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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



Other disadvantages are associated with vanilla. 

 The price is set by a small clique of merchants in 

 Papantla, who profit more than does the Totonac 

 producer. And, as noted above, the social ills of 

 theft and homicide are closely linked with vanilla. 

 These are not easy to correct. But if theft could 

 be controlled, the producer might have an oppor- 

 tunity to dry his vanilla and thus be in a position 

 to sell it for a better price. He could, in that case, 

 market with greater facility to consumers in 

 Mexico City and so eliminate, in part, the depend- 

 ence upon the Papantla middleman. 



We certainly do not suggest a complete replace- 

 ment of vanilla, for it fits too well into the local 

 setting. It is part and parcel of the crop rotation 

 system, and, in good years, it is a soimd cash crop. 

 What we should suggest is less dependence upon 

 vanilla and the addition of other cash crops to 

 supplement it in lean years. 



The possibility of adding commercial rubber to 

 the local economy has been mentioned previously 

 (p. 84). It, too, might be subject to drought, but 

 it could do no harm to make an experimental plant- 

 ing of improved, disease-resistant stock of com- 

 merical rubber. If a few trees could be added to 

 the heterogeneous assemblage in the milpa, a fam- 

 ily might have a modest and relatively secure 

 source of cash income quite apart from vanilla. 

 Here, of course, planting presumably would be 

 confined to those who own their own land, for it 

 would be scarcely profitable to plant on rented 

 terrain. 



A Totonac farmer suggests that sesame might 

 be converted into a profitable crop. Sesame has 

 been raised, on a small scale, with some success. 

 But the danger is that when sesame functions as a 

 cash crop, there is a temptation to overplant, at 

 the expense of maize. Manifestly, such a move 

 would be poor economy. 



Of other possibilities. Dr. Carl Sauer suggests a 

 rotenone-bearing plant, 73 and Dr. George Harrar, 



73 It is said that the United States Government has m«de sev- 

 eral unsuccessful attempts to foster the production of rotenone- 

 bearing plants in Mexico. We have been able to find no published 

 data concerning such projects, and the office of the agricultural 

 attache, in the Embassy in Mexico City, Is not informed. The 

 literature concerning rotenone is extensive, but deals more with 

 processing than with growing. However, Dr. Dorothy Parker 

 has been kind enough to locate a mimeographed report (Her- 

 mann), which describes the culture briefly. Commercially, rote- 

 none is derived from two genera of the bean family, Denis and 

 Lonohocarpua. Both are grown from cuttings, which means that 

 the Totonac would not have to accustom themselves to a new 

 and unfamiliar planting technique. Before any attempt were 



African oil palm. Both require tropical condi- 

 tions, and presumably both could be marketed in 

 the United States — the former, for the prepara- 

 tion of insecticides; the latter, particularly for the 

 manufacture of tin plate and terne plate. Mr. 

 Virgil Pettit thinks that kenaf (Hibiscus can- 

 nabinvs L.) might be preferable. He has supplied 

 a small lot of seed for experimental planting, but 

 offhand it seems likely that kenaf will not be suited 

 to local conditions. 74 



This concludes our suggestions for cash crops. 

 Should any of the above possibilities result satis- 

 factory in Tajin, the undue emphasis now placed 

 on vanilla might be relieved. 



FOOD 75 



Sahagun (3 : 130) disposes of Totonac diet with 

 admirable brevity: "Their usual food and prin- 

 cipal subsistence was chili, with which, after hav- 

 ing been ground, they moistened the hot tortillas." 

 This characterization holds, to the extent that both 

 tortillas and chili are prominent in Totonac cook- 

 ery; but, as will be seen below, other maize dishes 

 are numerous, as are supplementary foods. 



FOOD PREPARATION 

 MAIZE DISHES 



Maize recipes are varied, despite the fact that 

 the chief dependence is upon tortillas and maize 

 gruel. Other dishes are prepared only occasion- 

 ally, some, in fact, almost exclusively for fiestas. 



Tortillas (caw). — The tortilla is a thin, round, 

 flexible maize cake which requires considerable 



made to introduce rotenone-bearing plants on large scale in Tajin, 

 obviously, experimental plantings, would be necessary. It is pos- 

 sible that neither plant would be able to withstand the brief 

 spring drought, the occasional low winter temperature, and the 

 chronic weed competition. Without experiment, it cannot be 

 said whether soil conditions are suitable, or whether local 

 plantings would have a sufficiently high rotenone content to be 

 useful commercially. Moreover, Mr. Virgil Pettit has remarked 

 recently, in conversation, that the rotenone market no longer 

 warrants extensive new plantings. 



7 * Kenaf requires "soil . . . deeply and thoroughly worked" 

 (Crane, p. 340), both difficult in view of the shallow topsoil and 

 the current digging stick technique. Although the plant appar- 

 ently is able to meet heavy weed competition, it should be har- 

 vested during the flowering stage. Accordingly, not much lati- 

 tude is allowed, and this assuredly would be a major obstacle in 

 Tajin, where the agricultural program does not run on a rigid 

 time schedule. 



Ts Particularly in the latter part of this chapter, there is fre- 

 quent reference to our herbarium specimens. A number in 

 parentheses following the name of a plant refers to the herbarium 

 catalog, which appears in Appendix C. 



