CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 43 
Tarascans plant few other minor native culti- 
gens in the field. Camote or the sweetpotato 
(Ipomoea batatas) and jicama (Pachyrrhizus erosus) 
are planted in small amounts in La Canada, 
but commercial production is found in the warm 
lands around Zamora, Lake Chapala, and the 
southern escarpment, outside the Tarascan area. 
Native vegetables such as chile and tomatoes are 
discussed under horticulture. 
Introduced New World crops.—In Tarascan 
field agriculture these consist of two tubers: the 
South American potato (Solanum tuberosum) and, 
as mentioned earlier, an Oxalis (papa de Castilla).®! 
Neither has much place in Tarascan food habits. 
The potato is now grown in some lowlands bor- 
dering the Sierra, e. g. in Comanja, where it is 
planted with maize. Its cultivation is slowly 
penetrating the Sierra, though most of the high- 
land pueblos still reject it. Beals (1946, p. 26) 
states that Chern residents began to grow pota- 
toes around 1938. 
Old World crops in Tarascan field agriculture.— 
Among the crops which the Spaniards introduced 
into Tarascan culture the small grains, wheat and 
barley, were the more significant in terms of both 
food value and degree of adaptation. Wheat 
was probably first sown in the Lake area by Span- 
ish missionaries during the 1530’s; the Spanish 
ranchers and encomenderos, however, for whom 
white bread was the main item of diet, were the 
principal carriers of wheat culture among the 
natives. By the mid-16th century Spanish wheat 
fields had been established in many parts of the 
northern plateau, and Tarascans of various 
pueblos in that area were cultivating the grain in 
speciu fields in order to meet tribute demands of 
the Crown and encomenderos.* Arabic irrigation 
techniques appear to have been introduced jointly 
with wheat culture, for both early Spanish and 
Indian wheat fields in the northern Tarascan area 
were artificially watered. The Relaciones Geo- 
8 Thename “papa de Castilla” might indicate that the Ozalis species has been 
cultivated in Mexico for some time. According to local informants, how- 
ever, it has been known in the area south and west of Lake Patzcuaro for 
only 30 or 40 years. The tuber is often seen in the Patzcuaro market. In 
Pichataro it is boiled and eaten with piloncillo. 
82 The Suma de Visitas, ca. 1540 (Paso y Troncoso, 1905, vol. 1) mentions 
that wheat was cultivated in the following indigenous pueblos of Michoacan: 
Acambaro, Chocandiro, Chiquimito, Chilchota, Guanaxo (Santa Marfa Ario), 
Taymeo, Indaparapeo, Zacapu. Indians, however, were slow to adopt 
wheat foods. During the last quarter of the 16th century the Indians of La 
Canada ate wheat only in times of maize famine (Mus. Nac. leg. 102, Rel. de 
Chilchota, 1579). 
83 Spaniards had introduced a Mediterranean grain adapted to winter 
rains and dry summers into a land of dry winters and wet summers. Con- 
gréficas of 1579-81 (Mus. Nac., leg. 102) indicate 
that by the end of the 16th century wheat cultiva- 
tion was well established in the Tarascan area 
around the margins of the Sierra, i. e., in those 
areas first settled by Spanish ranchers. Wheat 
penetrated slowly into the conservative Sierra. 
The Relacién of Tingiiindin (1581) states that in 
the Sierra villages the Indians had not taken to 
wheat cultivation. Even by 1789 some of the 
Sierra pueblos did not grow wheat, but by 1820 
the grain was at last being cultivated in all the 
towns, Urapicho, Cocucho, Pamatécuaro, and 
Cheranatzicurin being among the last to adopt it 
(AAM, siglo XTX, leg. 707, Memoria estadistica, 
1841) 
Today in most Sierra pueblos wheat is con- 
sidered second only to maize in terms of acreage. 
Some towns raise the grain chiefly as a cash crop; 
others consume a large portion of the harvest. 
The Lake area and La Cafiada, however, are the 
principal Tarascan wheat districts. In both, 
wheat acreage exceeds that of maize.** Although 
wheat foods are eaten in all Tarascan towns, in 
none do they replace maize as the chief item of 
diet. Throughout the present indigenous area 
wheat foods play a significant part in religious 
festivals, apparently an adoption of European 
customs through Church influence. 
A soft wheat called ‘colorado,’ probably a 
descendant of the Spanish grain introduced 400 
years ago, is the principal type sown by Tarascan 
farmers. Both bearded and beardless varieties 
occur. This wheat is the ‘“trigo de temporal’ or 
“trigo aventurado,’”’ planted in October and har- 
vested from April to June, depending on eleva- 
sequently, to insure good yields, they resorted at once to irrigation. Later, 
experiments probably showed that a poor to fair yield could be obtained 
without irrigation in central Mexico, where occasional light winter rains 
occur. 
§& The wheat-growing areas mentioned: all of the northern plateau region, 
including La Canada; Tarecuato (trigo de temporal); Tingiiindin; and 
Peribén. The Ponce Relacion (observations made in 1586) mentions wheat 
at various Lake towns: Tzintzuntzan, San Jerénimo, Erongaricuaro, and 
Tacupato (Cocupao or present Quiroga). 
86 The Calderon report of 1789 (AGN Historia, vol. 73) mentions wheat 
only ina few Tarascan pueblos. It specifies, however, that only two pueblos 
(Ocumicho and Pamatacuaro) of the Sierra grew maize exclusively. The 
report may have neglected to indicate many pueblos in which small amounts 
of wheat might have been cultivated. 
86 According to data from Secretaria de Agricultura records (1944), wheat 
acreage equaled that of maize in the municipio of Patzcuaro; in those of 
Erongaricuaro and Quiroga the acreage of wheat was more than twice that 
of maize; in Tzintzuntzan, however, maize acreage exceeded that of wheat 
by eight times. In the municipio of Chilchota (which includes La Canada) 
approximately 500 hectares were planted to maize, while 313 were in wheat. 
Considering the valley of La Cafiada alone, wheat acreage probably would 
exceed that of maize. 
