36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7 
for most of the Sierra. Here, therefore, only the 
major processes and regional differences will 
be highlighted. 
Ground preparation and planting—On the 
level basin floors and lower hill slopes, land is 
prepared for maize planting with the plow (arado). 
The ancient Egyptian two-piece affair drawn by 
a pair of oxen is the most common type of plow 
used by the Tarascans and by most of the present- 
day farmers of Mexico. (See Beals, 1946, p. 22, 
for illustration of this primitive plow.) Introduced 
into the Tarascan area in the 1520’s or 1530’s, 
this instrument was readily taken over by the 
native farmers. Adaptation to the plow was 
possibly slow in the Sierra, where most of the 
aboriginal agriculture was on steep slopes; but 
at least by 1624 the farmers of Cherdn were 
cultivating the lower slopes near the town with 
the arado (AGN Tierras, vol. 83, exped. 13). 
Prior to the introduction of the plow the 
flattish basin plains of the Sierra apparently were 
infrequently cultivated. Early accounts of Taras- 
can farming emphasize the importance of 
desmonte agriculture on the steep slopes. A report 
of 1599 describing the pueblo of Corundapan (now 
nonexistent) in the Sierra near Tingambato, 
states that the natives had no lands in adjacent 
basin plains, but, as was customary among 
Tarascan peoples, planted on the slopes in order to 
obviate frost hazard. The probable occurrence 
of a grass sod in the basin plains may also have 
discouraged their cultivation. A description 
(1603) of the lands of Capacuaro mentions the 
large number of desmontes, but points out the 
possibility of cultivating an unused plain nearby, 
which was relatively free of shrubs and trees.” 
Such areas, though difficult to till with the 
aboriginal digging stick, were readily adapted to 
plow culture. 
The plow now used in Tarasca probably has not 
changed in form since the early 16th century. 
For most plowing the straight iron plow tip (8 to 
10 in. long, 3 in. wide), called the reja, is fastened 
4° AGN Tierras, vol. 64, exped. 3. “. . . no tienen tierras en los Llanos y ast 
sienbran en el monte como lo acostumbra toda la nacién tarasca en lo que es tierra 
Sria por abrigar sus sementeras de los yelos . . . .”” This statement is from one 
of the field reports which accompanied recommendations for the village con- 
gregations at the end of the 16th century. Obviously, owing to air drainage, 
frost hazards are less on lower slopes than on the basin flats, a fact keenly 
recognized by modern Tarascan tarmers. 
57 AGN Congregaciones, ff. 14v-15. Fray Diego Mufiéz describes the plain 
as‘'. . . llanada . . . la mayor parte rasa y descombrada, fertil y facil de labrar 
[with the plow, of course]... capaz de mucha semilla y cosecha.. . " 
to the lower point of the frame. This instrument 
stirs, rather than turns, the soil to a depth of less 
than 6 inches. Within the last 50 years many 
Tarascans have used a small adaptation of the 
North European moldboard plowshare for break- 
ing new land and for first and second plowings. 
For planting and cultivating maize the moldboard 
(which is slipped over the end of the plow frame) 
is replaced by the reja. As mentioned above, in 
recent years the Mexican government has supplied 
a number of American steel plows to various 
Tarascan municipios. 
Oxen are used almost exclusively to pull the 
plow, to which they are hitched by the horn yoke. 
Mules and horses sometimes supplement oxen 
during maize cultivation, when the work must be 
done quickly. Before being planted, maize fields 
are plowed, this operation being called barbecho. 
In the Sierra the huwmedad maize lands in the 
plains are plowed twice, once in late summer and 
again in late winter. Temporal maize fields 
located outside the Sierra undergo only one 
plowing—in late May or early June, immediately 
before the rains. For planting, rows are formed 
with the plow equipped with the straight reja. 
Usually rows follow the contour on slopes. Two 
to three seeds are dropped at 1-foot intervals into 
the furrow by a boy following the plow and driver. 
Often the boy covers the seed with earth to a 
depth of 3 or 4 inches with a sweep of his foot. 
If animals are available, the first plow is followed 
by a second, which covers the grain by throwing 
earth from the interfurrow ridge (pl. 5). This 
plow is often equipped with a horizontal beam 
(orejera), placed back of the reja, which rakes 
earth into the furrow. Maize is normally cul- 
tivated (earth thrown toward the plant and weeds 
eradicated) twice with the plow, once when the 
plant is about 1% feet high (escarda) and again 
when the plant begins to tassel (segunda). There- 
after, fields are weeded by hand or with the hoe. 
Zacatén (a form of Johnson grass) is cut with the 
juds, a machetelike sickle, similar to the garabato 
of the tierra caliente.® 
Several forms of the pre-Columbian planting 
stick are still used in the maize fields of the Sierra 
(fig. 3). These instruments, called meidnta- 
‘8 The Sierra Tarascans use many terms to describe maize in its various 
stages of growth. When the plant is about 4 inches high (2 weeks after 
planting), it is called pirén; at 114 feet (ready for the escarda), kAni or tazéta; 
when in tassel, pf{¢ita; when ears are in hair, tus4ni or tuaagiti. 
