Chap. 72.] THE IIARTEST. 103 



CHAP. 72. (30.) THE HARVEST. 



The mode of getting in the harvest varies considerably. Iti 

 the vast domains of the provinces of Gaul a large hollow 

 frame, ^'^ armed with teeth and supported on two wheels, is 

 driven through the standing corn, the beasts being yoked^^ 

 behind it ; the result being, that the ears are torn off and 

 fall within the frame. In other countries the stalks are cut 

 with the sickle in the middle, and the ears are separated by 

 the aid of paddle-forks.^- In some places, again, the corn is 

 torn up by the roots ; and it is asserted by those who adopt 

 this plan, that it is as good as a light turning up for the ground, 

 whereas, in reality, they deprive it of its juices. ^^ There are 

 differences in other respects also : in places where they thatch 

 their houses with straw, they keep the longest haulms for that 

 purpose ; and where hay is scarce, they employ the straw for 

 litter. The straw of panic is never used for thatching, and 

 that of millet is mostly burnt ; barley-straw, however, is 

 always preserved, as being the most agreeable of all as a food 

 for oxen. In the Gallic provinces panic and millet are gathered, 

 ear by ear, with the aid of a comb carried in the hand. 



In some places the corn is beaten out by machines®^ upon 

 the threshing-floor, in others by the feet of mares, and in 



3" Palladius gives a long description of this contrivance, ■which seems to 

 have been pushed forward by the ox; the teeth, which were sharp at the 

 edge and fine at the point, catching the ears and tearing them off. But, 

 as Fee says, the use of it must have been very disadvantageous, in conse- 

 quence of the unequal height of the stalks. The straw, too, was sacrificed 

 by the employment of it. 



^1 In contrarium juncto. 



^- "Merges." Supposed to be the same as the *' batilhim" of Varro. 

 Its form is unknown, and, indeed, the manner in which it was used. It is 

 not improbable that it was a fork, sharp at the edge, and similar to an 

 open pair of scissars, with whicli tlie heads of corn were driven off, as it 

 wei-e ; this, however, is only a mere conjecture. By the use of " atque," 

 it would almost appear that the "merges" was employed after tlie sickle 

 had been used ; but it is more probable that he refers to two different me- 

 thods of gathering the ears of corn. 



^^ The roots and the stubble are, in reality, as good as a manure to the 

 land. 



^^ Called " tribulum ;" a threshing-machine moved by oxen. Yano, 

 De Re Rust. i. 52, gives a description of it. Fee says that it is still used 

 in some parts of F^urope. 



