122 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



of locally, there were 116 alrrwdes (1,392 liters) of The above calculations apply particularly to 



good corn ; 18 (216 liters) of half -eaten; and 28.5 the day of planting. For other occasions — felling 



(342 liters) of eaten. the monte, cultivating, or harvesting — incense, can- 



The gross proceeds from the first crop of corn dies, fireworks, and cantor are dispensed with, 



from this field of 2.3 hectares was $1,126.15 pesos, Also, fare is more frugal. Nevertheless, coffee is 



or $489.59 pesos a hectare, as compared to an esti- served in the morning, and at noon, a dinner of 



mated $647.00 pesos for each of the next two mole or of rice and beans. Alcohol and cigarettes 



succeeding crops (table 11). The latter is con- are passed, but no further food is offered in the 



siderably higher than the avei*age of $497.44 for afternoon. Even so, the cash outlay for each 



the first three successive crops in the school field family per crop is considerable, and it is evident 



(table 11). Since the cooperative obtained only why only the wealthier families plant corn in ex- 



a slightly higher production per hectare than did cess of their needs. Capital is necessary — in the 



the school field, the difference lies chiefly in the form of land, labor, and food for the latter, 

 fact that the cooperative was able to sell its corn 



to better advantage — in spite of giving its members vanilla 



a special low price. Vanilla and sugarcane follow maize in economic 



It should be emphasized that a family milpa importance, but since vanilla succeeds corn in the 



is considerably more productive in terms of food- local crop rota tion, it will be treated first, 



stuffs than either of the fields just considered, since Vanilla ™ is a climbing orchid, a vine with thick, 



a great many things other than maize are planted fleshy stems and leaveS- It produce s a pale-cream 



m it, without reducing the yield of corn very b i ossom in springj and by late faU . its seedpod 



materially. However, a family field also involves is ready to be cut It is picked green and under . 



additional cost-that of feeding and entertaining goes a i eng thy drying process, in the course of 



the men who, from time to time, assist the owner. which it deve lops a powerful, aromatic fragrance. 



Modesto Gonzalez has prepared a careful esti- From the dry, dark-brown pods, commercial va- 



mate of the expenditures the day of planting— n in a flavoring is derived. 



with 10 to 15 men in the field and about the same A wild formj known as vainilla pompona 

 number of neighbor women in the kitchen. (The (Vanilla pompona Schiede (No. 23) ) also occurs 

 women are fed but otherwise are not reimbursed.) at Ta j In so and crosses fr^y ^^ the cultivated 

 His calculations do not include maize for the atole form? som etimes accidentally, sometimes by inl- 

 and tortillas, presumably because a family is sup- man agen cy, for, presumably owing to a dearth of 

 posed to have a stock of corn upon which to draw. pollinating insects, the vanilla of commerce is 

 He lists individual ingredients of the bread and hand-pollinated. 



mole sauce, as well as other minute details, and What little is kll0wn of the h ist01T of vani n a 



the following is merely a summary : ^ culture has been summar i ze d by Bruman ( 1948) . 



Pork, to accompany the mole sauce ^Too There are a number of sixteenth-century refer- 



Sauce ingredients 10.70 ences to vanilla, which was used by the ancient 



Rice, coffee, brown sugar 10. 70 Mexicans as a medicine and as a flavoring for 



Bread 25.50 chocolate, but there is no indication that the 



Chocolate 6 30 -n xi i £ i 



Liquor- q on Papantla zone was an early source of supply. 



Cigarettes 6 00 Vanilla is not mentioned among the tribute exacted 



Pay to workmen (io @ $2.00) 20.00 by the Mexicans from the Tuxpan-Papantla area 



Incense, candles 4.00 (Coleccion de Mendoza 5:87; Codice Chimal- 



Rockets 5.00 po poca, p. 64) and, in fact there seems to 



Religious singer (cantor) 4.00 ' 



rpQ*^] «ioo on "The vine, blossom, and pod all are called Sanat', the generic 



term for flower. Unfortunately, our herbarium specimens molded 



This estimate, is for "an elegant feast " as Don nnd coul( ' not ne submitted for identification. It may be assumed 



-««- j , , ., j . !^. ,' that the local product is Vanilla planifolia, the vanilla of com- 



MOOeStO puts It, and most families Spend consider- merce (Hasselbring and Nash, in Bailey 3 : 3433). 



ably less. Yet many serve turkev instead of pork M A second wild form ' vain, '"° <*marrona is said to be found "in 



■, i • * he mountains." its flower is described as identical with that of 



and that is somewhat more costly. the cultivated plant. 



