•26 



HISTORY OP A GUI CULTURE. 



Part I. 



reapers, out large Balds nrith an "\ In one day. r.. r iins purpose. ••> machine is made, carried upon two 



wheels re surface bas boards erected at the side, which, imping outwards, make a wider space 



the board on the fore pari Is lower than the others ; upon it there are s j-* '«•;» t many small teeth, 

 t m a row, answering t.. the height of the ears of the- com, and turned upwards at the ends; 



mi the back part of tins machine two 



ii ifts are fixed, like I '" 



ol a litter i to these an ax Is yoked. 



with bis be id to the machine, and 



the yoke and traces likewise turned 



the contrary way : he Is well trainedj 



and does not g<> raster than he is 



driven. When this machine is pushed 



through the standing corn, all the 



earsarec prehended bj the teeth, 



and heaped up In the hollow part of 



it, being cut offfrom the straw, which 



is left behind] the driver setting it 



higher or lo vet, as he finds it i i 



sarj ; and thus, by a few goings and 



returnings, the whole field is reaped 



I bis machine dues very well in plain 

 and smooth fields, and in places 

 where there is no necessity for feed. 

 Ing with straw." (Pal., lib. vii. I I 

 A conjectural delineation of this ma. 

 chin. is given by Lasteyrie, 



in his Collection des Machines, $c. 



134. The Romans did not bind their corn into sheaves, as is customary in northern cli- 

 mates. When cut it was in general sent directly to the area to be threshed ; or, if the 

 ears only were cropped, sent in baskets to the barn. Among the Jews, Egyptians, 

 and Greeks, the corn was bound in sheaves ; or at least some kinds were so treated, as 

 appears from the story of Ruth " gleaning among the sheaves;" of Joseph's dream, in 

 which his " sheaf arose ;" and from the harvest represented by Homer, on one of the 

 compartments of Achilles's shield. (//., lib. xviii. 550.) Reapers were set in bands on 

 (he opposite sides of the field or plot, and worked towards the centre. As the land was 

 ploughed in the same maimer from the sides to the middle, there was an open furrow 

 left there, to which the reapers hastened in the way of competition. A reaper was 

 expected to cut down a jugcrum of wheat in a day and a half; of barley, legumes, and 

 medica or clover, in one day ; and of flax in three days. 



1 35. Threshing was performed in the area or threshing floor, a circular space of from 40 

 to 60 feet in diameter, in the open air, with a smooth hard surface. The floor was generally 

 made of well wrought clay mixed with amurca or the lees of oil ; sometimes it was 

 paved. It was generally placed near the nubilarium or barn, in order that when a 

 sudden shower happened, during the process of threshing, the ears might be carried in 

 there out of the rain. Sometimes also the ears or unthreshed corn of the whole farm 

 were first put in this barn and carried out to the area afterwards. Varro and Columella 

 recommended that the situation of the area should be high and airy, and within sight of 

 the farmer or bailiff's house, to prevent fraud ; distant from gardens and orchards, 

 because, though dung and straw are beneficial to the roots of vegetables, tiiey arc de- 

 structive when they fall on their leaves." ( Var. , lib. i. cap. 51.) 



136. The corn being spread over the area a foot or two 17 



in thickness, was threshed or beaten out by the hoofs 

 of cattle, or horses driven round it, or dragging a ma- 

 chine over it. This machine, Varro informs us, was 

 " made of a board, rough with stones or iron, with a 

 driver or great weight placed on it" A machine com- 

 posed of rollers studded with iron knobs, and furnished 

 with a seat for the driver {Jig. 17.), was used in the 

 Carthaginian territory. Sometimes also they threshed 

 with rods or flails. Far, or Indian corn (Zea Mdffs 

 L.), was generally hand-picked, or passed through a 

 handmill. 



137. Corn was cleansed or winnowed by throwing it from one part of the floor to another 

 (in the wind when there was any), with a kind of shovel called rentilabrnm ; another im- 

 plement, called a van, probably a kind of sieve, was used when there was no wind. After 

 being dressed, the corn was laid in the granary, and the straw either laid aside for litter, 

 or, what is not a little remarkable, " sprinkled with brine ; then, when dried, rolled up in 

 bundles, and so given to the oxen for hay." (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 30.) 



138. Hay-making among the Romans was performed much in the same way as in 

 modern times. The meadows were mown when the flowers of the grass began to fade ; 

 " as it dries," says Varro, " it is turned with forks; it is then tied up in bundles of four 

 pounds each, and carried home, and what is left strewed upon the meadow is raked 

 together, and added to the crop." " A good mower," Columella informs us, " cuts a 

 jugerum of meadow, and binds twelve hundred bundles of hay." It is probable that this 

 quantity, which is nearly two tons, was the produce per acre of a good crop. A second 

 crop was cut, called cordum, and was chiefly used for feeding sheep in winter. Hay 



