mintz, sidney - living fences in the fond-des-nègres region, haiti

Living Fences in the Fond-des-Nègres Region, HaitiAuthor(s): Sidney W. MintzSource: Economic Botany, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1962), pp. 101-105Published by: Springer on behalf of New York Botanical Garden PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4252335 .

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Living Fences in the Fondodes-N6gres Region, Haiti1 SIDNEY W. MINTZ2

The plateau of Fond-des-Negres, in the southern peninsula of the Republic of Haiti, is a fertile, well watered region which pro- duces coffee, sisal, and vetiver root for the world market, and millet, maize, rice, and root crops for subsistence and for the internal exchange system. The plateau lies at approximately 300 meters and has an area of approximately 5,500 hectares.

Most of the land on the plateau is held in small plots, such that production, whether for export or for local consumption, is carried out on peasant holdings. The peasantry traditionally devotes some part of its land to the cultivation of coffee for export. Since law forbids the cutting of coffee trees, and since world market prices in recent years have not encouraged the expansion of coffee cultivation, variations in the amount pro- duced have been conditioned mainly by changes in climate, hurricane damage, and the apparently reduced labor investment cultivators have been willing to make in their coffee lands. Though it is not possible to obtain statistical confirmation, it seems certain that the production of crops for subsistence and for internal exchange has risen during the past ten years. Sisal production, which expanded sharply in the region around the start of this decade, is now declining, in accord with the decline in world market prices. Probably the Fond-des-Negres region

1 Field work was carried on in the Fond-des- Negres region during October, 1958, anff from January through March, 1959. The writer is grateful to the Guggenheim Foundation and to the Social Science Research Council for fellow- ship awards in support of his research. Thanks are also owed to Drs. E. C. Leonard and Lyman B. Smith, of the Department of Botany, U. S. National Museum, who provided the identifications of plants mentioned in this paper. Dr. Smith identified Bromelia Pinguin, Dr. Leonard all the other plants cited.

2 Department of Anthropology, Yale Univer- sity.

is more oriented to the production of subsistence today than it was a decade ago.

The settlement pattern of the region is one of scattered homesteads, with the houses located mostly on the crests of rolling land and on hilltops. The peasant house lies on a small plot of land usually surrounded by living fences; if houses adjoin each other, they are separated by such fences, unless they be part of the same family complex. There will usually be some cultivation within the "lakou"3, but it is minor and speeial- ized. The cultivation of basic crops in large quantities is conducted on fields which lie some variable distance from the houses. This division into house plot and field in Haiti appears to be paralleled in other Caribbean sub-regions. The "lakou" of Haiti corre- sponds to the "yard" of the Jamaican peasant, and to the "batey" of the Puerto Rican peasant. In those instances, as in Haiti, the house plot serves principally: 1) for the growing of a few minor vegetables, which are semi-decorative, such as eggplant, hot pepper, and tomato; 2) for items which may be commercial in use but are grown nearthe house in very small quantities, such as cotton, sisal or vetiver; and 3) for trees which pro- vide fruit, shade, or craft materials, such as avocados, guavas, coconut palms, and lata- niers (2). Sometimes crops which are likely to be stolen if not guarded may be planted near the house-plantains and bananas are examples. But, in any case, the cultivation near the house, within the "lakou," is mixed in its nature and objectives and is economically not significant.

In the Fond-des-Negres region, those plants used to form hedges around the "lakou," to form paths to the door of the house and to mark boundaries between agri- cultural holdings are few in number. Their use is plainly traditional in character, and

The creole orthography employed here is that of Hall (1).

101



102 ECONOMIC BOTANY

4

is., u, ,

Fig. 1. Bromelia pinguin, "p8gw8."

they are chosen for planting in accord with particular traits (3, 5). As will be noted, it is particularly important that some of these plants serve a soil-retention and conservation purpose; this is fully known to the peasantry. It is striking that such plants are not used more for frankly conservational purposes.

One of the commonest plants for forming a living fence is the "pegwe" (Bromelia pinguin) (Fig. 1). This spiny plant grows in thick clumps to a height of perhaps two feet. Though a short plant, it is useful for bordering houses which open on major paths, since it will keep out all passing animals. Neither human beings nor animals can easily cross through pegwe, and beasts will turn away from it. But this plant harbors snakes, mongooses, rats and other small animals, and most people in the region do not like it as a hedge close to the house. Pegwe holds earth well and is often planted where considerable passage of men and beasts has packed the paths down below the surface of the adjoining land.

Another popular plant for a living fence is the "kadelab" (Euphorbia lactea). This cactus-like succulent grows to a height of five feet or more. Fully grown, it forms an im- penetrable thicket (Fig. 2); yet it is "clean," does not bunch at its base and can be grown in orderly lines. The kadelab will grow in areas of sparse rainfall. Other than as fence and decoration, the plant apparently has no significant use; peasants say, however, that its sap can be used as paste for paper.

