Vicente Rendón and his compadre Salvador Villagómez harvesting maize; November 1945.
By mid-September the stalks are 2 to 3 m. tall, well-tasseled, and the ears beginning to form; roasting ears, elotes, will be ready by the end of the month. . . The lakeside milpas to be planted in wheat are cut beginning about mid-October and the stalks formed in shocks, or toros ("bulls") in the center of the field. A single plowing clears the roots and suffices for the wheat planting. Then the farmer husks the still slightly soft ears with a metal blade, a piscador, leaving them in the sun to harden. The largest ears have a single layer of husk left on, and the smaller are entirely cleaned. Black maize is tied in mancuernas ("pairs") to be hung from house rafters. Fields not to be planted immediately are not cut. The ears are husked and carried home when thoroughly mature, and stock is turned loose to forage (1948).
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