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Show Hardest Timeln South Russia. v ) . - - . v.V ? , ' vvfc tfC-, vKf a t in f3- j THRESHING THE, WHEAT HARVESTING in Russia is one of the great events in the peasant's peas-ant's life. Weeks before the corn is ripe enough for cutting the bailiff goes around the villages on the estate and collects the extra hands needed for the work. Reaping machines ma-chines are now used all over the country, coun-try, but ns there are many small woods and clumps of trees interspersed among wheatfields in the South, one often sees women with sickles finishing finish-ing off difficult corners, says a writer in Country Life. They make a pretty picture in their bright dresses against the high golden wheat, with, the dark woods in the background. Women predominate in agricultural life in Russia and are great workers. Their babies are kept in the village creches, and looked after by others till the mothers return at night. Sometimes Some-times the mothers take them in the fields. The women usually begin work about 5 a. m. and go on till twelve o'clock without a stop, when the midday mid-day meal is served. This is taken sitting sit-ting on the ground. It generally consists con-sists of thick potato soup, or perhaps borstock (soup made with beetroots), "casha" (a brown grain boiled In the same way as rice), a raw herring, and a huge piece of black bread. Each peasant carries her own wooden spoon in her pocket, or tucked away In one of her high boots. Water is served from a barrel, which goes from field to field, drawn by a donkey. The oxen are magnificent creatures, and it is nothing exceptional to see between thirty and forty pairs of them at work the same day. Horses are rarely used In the fields. Between 4 p..m. and 5 p. m. an enormous en-ormous samovar, (a special kind of urn heated by charcoal) Is brought out, and boiling weak tea, with two lumps of- sugar at least, Is served to the workers work-ers in tin mugs. The men, of course, used to drink vodka, but now it is stopped, and happily so, for it is just about the strongest drink that exists. The tea hour being only a short respite, re-spite, work is resumed with vigor and continued up till six or nine o'clock, according to the weather. But, except ex-cept for a terrific thunderstormpeca-sionally, thunderstormpeca-sionally, it rarely rains at this time. Fond of Fresh Fish. Supper consists of practically the same menu as that which is eaten at midday, baked or boiled potatoes being generally substituted for the "casha," and sometimes pond carp, crayfish and perch, fried. All the meals are cooked outside. An oven and fireplaces made of clay and bricks are built in a sort of trench in a central spot, and here you see only men cooking. Fresh-water fish form a very important impor-tant addition to the food supply in inland in-land Russia. As there are hundreds of miles of marshy ground, great ponds are made everywhere. The chief fish stocked are carp, tench and crayfish. The streams and rivers give excellent trout, but cray-fishlng also affords good sport as well as being a considerable industry. A dark night is chosen, if possible, since in the moonlight the fish are easily scared and retire to the middle mid-dle of the pond, where it is impossible to catch them. The fishers are armed with strong nets about the size of a washing basin, but deeper and weighted, weight-ed, which are attached to long poles, ipproaching the pond as.cautiously as possible, the nets are dropped in and allowed to sink to the bottom. Then everyone sits and waits in silence, but smoking furiously to keep away the mosquitoes, which are both large and venomous. Then men appear on the scene suddenly, flourishing large torches over the surface of the water, and the crayfish, retreating, walk into the nets, which have to be cleared and dropped again very promptly. It is most interesting to watch the quick working of the threshing machine, ma-chine, which is driven by steam. The women never seem to cease sheaf after af-ter sheaf is dropped in from above, and on one side you see the chaff and straw coming out, and on the other the wheat dropping right into the sacks awaiting it below. These again are tied up by the men. I watched the grain being separated from the chaff for 40 minutes, and during that time 11 big sacks were tied up, labeled and ready to put away in the granary. While this is going on, hundreds of black and gray crows (the real Russian Rus-sian crow), come flying around to pick up what wheat they can, and in some parts the ground is just a patch of black and looks most strange. The only Russian crow I have seen in captivity was a miserable specimen in Dresden. They are much more sinister sin-ister looking than their British brothers, broth-ers, and even their "caw" is different. Their behavior in the wheatfield is extremely ex-tremely entertaining. The old birds hop about uttering weird little noises , and gingerly picking up grains of wheat with which they feed their prac tically full-grown offspring. If the young bird has had enough it drops the grain in ront of another crow, which generally snaps at it promptly. The peasants receive pay according to the proprietor's wealth or generosity generos-ity sometimes 50 kopeks a day (25 cents), at other times one rouble (50 cents) ; but this varies greatly, as some estates are so much richer than others. In all and every case, however, how-ever, the peasants receive collectively one-tenth of the wheat of every field they cut. Won't Work on Feast Days. Sundays and feast days (and there are over a hundred of the latter) they will not work, but lie about in the fields and drink tea, etc. But they love music, and to the tune of the balalaika (a kind of mandolin) and the concertina con-certina they will sing and dance at any moment of the day. Many of the peasants peas-ants are much richer than they look, and they still put their money in their stockings and bury it as of old. But to return to the harvest. Towards To-wards sunset, when work is at its highest high-est pitch in the vicinity of the threshing thresh-ing machine (which, by the way, the peasants greatly reverence, as it means food to them in the coming year), life is indeed worth living. The throbbing of the engines, the buzz of many voices, the lowing of the cattle, the glorious sunset, and, above all, that lovely gold-, en haze (caused by the dust of the chaff) which rises ever so lightly, and which seems to put a veil over everything, every-thing, just makes you long for your brush and palette. But, the wheat cut, threshed and housed, the machine must be put away till next year. This is quite a ceremony cere-mony and always takes place in the moonlight. First it is thoroughly overhauled over-hauled and cleaned, then decorated with flowers, small sheaves and branches of trees. Between twelve and twenty pairs of oxen draw the machine, moving as slowly as possible. All those who have taken part in the harvest work walk beside and behind It generally between one hundred and two hundred. Behind these come the villagers, everyone dressed in his best, and the girls with garlands of flowers on their heads, singing folk songs. This huge cavalcade moves at foot pace until un-til it arrives at its destination, when the squire and all his family and guests come out to see the ceremonial housing. The peasants then receive something "extra" and return to their houses, generally having a rollicking time, playing and dancing far into the night. |
