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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



mum L.) and hemp or cdnamo {Cannabis sativa 

 L.), have not been important since colonial times, 

 and at the moment are not cultivated in the area. 

 Chickpeas or garbanzos {Cicer arietinum L.), 

 grass pea or arvejon (Lathyrus sativus L.), and 

 field peas or chicharos (Pisum satiimm L. var. 

 arvense Poir.) were cultivated from early colonial 

 times into the late nineteenth century, but they 

 occur now only sporadically in solares. The 

 Mexicans have never taken to the flavor of these 

 Old World legumes. A few of the more ad- 

 vanced and experimentally inclined farmers have 

 planted some sorghum — known as sorgo and 

 maiz de castilla — {Holcus sorghum L.), but only a 

 few plants of the durra variety were seen. 



GARDEN CROPS 



Garden crops comprise those plants, chiefly 

 vegetables, which are raised on the outskirts of 

 town (as above the springs of Tep6ricua), in 

 vacant manzanas within town (chiefly in cuartel I), 

 and on the house plots or solares in town and in the 

 ranchos. Practical^ all are irrigated, either by 

 ditches from springs and hydrants, or by hand with 

 latas and ollas. We were able to determine some- 

 thing of the incidence of the various plants, but 

 could form no estimates of production excepting 

 that the Quiroga area produces no vegetable in 

 quantity large enough to supply local demands 

 excepting pumpkins. The deficit in most vege- 

 tables is supplied by Santa Fe, Tzintzuntzaii, 

 Chapultepec, San Jerdnimo, San Andres, and 

 Chucandiro. There are only four commercial 

 truck gardens in Quiroga, and these do not total 

 more than 2 hectares. The principal garden vege- 

 tables are beets, cabbages, carrots, chayotes, chile 

 peppers, coriander, lettuce, onions, green peas, 

 potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, tomatoes and husk- 

 tomatoes, and turnips. Of these vegetables the 

 majority of the native chayotes, chile peppers, 

 and pumpkins are raised in the solares. 



In terms of acreage and bulk of pi-oduction the 

 leading vegetable is the pumpkin, but this term 

 includes several species of the genus Cucurbita. 

 These cucurbits are used as human food (stewed, 

 candied, baked, etc.), the seeds of some are roasted 

 and eaten like sunflower seeds or peanuts (formerly 

 an oil was made from the pepitas), the vines and 

 fruits are fed to livestock, and some are grown as 

 ornamentals. According to sixteenth-century 

 sources the Tarascans recognized at least eight 



kinds of "pumpkins" which probably represented 

 four species of Cucurbita, a Lagenaria, a Crescentia 

 (not a cucurbit but a bignonia, the calabash 

 tree or ciridn), and one or two wild Asclepias 

 (milkweeds) whose fruits are collected wild and 

 eaten like young pumpkins. The early Spaniards 

 termed everything that looked like a gourd a 

 calabaza, although they sometimes termed the 

 edible gourds melones. The identity of the various 

 cultivated Cucurbita is more confused even than 

 is true for New World beans, and scores of 

 Spanish, Mexicano, Tarascan, and other names 

 are current for the cultivated Cucurbita in southern 

 Mexico. Apparently the general term for pump- 

 kin is calabaza in Spanish, ayotli in Mexicano, 

 and puru. or puruan in Tarascan. The truly 

 indigenous pumpkin is the field pumpkin (pie 

 pumpkin, summer squash) which is Cucurbita 

 pepo L; and which is known locally as calabaza, 

 calabaza comun, calabaza corriente, calabaza india, 

 calabaza amarilla, coztic-ayotli, and purii. This 

 is the pumpkin most commonly interplanted with 

 maize, and is also the leading pumpkin in the 

 solares. It is this pumpkin which produces nearly 

 all of the buds, flowers, and young fruit (calabaci- 

 tas) which are so esteemed locally. It is gathered 

 from August to December. Next is the fig- 

 leafed pumpkin {Cucurbita ficijolia Bouche), also 

 a native of Mexico but apparently introduced 

 to the Tarascans through the Mexicans since the 

 Tarascan name tikatzi sounds very much like an 

 adaptation from the Mexicano tzilac-ayotli (smooth- 

 skinned pumpkin) which modern Mexicans have 

 corrupted into chilacayote. This may be the 

 calabaza dura (hard pumpkin) of the literature 

 which we have not identified, since it has a hard 

 gourdlike rind. Many people call it cidracayote 

 and confuse it with the "citron" or white-fleshed 

 watermelon {Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.). Neither 

 the white nor the pink-fleshed watermelon is 

 cultivated in the Quiroga area although it is 

 known and consumed under the Spanish name 

 sandia and the Tarascan name ifzi-puru which 

 means literally "water-pumpkin." The chilaca- 

 yote usually is planted in IMay and June and is 

 harvested from September to January. Com- 

 monly it will be picked in September and October 

 and placed on the gently sloping roofs to mature. 

 The fruit is normally oval with a green rind 

 striped with white, and contains a white flesh 

 and seeds which vary from white to black. The 



