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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



harvested in the ranches and perhaps 90 more on 

 the slopes or laderas near Quh'oga. 



Although there is some winter planting for a 

 spring harvest, most of the habas are planted in 

 May and June with the first rains and are 

 harvested from November into January. Prepara- 

 tion of the field is much the same as for maize. 

 The seeds are planted in a furrow, one or two at a 

 time spaced either every 20 cm. or 40 cm. according 

 to the nature of the soil. The amount planted to 

 the hectare varies from about 48 to 100 liters. 

 Cultivation ranges from a slight weeding to several 

 escardas done by hand. Harvesting resembles 

 that of wheat. Men cut the plants near the 

 ground, tie them into large bundles or shocks 

 known as tercios, and pack them on their backs to 

 the threshing floor. The typical era is a shoveled 

 and swept hard dirt floor usually 6-sided and about 

 4 paces on the side. Six forked posts support 

 poles which are tied in place with withes, although 

 rope is sometimes used for the corral. Such an era 

 can hold up t ) 12 horses, but the most common 

 number is 8 or 9 tended by 1 man. A unit of three 

 men (two bringing in the tercios), nine bestias, a 

 pitchfork, a shovel, and a brush can thresh, 

 winnow, and sack about 14 to 15 cargas (200 litere 

 to the carga) or 20 sacks a day. After the beans 

 have been stomped out, the horses and hay are 

 removed from the floor, fragments of pods and 

 chaff are brushed away, and the beans are win- 

 nowed by shoveling into the air. Usually there is 

 ample wind in the highlands at this season. Yields 

 run from 20- to 50-fold, the average being close 

 to 50-fold at present, while a few years ago it was 

 less than 20-fold. However, there is a very high 

 loss from shattering in the field and poor threshing. 

 After the threshing, the people of the rancho glean, 

 after which there is a celebration or fiesta at night 

 in the field. At present a hectare will produce 

 from 12 to 25 cargas of habas, and the average 

 probably is around 15. At harvest time habas 

 sold in Quiroga in 1945 for $15 a fanega or $30 a 

 carga. Where formerly the haba fai'mer might 

 take a loss, he now may net $100 to $300 a hectare. 

 The farmers, however, deny this and claim but a 

 minimal profit. 



KIDNEY BEANS 



The traditional Mexican accompaniment of 

 maize is frijoles, which term is used only for beans 

 of the genus Phaseolus and usually for the kidney 



bean or Phaseolus vulgaris L. The kidney bean, 

 in its multitude of little-studied forms, is a native 

 of Latin America and probably of the northern 

 portion in Mexico and Central America. In 

 addition to the kidney bean the prehistoric peoples 

 of Mexico cultivated the scarlet-runner or multi- 

 flora bean {Phaseolus coccineus L. or Ph. multiHorus 

 WUld.), the tepary bean (P. acutifolius Gray), the 

 small lima or sieva (P. htnafus L.), and the 

 frijolillo bean (Canavalia villosa Benth.). In the 

 Tarascan region of Michoacdn at the time of the 

 Conquest there is mention only of red and black 

 beans (Relaci6n de Michoacdn) which would 

 indicate that the two predominant types that 

 attracted the attention of the Spaniards were the 

 kidney bean (red to light bufi^ in color) and the 

 scarlet-runner bean (nearly black with red mark- 

 ings). However, there are black and speckled 

 forms of the Iddney bean, brown and red and 

 speckled variants of the small hma bean, and 

 brown and black types of the tepary bean, and the 

 bean of the Canavalia may be red, brown, or 

 white. Apparently we can be certain only that 

 white forms of the various species were absent or 

 rare. Practically aU of the native beans raised in 

 Quiroga were kidney beans, although we saw some 

 cultivated scarlet-runner beans {cocoche, cocotzi, 

 ayacotli, ayecocimatl, and cimatl). There are at 

 least two well-recognized forms of the scarlet- 

 runner bean, which are more commonly raised in 

 the Sierra Tarascan pueblos and in the States of 

 M6xico and Guerrero than in the Pdtzcuaro Basin, 

 although we collected what appeared to be a wild 

 Phaseolus multiHorus in the Quiroga area. There 

 is no present cultivation of the tepary eind frijolillo 

 beans, although both are wild in the area and 

 sometimes are gathered. Of the minor species 

 cultivated perhaps there were more small white 

 limas than the large purplish-black scarlet-runner. 

 The various species other than the kidney bean 

 were more commonly planted in the solares than 

 in the fields. The kidney bean is represented in 

 Quiroga by some six weU-marked types each of 

 which contains several subtypes according to size, 

 color, and markings. The terminology for the 

 many varieties represented is quite variable and 

 confusing, and we obtained such contradictory 

 names in different parts of the area and from 

 different people within the same rancho that we 

 are certain only of the names of the principal 

 forms. Probably more than 90 percent of the 



