PRIMITIVE METHODS 155 



" the cedar harvest " as it is called, commences about 

 the middle of August. At this period the local popu- 

 lation and the " cedar " merchants proceed together 

 to the cembran pine woods and groves to collect the 

 seed. The method of collection, as also the tools 

 used, is most barbarous and would appear to inflict 

 the maximum amount of damage to the trees from 

 which this source of profit is derived, and whose 

 preservation, it would be thought, should be the 

 first object of the harvesters. This is a common 

 characteristic of the Asiatic races. In North Baluchis- 

 tan and in Southern Afghanistan a pine known as 

 Pinus Gerrardiana, the chilgoza or silver-barked pine, 

 occurs in small forests clothing the steep mountain 

 sides and crests. The seed from the cone of this pine 

 is collected for sale, and is widely eaten throughout 

 the Punjab. The methods in force in collecting it, 

 as will be shown, have a curious parallel with those 

 used in harvesting the cembran pine seed in Asiatic 

 Russia. The tools used in Siberia are extremely 

 primitive, consisting of axes, sieves, bark ladles, 

 graters for the cones, mallets, poles, bags, etc. The 

 gathering of the cones is effected by climbers — men 

 and boys who climb up into the trees and knock or 

 pull the ripe cones off the branches. As these branches 

 also contain the young cones of next year's crop, the 

 primitive methods of harvesting usually result in a 

 number of these being knocked off in addition to the 

 ripe ones, thus diminishing the harvest of the following 

 year. This method of collection usually results in 

 numbers of branches being broken off the trees, their 

 future bearing capacity being permanently reduced. 



