CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



23 



when maize begins to do poorly in a field, with 

 small stalks and poor ears, barley is often 

 planted for 1 year. This "warms up" the soil 

 and good corn crops are secured for a few years. 



Maize lands are plowed twice, the first time 

 in late summer or fall, the second in late winter, 

 the furrows of the second plowing being made 

 at right angles to those of the first. Planting 

 takes place in the spring after danger of frost 

 is past ; on the plain this is as early as March, 

 but at higher elevations it may be later. 



Three men and two yokes of oxen are used 

 in planting. One yoke of oxen draws a plow 

 which opens a furrow. A man follows this 

 furrow, dropping seed each step and pressing 

 it down with his foot. Two grains are dropped 

 unless worms are bad, when three or four may 

 be planted. Maize rows are about 1 vara (32 

 inches) apart. The second yoke of oxen draws 

 a plow which makes a furrow between the 

 planted rows, covering the seed to a depth of 

 about 4 inches. To aid in covering the corn, 

 the second plow has a wooden bow fastened 

 horizontally below the beam behind the plow' 

 point. No digging stick is ever used except to 

 replant fields damaged by worms, and all work 

 is done by men. There is no exchange of labor 

 or lending of tools or animals, even among 

 relatives. 



Several types of maize are grown. Trimil- 

 sion is white with a somewhat larger grain and 

 is sown in the "plains." It has more and larger 

 stalks and ears. Tulukenio is yellow and has 

 small grains. It is sown in the mountains 

 about 8 to 15 days later, but matures at the 

 same time as Trimasion. The ears are short, 

 ordinarily about 4 inches in length, and the 

 stalks are smaller. The fact that Tulukenio 

 is always sown on poorer and colder lands 

 probably accounts for most of the differences, 

 although it is claimed that the differences per- 

 sist when the two types are planted in the same 

 fields. However, probably because of the 

 methods of seed selection and the isolation of 

 mountain fields, some regressive or primitive 

 types occur in Tulukenio which may have 

 genetic significance. Not enough Trimasion 

 types have been studied to define the differences. 



In the garden plots a black or dark-blue 

 maize («'ira7;ki) is planted. It appears to have 

 some significant differences from Tulukenio, 



although belonging to the same race (see Ap- 

 pendix 3). It is believed in Cheran that blue 

 maize will not grow in the fields, although an 

 almost identical genetic type is grown in the 

 fields in Sevina and Nahuatzen. The stalks are 

 taller and more slender and the ears are larger 

 and longer than those of other types. Although 

 it may be planted as early as Trimasion, the 

 maturation time is faster and some people 

 plant black maize late in order to have a single 

 harvest time. In no ca.se is black corn planted 

 before Easter Saturday. However, much of 

 the black maize is eaten in the milk stage as 

 roasting ears. The stalks are also sweeter, 

 apparently, and non-bearing stalks are cut and 

 chewed to extract the sweet sap. 



All Cheran farmers preserve a red color 

 variant of the Trimasion and Tulukenio types. 

 Red ears are called cocu and are considered a 

 different variety, but genetically the type appar- 

 ently is only a color variant. A few red ears 

 are always planted in each field. The reasons 

 are di.scussed below. Red maize is said to be 

 sweeter and is used for two kinds of cookies, 

 an S-shaped cookie called ciistika and a coiled 

 shape called tokere custika. 



No effort is made to select seed at harvest. 

 All the maize is stored together, but as corn is 

 taken from storage for use, the farmer's wife 

 systematically lays aside red ears and the 

 largest and best-filled-out ears, always taking 

 inferior ears for food or sale. In this way, 

 when planting time comes, the best ears re- 

 main. These are sorted and a further selection 

 made. Grains from the butt and tip are 

 discarded. 



Maize seed selection is always done when the 

 moon is crescent. Neither selection nor shell- 

 ing is done after the full moon. This rule 

 applies to no other seeds. Each family keeps 

 its own seed (of all other plants as well as 

 maize) and obtains seed from others only if its 

 own is very bad. 



Maize is subject to many plagues and animal 

 enemies. Pocket gophers do great damage to 

 maize (and also to wheat). Before planting, 

 and usually before plowing, gunpowder is ex- 

 ploded in the runways of the animals, which 

 is said to kill many. No effort is made to trap 

 or kill survivors, however, even though they 

 may be damaging growing crops severely. 



5965(i9 — -16- 