"Parese" (no specimen collected; probably Polyscias sp.) is another popular plant for forming living fences. Parese matures in less than six months; if left alone, it will grow to a height of ten or twelve feet. It can be planted in very tight rows, and while effectively preventing trespass and holding land well against erosion, it is more attractive than either pegwe or kadelab. Unlike pegwe, it grows tall and does not clump. Unlike kadelab, it is not prickly and harsh- looking. Fences formed of parese- are the most attractive and useful of all (Fig. 3). Probably the muajor disadvantage of parese as a living fence is the fact that goats and horses will eat the leaves; people say that mules must grow used to it, but that then they will eat it as well. Sometimes parese is grown miiore widely spaced, rather than in a thicket or hedge. It is then sometimes made into a fence with bamboo crossbars, tied with "lian p'si" (Serjania polyphylla).

Croton, "kroto" (Codiaeum variegatum), is another plant used for living fences, as well as for decoration in the yard. There appear to be several varieties, but no specimens were collected. This plant usually serves for the hedges leading to the door of the house, at

Fig. 2. Euphorbia lactea, "kad6lab."



LIVING FENCES IN THE FOND-DES-NEGRES REGION, HAITI 103

the entrance to the lakou or is planted in clumps within it (Fig. 4).

Bamboo is on rare occasions used to form a boundary ("lizi'e"). It has many local craft uses: for fencing, the manufacture of musical instruments ("vaksin"), rain gutters, chicken cages, etc. Clumps of bamboo, however, usually mark intersections of plots of land, rather than serving as continuous boundaries. Peasants often plant bamboo along water courses or whether their land ad- joins streams, since it flourishes near water and holds land well. Otherwise, it is most commonly found at property intersections.

The plant called "metsie" (French "medi- cinier": Jatropha curcas) is commonly planted around houses and around fields adjoining the lakou. As with parese', metsie may be planted widely and tied together with bamboo crossbars. It is, however, a less satisfac- tory living fence in general, less a barrier than a marker.

"Gad mezo (Pedilanthus tithymaloides) is

X4

Fig. 3. Polyscias sp., "par6se."

Fig. 4. Codiaeum variegatumt, "krot,6."

likewise used for living f ences. Like croton, it is mainly a yard plant, and may be planted either to f orm a hedge or in clumps, f or decoration. It is perhaps the prettiest of these plants, along with croton (Fig. 5).

There remain the two commercial plants, "ipit" (Agave rigida, var. sisalana) and itv'tive" (Anatheqrum zizanioides). Neither of these species has a long commercial history in the Fond-des-Ne'gres region; both are grown in greater quantities on the plains southwest of the plateau. But the Fond- des-Ne'gres peasantry have taken up the cultivation of both in recent years, and both have entered into the domestic economy in interesting ways, even though present world market prices do not encourage the extension of their cultivation.

Sisal ("pit") is grown along main paths, but it rarely serves as a living f ence by itself. More commonly, it is grown in rows inside a living fence of some other plant. Sisal has to be planted at some distance in from the path, since its leaves attain a great length. It can be cut commercially with fair frequency but grows to f ull bloomn in a year.



104 ECONOMIC BOTANY

Fig. 5. Pedilanthus tithymaloides. "gad mkz6"

It dies in three years or less and must then be replanted. Properly planted, sisal plants should be approximately four feet apart, one of the reasons why it does not make a good living hedge. The peasantry say that sisal turns up the subsoil. It will often be planted on "old" (that is, much cultivated) land, with or around young saplings. Animals do not disturb young trees surrounded by sisal plants, and strangers will not tether their beasts near sisal. Hence, planting it around a stand of young trees serves to pro- tect the saplings from everything but man. If the plants remain standing for their life- time, the trees will have had an opportunity to take hold. Furthermore, peasants say that if a crop is put into the land on which sisal has been growing, it will do very well, particularly in the second and third harvests. The sisal roots rot and break up in the first year after they die, enriching the soil for future crops. Sisal, however, is not, strictly speaking, a living hedge so much as a supplement to such hedges (Fig. 6). The price of sisal on the world market has fallen in recent years, so that there is no reason to expect its production to increase in the Fond- des-Negres area (nor in Haiti, for that mat- ter) in the near future. It remains, however, a plant with many uses in local crafts, and the peasantry will doubtless always continue to plant some sisal. Its fiber makes a good rope, and it is used as reinforcement on certain kinds of baskets, for bridle headstalls, for croupiers and in other ways.

