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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



shores are considerably higher. It is interesting 

 to note that the hillsides seem to produce about 

 as much beans per hectare as the lakeshore. 



Table 13 shows the data on wheat production. 

 An average of 26 man-days of work per hec- 

 tare is required, with the recorded range from 

 17 to 35. The lakeshores, as in the case of 

 maize, get a little more attention. There is also 

 a great range in the amount of seed planted 

 per hectare, from 33 liters to 76 liters. The 

 average of 46 seems to be about optimum. Lake- 

 shore milpas produce from 5 to 7 cargas of 

 161 kilos each, averaging 220 liters, per hec- 

 tare. Town lots range from 1.7 to 3.8, while 

 hillsides in normal years average from 1 to 3. 

 Cases 7, 8, 10, and 11 are harvests for 1944, 

 a bad drought year. Lakeshore milpas produce 

 from 15 to 35 liters of crop for 1 of seed; hill- 

 sides average 5 to 15. Lakeshore milpas re- 

 quire about 5 man-days of work per cargo, while 

 the hillsides require 10. 



An attempt, more or less as an academic 

 exercise, was made to translate agricultural 

 costs of production into terms of pesos and 

 centavos (table 14). Cultural values are suf- 

 ficiently different in Tzintzuntzan so that such 

 an interpretation would mean quite a different 

 thing to the local farmer than to us. Never- 

 theless, it does give some idea as to what is 

 profitable work, and what is not, and reflects a 

 good deal of light on these different cultural 

 values. Costs of production are figured as plow 

 and equipment, interest on money invested in 

 the land, taxes, rent of oxen, rent of horses for 

 wheat threshing, labor, and seed. Determining 

 land value is the most difficult problem. Tax 

 records are notoriously low, and some of the 

 land is not even listed. Nevertheless, this figure, 

 when available, has been included in the table. 

 Ignacio Estrada, case 3, bought his milpa in 

 1939 for $1,200, at a time when land was far 

 less costly than today. On the bill of sale the 

 price was given as $300, in an attempt to keep 

 taxes at a minimum. In 1945 he claims to have 

 turned down a fantastic offer of $20,000. "What 

 would I have done with all that paper?" he 

 asks. Good land is the most priceless treasure 

 a man may have. Ignacio acquired by good 

 luck what is perhaps the best milpa in the en- 

 tire region, and, since he has adequate income 

 for his daily needs, the land literally is price- 



less. Only if the offer had been made in silver 

 would he have considered it. A compromise 

 value of $9,000 was decided upon for this land. 



Mariano Cornelio estimated the value of his 

 land, also not for sale, at from $4,000 to $6,000, 

 and the minimum figure was taken. Vicente 

 Rendon estimated the value of Salvador Villa- 

 gomez' milpa, which he farms as share cropper, 

 at $6,000, the figure which was taken. In 1942 

 Vicente Rendon refused to buy the small town 

 lot which he cultivated as security in 1945 at 

 a proffered $350; in 1945, when he offered this 

 sum, the price had risen to $450, which he re- 

 fused to pay. Hence, a figure of $400 was de- 

 cided upon. Roughly, good lakeshore land may 

 be considered to be worth about $3,000 a hec- 

 tare, a truly fantastic sum measured by any 

 standards. In 1945, land around the ydcatas 

 was expropriated for the archeological zone for 

 about $500 a hectare; impartial estimates sug- 

 gest that $600 would have been closer to a true 

 value. This sum was taken as the base for 

 estimates of values of the hillside milpas in 

 question. Interest has been figured at 6 percent. 

 Taxes, clearly, are a negligible factor, as are 

 plow and other equipment. 



Apart from relative fertility, lakeshore land 

 should have a higher value, since it can be 

 farmed almost continuously, two crops a year, 

 wheat and maize, while the hillsides can aver- 

 age only two crops every 2 years. In practice, 

 lakeshores are not entirely sown every year. If 

 wheat has been planted, the following maize 

 crop may cover only a half of the milpa. Hence, 

 utilization might average 80 percent compared 

 to 50 percent for the hillsides. 



It is apparent that a hectare of land planted 

 in beans and maize is almost invariably a bet- 

 ter investment than one planted in wheat. The 

 best lakeshore milpas indicate profits of from 

 $400 to $750 per hectare, while good hillsides 

 average about $100 or a bit more. The impor- 

 tance of beans becomes apparent when it is 

 noted that their harvest value just about covers 

 all agricultural costs for the maize-bean plant- 

 ing. This means that, when both are planted 

 together, the value of the maize harvest ap- 

 proximates the theoretical profit on the land. 

 The importance of beans is further apparent in 

 that, without them, it is a rare hillside milpa 

 that will show a profit; in fact, a loss would 



