. Their care is in the hands of the men and 

 boys who average some 5 hours weekly to feed 

 and occasionally wash them and cure their ail- 

 ments. 



DOGS AND CATS 



Dogs and cats are primarily companion animals 

 and have little commercial value. The former 

 help guard the house and cornfield, and the latter 

 kill rats and mice. But their utility is limited, 

 and the damage they do may well balance their 

 usefulness. These animals may be considered 

 luxiiries, and are found more commonly among 

 the rich than the poor. The maximum number 

 of dogs in any household in 1940 was 4 (5 cases); 

 16 families had 3 each, 45 had 2, and 40 had but 

 1 each. Most of the 49 families which had none 

 were on the lower wealth levels. Six of the 33 

 cat-owning families had 3 apiece, 16 had 2 each, 

 and 11 but 1 apiece. All but 2 households with 

 cats also kept dogs. 



Cats and dogs, sometimes purchased when 

 young, are most frequently raised in the home; 

 the young are often sold, for about 10 cents. A 

 grown dog (though less frequently the object of 

 transactions) is usually valued at about 50 cents. 

 Kittens or cats, not usually found in the market 

 place, are exchanged for chicks or other small 

 things. One Indian valued his cat at 15 cents, 

 another at 20 cents; they were probably high. 



Dogs and cats require little care; but they need 

 food beyond kitchen waste and that for which 

 they forage. One wealthy Indian with three dogs 

 and three cats estimated that the former consume 

 a pound of corn and the latter a quarter of a pound 

 daily. If that estimate is near correct, a dog costs 

 $1.50 a year in corn alone and a cat a quarter of 

 that. A female dog makes up part of that cost 

 with the value of its litter, and some people keep 

 a bitch precisely for that purpose, selling the litter 

 in the markets when they go with other produce. 

 But on the whole it cannot be said that dogs are 

 kept for commercial purposes or that they pay for 

 themselves. 



SUMMARY: COSTS AND PROFITS 



Table 42, which summarizes the costs and re- 

 turns of animal husbandry, shows that, in com- 

 parison with agriculture, the raising of domestic 

 animals is of no importance in Panajachel — 

 economically, at least. The cost of raising animals 



is not even 6 percent of the cost of raising crops; 

 the income from animal husbandry is less than 5 

 percent of that from agricultural produce. 



Table 42. — Estimated costs of and returns from domestic 

 animals, 1940 



' Pastures not considered: the manure left is considered to balance it; nor 

 are pen- or coop-building costs included. 



2 Manure not taken into consideration. 



3 This fifTure is based on a guess that the cows average 3 or 4 liters daily, 

 * Based on personal experience In 1937. 



DISPOSAL OF PRODUCE 



Artisans and professionals sell their products or 

 services in their homes or shops to those who come 

 to buy. Laborers are either sought out by em- 

 ployers, or shop themselves for employment, or 

 enter into relatively permanent arrangements with 

 patrones. The discussion to follow is virtually 

 confined to the sale of the agricultural produce 

 which forms the basis of the local economy. 



The corn grown by the Indians of Panajachel is 

 practically never sold. Only a few families grow 

 enough corn for their own household uses, and 

 probably nobody harvests a surplus of any size. 

 Possibly some Indians, in need of money for 

 emergencies, sell their corn after the harvest and 

 subsequently buy piecemeal what they need them- 

 selves; but no such case came to light. True, 

 Indians occasionally lend com to friends and 

 neighbors when money is scarce or there is none 

 in the market; but they expect to be repaid in 

 corn rather than money. The problem in Pana- 

 jachel is not to find a market for the sale of corn 

 but to find the means to buy it. The same can bo 

 said, with less assurance, of the other milpa 

 products; for beans and squash are rarely if ever 

 sold. Green beans are an important item of 

 market produce, especially those grown in irri- 

 gated land, but mature beans, even those grown 

 in garden beds, are almost never sold. There is a 

 woman who raises a special variety of squash in 



