e last snow-storm, when the flowers begin to
bud (early in the month of May), the women and children go into the timber
and prepare a large bed, clearing away the underbrush, weeds and grass and
leaves and sticks, raking the ground till the earth is thoroughly
pulverized. Elk, deer, and mountain sheep droppings are collected, pounded
fine, and mixed with the seed which is to be sown.

On the appointed day all the men gather at the bed. Each one holds in his
hand a short, sharp-pointed stick, with which to make a hole in the
ground. The men stand in a row extending across the bed. At a signal they
make the holes in the ground, and drop in some seed, with some sacred
sarvis berries. The tobacco song is sung by the medicine men, all take a
short step forward, make another hole, a foot in front of the last, and
then drop in it some more seed. Another song is sung, another step taken,
and seed is again planted; and this continues until the line of men has
moved all the way across the bed, and the planting is completed. The
tobacco dance follows the planting.

After the seed has been planted, they leave it and go off after the
buffalo. While away during the summer, some important man--one of the
medicine men who had taken part in the planting--announces to the people
his purpose to go back to look after the crop. He starts, and after he has
reached the place, he builds a little fire in the bed, and offers a prayer
for the crop, asking that it may survive and do well. Then he pulls up one
of the plants, which he takes back with him and shows to the people, so
that all may see how the crop is growing. He may thus visit the place three
or four times in the course of the summer.

From time to time, while they are absent from the tobacco patch in summer,
moving about after the buffalo, the men gather in some lodge to perform a
special ceremony for the protection of the crop. Each man holds in his hand
a little stick. They sing and pray to the Sun and Old Man, asking that the
grasshoppers and other insects may not eat their plants. At the end of each
song they strike the ground with their sticks, as if killing grasshoppers
and worms. It has sometimes happened that a young man has said that he does
not believe that these prayers and songs protect the plants, that the Sun
does not send messengers to destroy the worms. To such a one a medicine
man will say, "Well, you can go to the place and see for yourself." The
young man gets on h