CHAP. I.] CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. 29 



1817. 



July 24. horses, or oxen, going abreast tram 

 ple out the grain as the sheaves, or 

 swarths are brought in. And this 

 explains to us the humane precept 

 of MOSES, " not to muzzle the ox 

 " as he treadeth out the grain? 

 which we country people in England 

 Cannot make out. I used to be 

 puzzled, too, in the story of RUTH, 

 to imagine how BOAZ could be busy 

 amongst his threshers in the height 

 of harvest. The weather is so fine, 

 and the grain so dry, that, when the 

 wheat and rye are threshed by the 

 flail, the sheaves are barely untied, 

 laid upon the floor, receive a few 

 raps, and are then tied up, clean 

 threshed, for straw, without the or 

 der of the straws being in the least 

 changed ! The ears and butts retain 

 their places in the sheaf, and the 

 band that tied the sheaf before ties 

 it again. The straw is as bright as 

 burnished gold. Not a speck in it. 

 These facts will speak volumes to 

 an English farmer who will see 

 with what ease work must be done 

 in such a country. 

 25. Fine hot day. Early pea, men- 



