HARVESTING EARS, [Chap. 



along and lets the ears tumble out, till 'he has 

 covered a space of sufficient length to accommo- 

 date all the feeders conveniently. Then the oxen, 

 pigs, and sheep, are driven to the spot, for 

 which they are always ready, and to which the 

 poultry most punctually come of their own ac- 

 cord. The oxen, in taking up the ears and 

 grinding them, let grains and bits of ears fall ; 

 the hogs, while they are feeding upon the ears, 

 let some tumble out also ; the sheep do the same. 

 The oxen will not pick up dirty bits ; and, there- 

 fore, when they have gone over the prime part 

 of the meal, they just look over it again, and 

 poke away the hogs with their horns as long as 

 there is any part of the corn remaining which 

 they have a fancy for. The sheep leave off as 

 soon as all the clean corn has disappeared ; the 

 hogs go on taking up the single grains, dirt and 

 all, and the poultry, taking care to keep skip- 

 ping out of the way of the grunters, pick up the 

 crumbs. So that, at the end of the meal, there 

 is not left even the fragment of a bit of grain, 

 and only a few of the cobbs, which the oxen have 

 not found clean enough for them after the shel- 

 lings of the sheep. 



145. Ingenuity will soon discover some mode 

 of grinding or crushing these cobbs into chaff; 

 and very valuable that chaff will be found. 

 And, now, there only remains, in this chapter, to 



