Threshing is the process used to separate the chaff, the protective covering around the grain, and the kernel of grain used for food, from a plant’s stalk. Farmers used flails to remove the chaff and grain from the stalk and to crack open the chaff.

Threshing Grain
Author: Sackett & Wilhelms Litho. Co.
Date: 1892
Medium: Print
Bibliographic Information:
Benjamin Butterworth (ed.), Growth of Industrial Art, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1892, 23.
Collections Number: F-218.59