1920.1 Lowie, Crow Tobacco Society. 167 



couple seems to be strongly insisted upon. Thus, it would make little 

 difference whether the Medicine-bearer herself or her husband performed 

 certain ritualistic actions. 



AT THE GARDEN. 



After the race the rest of the society came up to the site, where the 

 Mixers spread a blanket on one side of the garden and put all the medi- 

 cines on it. Then anciently members as well as outsiders got axes, hoes, 

 and other implements to remove all the grass from the ground, making it 

 bare and smooth. Some men and women went off to fetch dry grass 

 and small dry twigs, which were spread over the site. Next a man hav- 

 ing the eagle for his medicine (even though he might not be a member) 

 was chosen to sing to the ground. He sang four songs, at the close of 

 which the people set fire to the dry grass. The singer held two feather 

 fans in his hands and fanned the fire. When the grass had been consumed, 

 the people took leafy branches and brushed the site with them. The 

 Mixers gave pemmican to all who had helped. Nowadays the ground is 

 not burnt over but merely undergoes a preparatory ploughing. 



Outside the site the people begin to cook and have a feast, after 

 which a rake is used to remove the sods, which are laid at the edge of the 

 ploughed surface as a kind of enclosure. Two sticks are planted on 

 opposite sides of the garden, and a rope is stretched across to join them, 

 marking the space to be allotted to each person. Every Mixer counts the 

 number of members under his supervision and counts a corresponding 

 number of rows. A stick is planted in the ground for his group's prop- 

 erty mark. In this way all the land is divided up. According to Arrn- 

 round-the-neck, husband and wife get distinct allotments of space but 

 Gray-bull says each couple had but a single row for their seed, but on 

 another occasion said he and his wife had had three rows altogether. 



According to-Old dog there are no fixed relative positions for the 

 several chapters, but if some dream of planting in a certain corner they 

 think they will have better results with their crop by utilizing the spot 

 dreamt. 



As to the planting there is some discrepancy between Gray-bull's 

 and Pretty-tail's narratives. After the division of the ground Gray-bull 

 has each Mixer select a renowned warrior, who is made to stand before 

 him on the garden site. The Mixer holds this man by the back and sings 

 four songs, pushing him a little at the close of each. The fourth time 

 the warrior runs across the site in a line parallel to the short sides of the 



