128 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AXTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



usually is ample phosphorus, magnesium, man- 

 ganese, and sulfur. The bacterial flora is not 

 sufl[icient. In general, the Quiroga soils need lime, 

 gypsum, organic carbon, nitrogen, potassium, 

 bacterial flora, and possibly boron, copper, and 

 zinc. 



GENERAL FARMING PRACTICES 



Most of the fields and parcels are within 2 miles 

 of the homes of the farmers, whether they live in 

 Quiroga town or in the ranchos. However, the 

 ejidatarios must walk from 3 to 7 miles to reach 

 their parcels, and a few residents of Quiroga farm 

 on the Cerro Azul and north of La Tirimicua at 

 distances between 3 and 5 miles. There are no 

 permanent habitations on or near the fields 

 excepting when the fields approach the margins 

 of town or the rancho settlements. Even in the 

 latter case the home of a farmer is normally not on 

 or adjacent to his field. Most farmers have no 

 structures on their fields, excepting a tiny shelter 

 (which varies from a brush and mat leanto to a 

 miniature house with roof of shake or tile, and 

 adobe or loose stone walls on two or three sides) 

 which is occupied by some member of the family 

 during the period just after planting (to keep birds 

 and other animals from digging up the seeds), and 

 again as the crop ripens just before the harvest. 

 Even such ephemeral structures are lacking in a 

 majority of the fields, and the watchers either 

 camp out in the open or are replaced by scare- 

 crows of various types. A few of the wealthier 

 landowners have erected large storage buildings 

 or barns (known locally asjacales), but there are 

 not more than five or six of these in the entire 

 area. The typical jacal consists of an elevated 

 tile roof (either of one or two sheds), supported 

 by high adobe walls (usually the adobe bricks 

 are arranged so as to leave many openings on 

 one side for ventilation), which covers two or 

 three units or rooms. The largest unit is commonly 

 used for the storage of maize fodder, wheat straw, 

 bean hay, etc. The second unit houses the plows, 

 yokes, harness, and other farming tools. Some- 

 times a third carefully built unit serves as a 

 granary. Quite often a cattle corral and a thresh- 

 ing floor are nearby. 



Practically all fields which border main roads 

 have some sort of fencing. In the lowlands there 

 is considerable use of two- and three-strand 

 barbed-wire fences, which commonly are punctu- 



ated by coral trees, yuccas, agaves, and chupires. 

 These items of vegetation probably represent 

 remnants from the pre-barbed-wire period. In 

 the ranchos and generally throughout the high- 

 lands the fences may be of loose stones piled up 

 into walls between 3 and 5 feet in height, of logs 

 and poles, of hedges composed of natural vegeta- 

 tion allowed to grow freely, and of cut brush. 

 Fine masonry walls or fences such as can be seen 

 on some of the former haciendas in other parts of 

 Mexico are lacking. Adobe walls are used only 

 in the settlements to enclose solares. The tall 

 cardon or organo cactus is lacking outside of the 

 settlements, and consequently this typically Mexi- 

 can form of fence is lacking. Although agaves are 

 to be seen along fence lines throughout the area, 

 there are practically no rural fences composed 

 entirely of alined magueyes. When one large field 

 is subdivided, or is farmed by two or more differ- 

 ent individuals, there is commonly no fencing 

 and the line of demarcation is indicated merely 

 by stone or wooden markers at each end or side 

 of the field. If the fields are under cultivation 

 there will be a narrow strip of unbroken soil 

 (omecua, which is the Tarascan word for island) 

 between the cultivated patches. In the lowland 

 fields of good soil this omecua is often reduced to 

 a ridge less than a foot in width. Probably the 

 typical Quiroga fence is the above-mentioned stone 

 wail. In this land of volcanic flows there is no 

 dearth of fragments of vesicular lava rock. These 

 stones are piled in graduated fashion, with the 

 largest at the bottom in one or two rows, so that 

 the wall tapers upward. Perhaps the mean 

 dimensions are 3 feet in width at the base, about 

 1 foot at the top, and a height of around 4 feet. 

 Commonly no gaps or spaces are left for gates, 

 and when entry is desired it is necessary to remove 

 enough stones (usually near a corner) so that a 

 man can step through. If animals are to be 

 admitted several more stones are removed, and 

 the oxen, horses or burros, pass through singly. 

 Small boys, hunters, people taking a short cut, 

 and trespassers such as ourselves, usually try to 

 climb over these fences, and the normal result is 

 an avalanche of the loosely piled stones. Just as 

 in our range-cattle States every decent citizen 

 closes all gates he has opened, so in Quiroga the 

 conscientious trespasser will rebuild every wall 

 he knocks down or tumbles over. If a field is not 

 under cultivation, one or more temporary "gates" 



