DIVERSE SYSTEMS OF MAIZE CULTURE. 9 



No one variety or type of corn thrives under so wide a range of 

 natural condition-, but the Indians have many highly specialized 

 varieties and many specialized methods of cultivation. These have 

 made it possible for Indians to occupy and deforest any part of the 

 Central American region. The large numbers and varied characters 

 of these specializations of varieties and of cultural methods afford 

 important evidence of the very great antiquity of the primitive agri- 

 cultural civilization- in Central America. 



The mountainous contours of this region, together with the lack 

 of large navigable river.- and of beasts of burden, have tended to pre- 

 vent the development of great centers of civilization like those of 

 ancient Egypt and Assyria. Neither were there any wide areas of 

 alluvial lands adapted to permanent cultivation by the Indian 

 methods of agriculture. The dry plateaus were the scenes of the 

 Aztec and Inca civilization- which happened to be flourishing at the 

 time of the Spanish conque.-t. but widely scattered ancient remains 

 show that many other primitive cultures had developed and disap- 

 peared in earlier times, even in the humid lowlands. 



The want of means of transportation to bring food from longer 

 di-tances limited the size of native communities and prevented the 

 simultaneous devastation of large regions, as in the Old World. A 

 barren zone surrounding each town is a regular feature in Central 

 America, leaving no doubt of what the results would have been if 

 such communities could have grown to large size. (See PL II.) 

 Supplies of firewood and of building timbers for Salama. Coban. and 

 other large towns in the interior of Guatemala are regularly carried 

 in on the backs of Indian- for two or three leagues, and often for 

 greater distances. Indian- from San Pedro Carcha. near Coban, 

 often plant corn over fifty miles away, in the Cahabon district, and 

 carry the crop home on their backs. 



The lack of draft animals prevented the development of the art of 

 plowing, which might have enabled more use to be made of the land 

 but would also have brought about a more complete and lasting de- 

 nudation. The usual custom of natives of tropical countries to raise 

 only one or two crop- in each clearing appears very wasteful, but it 

 has the advantage of making only small drafts on the fertility of the 

 soil. The humus layer is not destroyed by fire, and the roots remain 

 in the ground to resist erosion. Much of the vegetation survives the 

 cutting and is ready to begin at once the process of reforestation. 

 The corn may even be planted before the burning takes place if the 

 rains continue too long or begin too early. 



a Indications of corresponding specializations in cotton culture have been 

 noted in other papers: An Enemy of the Boll Weevil. Report 78, V. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture, and Cotton Culture in Guatemala, Yearbook, U. S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture for 1904. pp. 475-488. 

 145 



