ATTICA. 



151 



separate spot by the foot. They eat all the barley within the extent of their cord, and 

 after that their position is changed : thus the whole of the field is equally benefited by the 

 manure of the animal. The grain having been sown after the first rains in October or 

 November, is at this time of considerable growth. The horses continue in the fields about 

 a month; if, at the end of that period, there remains any thing uneaten, it is plucked up, 

 and preserved as hay. 



" The field being now free, the earth is broken by a plough of the most simple construc- 

 tion, and is sown with cotton ; to cover this seed, the labourer fastens a strait plank be- 

 hind two oxen, upon which he stands, and holding the reins in his hands he is thus drawn 

 across all the furrows, until the whole be closed up and the seed secure. 



" They begin to reap this cotton early in September, after which the land is again 

 ploughed and sown with barley. In the following month of June, they either cut or 

 pluck* up the crop, which is carried to a place more or less near to the field ; sometimes 

 paved, but more commonly the surface is only made flat, the earth in the neighbourhood 

 of Athens being extremely hard. There, when all the crop is collected, a number of mares 

 are brought from the hills in order to thresh it, which is effected in the following manner : 



" In the middle of the place a post is erected, and to it is fastened a cord, at the other 

 end of which the heads of two, three, four, and sometimes six of these mares are fastened. 

 A man standing in the middle of the place makes them trot in a circular direction until 

 the cord is completely twisted round the post, and in consequence the animals brought 

 close to it; he then makes them return, and by gradually untwisting the cord, extend the 

 circle. By these means, the corn being kept by another man under their feet, is equally 

 threshed, and the straw at the same time cut, for the mares are shod for this purpose. The 

 grain being separated from the chaff by throwing it in the air, it is gathered into heaps, 

 and the guards, some of whom always watch the progress of the work, affix the seal ; that 

 is to say, each heap is surrounded by four planks, on which the name of the Aga who is 

 the proprietor of the tythes, is cut ; and until the Aga has first taken his right, none of the 

 grain is allowed to be carried into the town or removed from the spot. 



" The harvest being over, the mares and a great many labourers go to Thebes, where 

 they proceed in the same manner. In the heavy and moist land of Bceotia the corn is 

 later in ripening ; and therefore many of the labourers are doubly employed. 



" When the whole is finished, the shoes are taken off the mares, and they, with their 

 young, are turned loose upon the mountains, until the next year." 



*" Wheat and barley, in general, do not grow half so high as in Britain, and are therefore not 

 reaped with the sickle like other grain, but plucked up with the root by the hand. — Russell's 

 Aleppo, i. 75. 



