130 THE HORSE AND HTS RIDER. 



are driven into the enclosure, stallions, mares, foals, 

 and all, for when in, the more riotous they are the 

 better the work will be done. The gate is closed, 

 and then begins a ball of which it requires a lively 

 imagination to conceive a picture. The drivers act 

 as musicians, and their formidable harabnicks are the 

 fiddles that keep up the dance without intermission. 



The horses terrified, partly by the crackling straw 

 under their feet, and partly by the incessant cracking 

 of the whip over their heads, dart half frantic from 

 one extremity to Jthe other of their temporary prison, 

 ^lillions of grains are flying about in. the air, and the 

 labourers without have enough to do to toss back the 

 sjieaves that are flung over the railing by the prancing, 

 hard working thrashers within. This continues for 

 about an hour. The horses are then let out, the corn 

 turned, and the same performance repeated three 

 times before noon. By that time a thousand sheffel 

 of corn have been thrashed, after a fashion that looks 

 more like a holiday diversion, than a hard day's work ; 

 but in such an operation, more corn is lost than is 

 gained on many large farms in Germany. 



