quiroga: a MEXICAN MinsriciPio — brand 



143 



kidney beans planted in the fields fall within the 

 type or group known widely over Mexico asfrijol 

 bayo, wliich ranges from gray and yellow through 

 buff (yellowish-orange) to light-brown and pinlcish 

 in color. The most common color is a clear 

 yellowish-orange, and speckhng or spotting never 

 occurs in any of the forms. There are two 

 common sizes — a larger or gordo and a smaller or 

 delgado. Minor types, varying in form, size, and 

 coloration, include black, white, red and spotted 

 beans which go under such names as prieto, negro, 

 paloma, palacio, Colorado, criollo, rosa de castilla 

 (a former place name southeast of Cuenembo), and 

 pinto. The terms judia and alubia are synonyms 

 for frijol, but sometimes are affixed to particular 

 forms. 



Beans are the second most important element 

 in the diet of all but the very poorest who caimot 

 afford frijoles commonly and must content them- 

 selves with tortillas, atoles, and chiles. Kidney 

 beans are boiled or stewed, or cooked in lard; and 

 boiled beans are sometimes mashed or ground to 

 a paste which is used in filling tamales. At times 

 the bean paste will be sweetened. Also, there is 

 considerable consumption of green or snapbeans 

 (ejote, from etl the general Mexicano name for 

 bean). The bean straw or hay serves as fodder. 



All of the field beans are planted with the maize, 

 commonly one or two beans in each hiU. The 

 entire cultivation process for the maize naturally 

 includes the beans up to the time of harvest. 

 Beans may be harvested either just before or just 

 after the maize harvest, and harvesting is almost 

 invariably done by women and children. After the 

 ejotes have been gathered off the vine, the bean 

 plant is cut off near the base and the plants are 

 stacked in some part of the field. Until the nine- 

 teenth century obsidian or zinapu knives were used 

 for cutting, but now steel knives are used. The 

 bean plants are piled on a mat and flailed until the 

 beans have been disengaged from the pods. Then 

 the beans are winnowed from the chaff and carried 

 home in baskets, ayates, and sacks. Some of the 

 rancho farmers thresh their beans in the same 

 fasliion as they do habas. Our account of harvest- 

 ing procedure is based on hearsay. Most of the 

 1945 crop of beans was lost because of a severe 

 hailstorm which followed a series of diseases and 

 insects which had attacked the roots and leaves. 



Commonly 200 to 300 hectares of maize are 

 interplanted with beans each year, which acreage 



is about evenly divided between the ranchos and 

 the area around Quiroga. Only about half of the 

 farmers (55 percent) plant any field beans, and 

 usually not all of the maize acreage of these farmers 

 is interplanted with beans. The farmers plant 

 from 5 to 15 liters a hectare, with an average of 

 perhaps 8 liters. The yield varies greatly, ranging 

 from 5-fold to nearly 50-fold, with a mean of 

 possibly 18-fold. The returns per hectare vary 

 from as little as 25 liters to more than 700 liters, 

 with the average faUing somewhere between 150 

 and 250 hters. It is impossible to determine what 

 the average total production of Icidney beans is in 

 the Quiroga area other than that it is between 

 30,000 and 75,000 liters and probably not more 

 than 45,000. The income from beans cultivated 

 with maize is nearly net other than the cost of the 

 seed and the labor which is usually provided by 

 members of the family. In 1945 beans were 

 valued at about 30 centavos a liter. 



BARLEY 



Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the fifth field crop 

 by area planted, but it is a very minor crop com- 

 monly planted only in Sanambo and occasionally 

 in the other ranchos of the tierra fria. In 1945, 

 10 Sanambo farmers planted 505 liters of barley 

 on perhaps 20 hectares of land. It is claimed that 

 the normal planting is 3,000 to 4,000 Hters. We 

 obtained no information as to cultivation and 

 harvesting other than that it was very similar to 

 wheat. A normal crop may run about 500 kg. 

 per hectare. 



OTHER FIELD CROPS 



Some cucurbits are interplanted with maize 

 but most of their production is on solares and is 

 discussed later. Alfalfa or lucerne {Medicago 

 sativa L.) is planted on a few fields in to\^Ti and in 

 Zirandangacho. Nearly all of it is under irriga- 

 tion, but there are not more than 4 hectares in 

 total. Before the last revolution there was at 

 least 10 times this acreage planted, principally by 

 two men in the Quiroga lowlands. In the nine- 

 teenth century the Quiroga area was well known 

 for its production of lentils or lenteja {Ervum lens 

 L.) which the Tarascans call Spanish beans 

 {castillapu thatsini), but there is no field cultiva- 

 tion of it now and it is rare in the solares. Ap- 

 parently there never was cultivation of oats and 

 rye in the area. Flax or lino (Linum usitatissi- 