Something of the same may be said for vetiver. This grass is, in fact, used for boundary markers, but not as a barrier. Beasts of burden will eat vetiver, so that it

cannot be planted too freely where animals pass. At the same time, rats will not eat it, and peasants find that it makes good roof thatching for this reason (Fig. 7). Though it is not as durable as certain other grasses available for thatch, its lack of attractiveness to rodents sometimes makes it the most practical covering (5). Peasants often grow vetiver for thatching and, after having cut the grass several times, pull up the roots to sell. There are a number of usines (process- ing plants) on the plateau which render es- sential oil from the roots.

Sisal and vetiver, then, differ somewhat from the other plants mentioned, since they have fairly important domestic uses setting them apart. Neither, however, makes an ideal living fence, and neither can serve adequate- ly as a barrier. For this purpose, kadelab and parese are probably the most suitable plants. Remarkable is the failure, at least in the Fond-des-Negres region, to employ these plants fully. The plateau, far from consisting of level tableland, is in many areas marked by rolling hillsides, and cultivation is carried on both in the bottomlands, near water and on slopes. In a number of instances, where cultivation has proceeded on sharp inclines, erosion has been severe. There is no plough cultivation. Land is cleared with the bush knife and machete, the brush is allowed to dry and is then burned off. Planting is done with the hoe or a dibble. In some cases (for instance, when rice is cultivated in low pockets of land with an ample water supply), seed may even be sown broadcast. Land is usually cultivated uninterruptedly for three or four years, then

Fig. 6. Agave rigida var. sisalana, "sisal," or "pit."



LIVING FENCES IN THE FOND-DES-NEGRES REGION, HAITI 105

Fig. 7. Thatch made from Anatherum (An- dropogon) 2izanioides, "'vetive'."

allowed the rest for another three-or four- year period before recultivation. Other than by fallowing, however, nothing is done to renovate or nourish the soil. Measures to prevent erosion are, moreover very rare. Normally, large trees are not cut, and care is taken not to burn them badly when the brush is cut and burned off before planting. Trees are only rarely planted, and terracing and contour cultivation are not practiced. Near the bottoms, the soil receives more favored treatment; land having a good water supply, but removed from streams, is drained in the early spring and planted with rice having a short growing season. After the rice is harvested, in June or July, sweet potatoes may be planted on the same land. Erosion in such bottoms is slight, and the soil is usually protected. On the slopes, however, run-off is likely to be considerable, unless there are stands of coffee with their pro- tective cover of fruit and other trees. The most popular crops for open slopes are maize and millet, and three or more harvests of these crops may be taken from the same plot without interruption. In these instances, it is rare to see measures taken to prevent erosion, though the land may receive the pro- tection provided by standing trees.

The use of living fences composed of sueh plants as parese and kadelab is already traditional in the Fond-des-Negres region, and such fences commonly separate house plots

from paths and from each other. Less commonly, they are used between cultivation plots, but almost all such boundaries are marked by some sort of fence. It is con- ceivable that the people of Fond-des-Negres would respond to encouragement for planting such fences along the ridges which form on eroding slopes. Since neither ploughs nor wheeled tools or vehicles are used in cultivation and transport, parallel fences of this sort would not interfere with planting and harvest-except by occupying arable land or by casting excessive shade. If planted on the crests of ridges, they would occupy land otherwise not valuable for agriculture, and the amount of shade they gave could be controlled by the selec- tion of particular species for particular crops and by trimming.

A measure of this sort could not be ex- pected to make a significant difference in conservation. In areas where deforestation has proceeded apace-particularly where charcoal-making is economically important- devices of this sort could have only very limited effects. But living fences are already a firm feature of peasant life in the Fond- des-Negres region and in many other parts of Haiti. If their use could be extended by simple demonstration and explanation, it would illustrate once again the practical value of directed change proceeding through techniques already familiar in a particular culture.

Literature Cited 1. Hall, Robert A. Jr. 1953. Haitian Creole.

Am. Anthrop. Ass. Mem. No. 74. Men- asha, Wis.

2. Mftraux, Alfred. 1949. L'Habitation pays- anne en Haiti. Bull. Soc. Neuchateloise Geogr., 55: 5-14.

3. . 1951. Making a living in the Mar- bial Valley (Haiti). UNESCO Occ. Pap. Fund. Edue. No. 10. Paris.

4. Mintz, Sidney W. In press. The house and yard among three Caribbean peasantries. Sel. Pap., Sixth Intern. Congr. Anthrop. Ethnol. Sci. Paris.

5. Street, John. 1960. Historical and economic geography of the Southwest Peninsula of Haiti. Unpub. Ph.D. Diss. Dept. Geogr., Univ. Cal. Berkeley, Cal.



mintz, sidney - living fences in the fond-des-nègres region, haiti

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