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INSTITUTE or SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



Practically every portion of the maize plant is 

 of use. The kernels, of course, are the chief 

 product. Maize is the leading foodstuff in 

 Quiroga, as it is over most of Mexico, and consti- 

 tutes more than half of the food consumed — 

 whether measured by volume, equivalent dry 

 weight, or calories. Maize is consumed in dry 

 form (parched and ground, as in pinole) ; as a 

 drink (.the parched or boiled ground grain cooked 

 with water and various flavorings, which varies in 

 consistency from milky-colored water, through 

 thin gruels, to watery mushes — known in general 

 as atoles); boiled and roasted on the cob; cooked 

 with ashes or lime and ground to a mealy dough 

 which is used for many dishes, ranging from the 

 predominant tortilla and tamale to dumphngs and 

 thickening for stews ; in the form of hominy which 

 is the base of the famous Michoac^n and Guerrero 

 pozoles and menudos; and in other minor forms. 

 Up into the nineteenth century a kind of native 

 beer or chicka was made from maize kernels, but 

 this drink has been completely supplanted by the 

 Em-opean-style barley beer, which is brought in 

 from the outside. Neither 7niel de cafia de maiz 

 nor pidque de tlaolli is made any longer, but the 

 stalks of the sweet-stalked maize are often chewed, 

 as one would a section of sugarcane. The dried 

 corncobs or olotes are used as fuel, and also (tied 

 into a circular bundle or disk known as an olotera) 

 for shelling or degraining the ears or ripe corn 

 {mazorca in Spanish, centli in Mexicano, and 

 xanini in Tarascan). Husks are used for wrap- 

 ping foods and cigarettes. The tassels and pollen 

 are still used on occasion in folk medicine. Some 

 of the lesser green leaves (kani) are cut before the 

 harvest as emergency fodder for the livestock, 

 and the dried leaves {hojas secas or xaracata) are 

 used at times as wrapping for foodstuffs and (cut 

 into rectangles with scissors or knife) as cigarette 

 "paper." The entire plant after the ears have 

 been harvested may be left in the field as standing 

 fodder, or more commonly the cut stalks and leaves 

 are dried, stored on racks or in sheds, and fed to 

 hvestock as the chief animal fodder (rastrojo in 

 Spanish and aron in Tarascan) . Maize fodder and 

 other grass hays and straws are referred to col- 

 lectively as zacate (Mexicano) and huifzacua 

 (Tarascan). Maize stalks and leaves (with the 

 husks attached) are frequently used as a cushion 

 over the floor or planks upon which the bed mat is 

 spread, and in some of the more sophisticated 



homes mattresses are stuffed with the same mate- 

 rial (after the larger canes or stalks have been 

 removed), and pillows are often stuffed with 

 maize husks. The principal commercial elements 

 are the ears and shelled grain and the rastrojo 

 fodder, and the leaves and husks separately to a 

 lesser extent. The principal market is in Quiroga 

 town, and only a smaU amount of grain is exported. 

 The maize cycle commences with the first plow- 

 ing or barhecho, which begins in January or earlier 

 on the upland fields not planted to wheat, and in 

 May on the lowland fields. If the field is new or 

 is an old abandoned field, the barbecho is delayed 

 until the vegetation has been cut (rosa or tala), 

 dried, and burned (quema), and the first plowing 

 on such upland fields will not take place until 

 May. The barbecho takes from 1 to 2 weeks with 

 one yoke of oxen on most of the parcels in the 

 Quiroga area, and consists of closely spaced fur- 

 rows (rayas or surcos) about a span in depth. 

 In 1945 most of the plowing in the lowlands began 

 between the 14th and 16th of May. Immediately 

 after the initial plowing the entire field is replowed 

 with furrows that cross those of the first plowing 

 at an angle between 30° and 90° according to the 

 amount of slope. On nearly flat fields this cruza 

 is at right angles since there is no need to fear the 

 guUying that would result should unseasonal rain 

 find a field with furrows going up and down the 

 slope. Where the soil turns up in large clods the 

 clods or terrones are broken up with a mattock. 

 The preliminary plowings are completed with a 

 third plowing which is somewhat deeper than the 

 first two, and which not only improves the tilth 

 but allows a greater number of uptm-ned larvae 

 to die. Normally all of these plowings are com- 

 pleted before the heavy summer rains begin. As 

 soon as one or two good rains have soaked the 

 soil, seeding begins. In 1945 most of the lowland 

 fields were planted between May 28 and June 9. 

 That year there was rain May 18, a sprinkle on 

 the 21st, rain on the 22d, a shower on the 29th, 

 heavy rains on the 30th and 31st of May, and 

 rains on through the first 6 days of June and 

 thereafter sporadically for a total of 17 rainy days 

 in Jime. That year was considered to be normal 

 in the incidence of rain. The meteorologic rela- 

 tionship of May and June is shown by the 20- 

 year precipitation means from the nearby station 

 of Pdtzcuaro, where the total annual mean is 1,065 

 mm.: January, 16 mm.; February, 14 mm.; March, 



