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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



common in the maize fields). Among the more 

 common or annoying of the introduced weeds are 

 canary grass, bermuda grass, nettles, dock, 

 tumbleweed (Amaranthus spivosus), wild mustard 

 and wild radish (both very common), bur clover 

 or carretilla {Medicago denticulafa) , filaree, hore- 

 hound, sow thistle, and dandelion. Apparently 

 neither ragweed nor cocklebur has reached the 

 Quiroga area. A number of the weeds are poison- 

 ous to stock, such as some of the spurges, solanums, 

 milkweeds, Astragalus, Senecio, etc. Despite the 

 weedings the average maize field is a tangle of 

 maize, beans, and weeds when harvesting begins. 

 At this time the outstandmg weeds are various 

 wild sunflowers (anddn and mirasol), marigolds or 

 cinco-llagas, cosmos, hierba del tabardillo {Piqueria 

 trinervia), the tangled runners of Sicyos, several 

 legumes and grasses, and wild radish. 



Some harvesting begins at the end of September 

 or during October and the early part of November, 

 when tender roasting ears (elote, helote, and jilote 

 in Mexicano, and tiriapu in Tarascan) are avail- 

 able. Also, after the ears have begun to ripen, 

 early fodder is obtained by cutting off the tops of 

 some of the plants (despuntar) and some of the 

 leaves. An occasional farmer may turn down the 

 maize plants (doblar) so that water will not enter 

 the ears. A few fields in the lowlands may be 

 completely harvested and cleared during Novem- 

 ber, for food and to prepare for the planting of 

 wheat, but the majority of the harvesting takes 

 place in December — usually between the 14th and 

 24th of the month. The harvest of ears or pisca 

 de mazorcas is commonly done by men, while the 

 beans are harvested by the women. The cutting 

 of the beans (corta de frijoles) may take place 

 before or after the p'isca de maiz, but usually it is 

 afterward. The equipment of the harvesters con- 

 sists of a busker or piscador (pikuravsk-cua in 

 Tarascan, which seems to be a modification of a 

 Mexicano word), which is a knifelike blade of steel 

 or deerhorn of varying size with one or two holes 

 for a finger band of ixile fiber, a carrying bag (costal 

 or parataracua) of burlap or nequen which is slung 

 over the right or left shoulder, and a cloth or 

 ayate (uangoche or guarcoche) of nequen for carrying 

 the ears away from the field. A wicker basket 

 (chiquihuite or xundecosechero — a mixed Tarascan 

 and Spanish word) is used instead of the costal 

 only when there is a large and easy harvest. Usu- 

 ally two or more men harvest a field, each working 



one row at a time. If the harvest is large, or if 

 the field is at a considerable distance from the 

 farmer's home, the eai-s are heaped near the margin 

 of the field and after the harvest is completed the 

 ears are packed home in nets, sacks, and cloths 

 by burros. After the maize and bean harvest, if 

 the field is not to be cultivated in the near future, 

 livestock are allowed to pasture on the standing 

 fodder; otherwise the rastrojo is cut, piled tem- 

 porarily in shocks, and then conveyed to houselofts 

 (tapancos) or platforms built above the reach of 

 livestock. Instead of a platform quite often a few 

 poles are placed across the branches of a tree and 

 the rastrojo is laid there. 



The success or quantity of the maize harvest is 

 contingent upon many factors in addition to the 

 fertihty of the soil, care in cultivation, and quan- 

 tity and quality of the seed. Probably the most 

 important prerequisite is that there be the proper 

 amount and distribution of precipitation and tem- 

 perature. The temperature conditions are usually 

 adequate, since maize can be cultivated in southern 

 Mexico up to about 3,200 meters (10,499 feet), 

 and the highest fields in the Quiroga area are only 

 2,870 meters on the slopes of Tzirate and 2,820 

 meters on top of the Cerro Azul. However, much 

 of Sanambo and the highlands extending through 

 the Cerro Azul and Cerro Chino to Tzirate (includ- 

 ing much of Icuacato and La Tirimicua, and a 

 part of Caringaro) lies within the tierra fria with 

 heavy frosts in winter and spring, and these lands 

 are commonly planted only once a year with 

 maize, wheat, habas, or barley. In the lowlands 

 around Quiroga, although there are frosts every 

 winter (a few in December, mainly in January, 

 and some in February) usually they are light and 

 number only between 10 and 20, and seldom reach 

 the fields close to the lake. Lack of sufficient 

 rain in June, July, and August is the principal 

 cause of poor harvests. In recent years there have 

 been dry series in 1932-33 and 1938-45 (broken 

 by a wet year in 1941), and wetter than average 

 series in 1930-31 and 1934-37. Hail, which occurs 

 most often in connection with the convectional 

 storms from May through September, can blight 

 a crop if there is too heavy a concentration while 

 the plants are young. Although it harmed the 

 maize crop but little, a hail storm on September 27, 

 1945 (which accumulated to a depth of 20 cm. in 

 places), practically wiped out the bean crop. 

 Smuts are quite common, and some entire fields 



