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146 Mountain and Submontane Zones.— In the Mountain Zone the fields are often very minute, consisting of narrow terraces supported by stone revetments built up the slopes of hills. That anyone should be ready to spend time and labour on such unpromising material is a sign of pressure of population on the soil, which is a marked feature of some hill tracts.

Fig. 50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazara.

Below 8000 feet the great crop is maize. Potatoes have been introduced near our hill stations. The chief pulse of the mountain zone is kulath (Dolichos biflorus), eaten by. the very poor. Wheat ascends to 8000 or 9000 feet, and at the higher levels is reaped in August. Barley is grown at much greater heights. Buckwheat (ugal,