Blake. "But next year I intend to take
them to a farm where they will learn many more things than I could teach
them from just a garden."
"Daddy, but what is a flail?" asked Mab.
"A flail," said Mr. Blake, "is what the farmers used to use before
threshing machines were invented. And I had Mr. Henderson bring this one
from his farm to thresh out your beans, Mab, as we haven't enough to need
a machine, even if we could get one."
"What does thresh mean?" asked Hal.
"It means to beat, or pound out," his father explained. "You see wheat,
oats, barley, rye and other grains, when they grow on the stalks in the
field, are shut up in a sort of envelope, or husk, just as a letter is
sealed in an envelope. To get out the letter we have to tear or break the
envelope. To get at the good part of grain--the part that is good to
eat--we have to break the outer husk. It is the same way with peas or
beans.
"When they are green we break the pods by hand and get out the peas or
beans, but when they are dried it is easier to put a pile of pods on a
wooden floor and beat them with a stick. This breaks the envelopes, or
pods and the dried peas or beans rattle out.
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