Nothing New Under the Sun

This clarifies a matter of some earlier speculation. Jemiah and his Pa are indeed "bolt harvesters--" farming the trees that played such a pivotal role in this episode for the energy stored in their seeds. But as Jemiah implies, the Ministry of Progress has apparently made this livelihood obsolete.

Jemiah, by the way, is quoting Ecclesiastes:

Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
(Ecclesiastes 1:10-11)

-e