The Haymakers of the Snow Peaks 



r 



cold season. Hence they must lay up stores, 

 and plentiful ones. In this duty they show not 

 only great industry, but much sagacity, the 

 former being required, indeed, by the latter, for 

 their harvest is a short and precarious one. 

 They must not cut the grasses and flowering 

 weeds too early, for then the juices are still 

 copious in the stalks, and these would heat and 

 ferment the plants when piled up, causing them 

 to rot instead of to " cure." They dare not 

 wait too long, for fear the plants may shed their 

 nutritious seeds and wither, or even be lost alto- 

 gether beneath burying snows or destructive 

 gales. Hence it is an evidence of much judg- 

 ment and great activity on the part of these 

 little husbandmen that they are able to meet 

 their requirements in the brief season only 

 a fortnight or so in later September allowed 

 them by their climate and circumstances. Dur- 

 ing this short harvest-time the pikas make their 

 hay, stack it up in the sun to cure, and, when it 

 is thoroughly dry, but not decayed, take it into 

 their barns beneath the stones and store it as 

 food for the long winter jto. come. 



+$ "255' 3 



