Ancient Method of Threshing, Greece
- Categories
- Special Collections > Keystone Slides
- Type
- tiff scanned file from original glass slide
- Description
- Greece is a farming country. About one-fifth of the land is cultivated, one-third is in pasture and meadow, and one-eighth in forest. The rest is waste. The land is owned chiefly in small tracts by the farmers. The summer climate is dry. There are only a few rivers, and but little has been done toward irrigation and ditching. Agriculture is in a backward state. This is shown in the scene before you. Here grain is being threshed by a method almost as old as the country. A stretch of ground in a field is leveled for a threshing floor. The grain cut and bound by hand, is hauled to the field. You see long stacks of sheaves in the background. A few loads are hauled to the threshing floor, the sheaves are opened, and the grain scattered on the ground. Mules and horses are driven over it, around and around, back and forth. When the straw is trodden down tightly it is lifted up by forks, and the animals repeat their marches. When most of the grain is freed from the heads, the straw is piled in bunches. The chaff and grain are thrown against the wind until they are separated. Our ancestors in America threshed wheat in the same way generations ago. You will realize how old-fashioned this method is if you think of the way in which wheat and oats are harvested in our grain-producing areas. We do out harvesting by modern machinery. But little work by hand is needed. You will observe the quaint wooden pitchfork the men use, and the patched-up rope harness the animals have. Greece grows annually about 12 million bushels of wheat. Other grains raised are barley, rye, and corn. Half the tillable land of the country is set to grain. Keystone ID: 7170 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.
- Rights
- Copyright by the Keystone View Company. The original slides are housed in McConnell Library's Special Collections.
