BOOK II. XX. 2-5 



that the grain may grow larger on the floor "■ and in 

 the stack rather than in the field. For it is an 

 estabhshed fact that, if cut at the proper time, it makes 

 some growth afterwards. There are, fm-thermore, 3 

 several methods of reaping : many cut the straw in 

 the middle with cradle-scythes, and these either 

 bill-shaped or toothed ; many gather the heads only 

 with forks, and others with combs ^ — an operation 

 which is very easy in a thin crop, but very difficult 

 in a thick one. 



But if the grain, with a part of the straw, is cut 

 with sickles, it is at once gathered into a pile or 

 carried into the shed,^ and then after repeated drying 

 in the sun, as opportunity offers, it is threshed. If, 4 

 however, the heads only are cut off they may be 

 carried into the granary and then, during the winter, 

 be beaten out with flails or trodden out by cattle. 

 But if it is convenient to have the grain threshed on 

 the floor, there is no doubt that this woi'k is better 

 done ^Wth horses than with oxen ; and if you have few 

 teams you may hitch to them a threshing-sledge and 

 a drag, either of which very easily breaks up the 

 straw. It is better, however, that the heads them- 

 selves be beaten with flails and winnowed with fans. 

 But when the grain is mixed with the chaff it is cleaned 5 

 by the wind. The west wind is considered excellent 

 for this purpose, as it blows gently and evenly in the 

 summer months ; but to wait for it is the mark of a 



(mergunt) in pursuit of food. Others conjecture a sharp V- 

 shaped contrivance which the user pushed before him in such 

 a way as to catch and tear off the heads of the grain. The 

 " comb " (pecten) is regarded by some as a rake; by others 

 as an iron implement with comb-Uke teeth, used to clip off the 

 heads of the standing grain. Cf. Varro, R.B. I. 50 ; Pliny, 

 N.H. XVIII. 296-297. " Cf. I. 6. 24, with note. 



217 



