The Ancient Threshing Circle

THRASHING, or Threshing (from "to thrash," 0. Eng. llerscan, cf. Ger. dreschen, Du. dorschen, &c.), the process by which the grain or seed of cultivated plants is separated from the husk or pod which contains it.
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Historical

It is probable that in the earliest times the little grain that was raised was shelled by hand, but as the quantity increased doubtless the grain was beaten out with a stick or the sheaf beaten upon the ground. An improvement on this, as the quantity further increased, was the practice of the ancient Egyptians and Israelites of spreading out the loosened sheaves on a circular enclosure of hard ground 50 to loo ft. in diameter, and driving oxen, sheep or other animals round and round over it so as to tread out the grain. This enclosure was placed on an elevated piece of ground so that when the straw was removed the wind blew away the chaff and left the corn. This method, however, damaged part of the grain, and as civilization advanced it was partially superseded by the thrashing sledge - the charatz of Egypt and the morag of the Hebrews - a heavy frame mounted with three or more rollers, sometimes spiked, which revolved as it was drawn over the spread out corn by two oxen. A common sledge with a ridged or grooved bottom was also used. Similar methods to these were used by the Greeks and are still employed in backward countries. In Italy a tapering roller fastened to an upright shaft in the centre of the thrashing floor and pulled round from the outer end by oxen is still in vogue and would seem to be a descendant of the Roman tribulum or roller sledge.

Doubtless the flail was evolved from the early method of using the stick. It seems to have been the thrashing implement in general use in all Northern European countries, and was the chief means of thrashing grain as late as 1860. It was known to the Japanese from the earliest times, and was probably used in conjunction with the stripper, an implement fashioned very much like a large comb, with the teeth made of hard wood and pointing upwards. The straw after being reaped was brought to this and combed through by hand, the heads being drawn off and afterwards thrashed on the thrashing floor by the flail. At the present day just such an implement, known as a "heckle," is used for combing the bolls or heads off flax or for straightening the fibre in the after treatment.

The flail consisted of two pieces of wood, the handstaff or helve and the beater, fastened together loosely at one end by a thong of raw hide or eelskin, which made a very durable join. The handstaff is a light rod of ash about 5 ft. long, slightly increasing in girth at the farther end to allow for the hole for the thong to bind it to the beater. The length of the handstaff enabled the operator to stand in an upright position while working. The beater is a wooden rod about 30 in. long, made of ash, though a more compact wood such as thorn is less likely to split. This also has a hole at one end for the thong to bind it to the handstaff. The shape of the beater was cylindrical, of about 14 in. diameter and constructed so that the edge of the grain of the wood received the force of the blow; 30 to 40 blows or strokes per minute was the average speed.

After the grain had been beaten out by the flail or ground out by other means the straw was carefully raked away and the corn and chaff collected to be separated by winnowing when there was a wind blowing. This consisted of tossing the mixture of corn and chaff into the air so that the wind carried away the chaff while the grain fell back on the thrashing floor. The best grain fell nearest while the lightest grain was carried some distance before falling, thus a very rough-and-ready grading of the grain was obtained. It was also performed when there was no wind by fanning while pouring the mixture from a vessel. Later on a fanning or winnowing mill was invented. All ancient barns were constructed with large doors giving on to the thrashing floor and opening in the direction of the prevailing winds so that the wind could blow right through the barn and across the thrashing floor for the purpose of winnowing the corn. The flail is still in use for special purposes such as flower seeds and also where the quantity grown is so small as to render it not worth while to use a thrashing mill.

With regard to the amount of grain thrashed in a day by the flail, a fair average quantity was 8 bushels of wheat, 30 bushels of oats, 16 bushels of barley, 20 bushels of beans, 8 bushels of rye and 20 bushels of buckwheat.