ABSTRACT
As making milpa retreats from its central position in life for all Maya, so does adherence to its attendant ritual. The water–supply problem can also be manage effectively, except in the most severe drought years, through careful selection of milpa location and perfect timing of planting based on correct interpretation of natural signs. The importance of recognizing and selecting the most appropriate soils for milpa production is reflects in the detailed typology of soil types developed by the Maya. The Maya continues to making milpa as always and had little contact with government agencies except for negotiating the creation of new ejidos or the granting of ampliaciones in the forests of the southeast. Proponents of the machine and practitioners of the milpa seemed to have little in common but the soil and the tradition of appropriation of it by outsiders.
