CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 39 
is often retarded until the following December 
or January. 
Fodder, consisting of that part of the maize 
plant above the ears, is cut in September, when 
the plant is still green and the ears well formed. 
In the Sierra, fodder is often stored on platforms 
constructed in trees. Normally it is taken to the 
village and placed in sheds or on log platforms in 
the house lot (pl. 5). 
Since the late fall maize harvest of Cherdn, 
described by Beals (1946, pp. 24-25), is typical of 
most of modern Tarasca, no attempt will be made 
to repeat the data here. In only one area—the 
Zacapu Basin—are four-wheeled wagons (gua- 
lines made of the frame and wheels of abandoned 
autos) used to haul maize from the fields to the 
village. In all other areas burros haul the ears 
in sacks (costales) or nets. Ears of maize are 
stored in the lofts of the main house; shelled corn 
is never stored. The ekuam corn that is kept for 
seed and food is hung by the husks in bunches 
(pina, sAnd&ngata) or in rows over poles inside 
the house or on the veranda. 
Crop rotation and fallowing.—Except in ex- 
ceptionally fertile lands, field maize is rarely 
grown for two consecutive years on the same 
ground. In the basin plains of the Sierra, corn is 
often planted without fallow in spots refreshed by 
annual deposits of alluvium, as at the base of 
alluvial fans and in sink areas in the center of 
basins. The soils of the recently drained lacus- 
trine plain of Zacapu are so rich that they support 
annual maize crops without rotation or application 
of fertilizer. Generally in the Sierra, maize fields 
in the basin plains and lower slopes are fallowed 
for 10 or 12 months every other year. In such 
fields only maize is planted. Usually during a 
given year, half of the plains land belonging to a 
village and a portion of the slopes are fallowed, 
the rest being planted; when the village possesses 
more than one basin plain, cultivation and fallow 
are alternated from one to the other. Ordinarily 
in the desmontes and jollas wheat or barley are 
rotated with maize (one year wheat, one year 
maize, one year fallow). In the temporal lands 
surrounding the Sierra customarily two crops per 
year, one of maize, the other of wheat or barley, 
are obtained from a given piece of ground. The 
land is then fallowed 8 to 12 months. (Wheat 
planted in November, harvested following April 
or May; maize planted in June, harvested in 
November; land fallowed until following Novem- 
ber.) Often fallow and planted fields are alter- 
nated between the slopes and the plains in the 
temporal lands. 
Fertilization in field agriculture —Tarascans 
make little or no attempt to apply fertilizer to 
maize fields. Occasionally animal manure (es- 
tiércol) from the stables in the house lots is spread 
over small parts of fields nearest the village.® 
Sheep and cattle, however, are turned into the 
fields after harvest, and shepherds are often paid 
to bed flocks in the fields. No commercial 
fertilizer is used, owing to its high cost. As 
mentioned above, new desmontes are fertilized by 
wood ash trom freshly burned brush. 
Uses of Maize—Food.—aAs in all indigenous 
areas of Mexico, maize is the principal foodstuff 
of the Tarascans. Six types of maize foods are 
common among modern Tarascans: (1) green 
corn, or roasting ears (elote, tirfapu); (2) toasted 
kernels ground to powder and mixed with sweet- 
ening (pinole, japtimata); (3) maize dough wrapped 
in maize leaves and boiled (tamal, k‘urinda); (4) 
maize gruel, or dough dissolved in water (atole, 
kaméta); (5) boiled maize kernels with shell 
removed (pozole, mAskuta), similar to North 
American hominy; (6) thin cooked griddle cakes 
of maize dough (tortilla, iéiskuta), at present the 
most important single food item. 
Elote foods.—-Green corn is prepared by parching 
and by boiling. Without removing the inner 
husk, ears are often parched in the direct flames or 
under burning coals. Corn so prepared is called 
uirikan in the Sierra. Ears roasted with husks re- 
moved are termed “uirikata.”” Boiling with husks 
removed (jéman) is also common. Green ears are 
preserved by boiling and drying in the sun for 
many weeks. In the dried form they are called 
uaéakata, and the consistency of fresh corn is 
revived by soaking and reboiling. Other types of 
maize foods are made from elote: a tamal (uéépu) 
from early green maize; various atoles (atole de 
grano, atole de t‘okéri, de uaéékata, etc.); maize 
which is between the green and mature states 
(t‘okéri) is often ground, shaped into small cakes, 
and boiled. The maize most frequently used for 
66 In only one instance did the writer observe systematic application of 
manure. This was near the new Tarascan town of Caltzontzin, 5 km. east of 
Uruapan. In planting maize, the planter was followed by an individual who 
dropped a handful of manure over the seed. A plow followed, covering the 
seed and manure. 
