Threshing Floor

threshing floor

The section of a barn where wheat is separated from the chaff and also where hay is stored. In some early barns, the threshing process took up an entire floor.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Threshing Floor

 

an outdoor or enclosed floor with equipment and machinery for the threshing of crops, such as grains, flax, and clover, and for the postharvest processing of grain.

On Soviet kolkhozes and sovkhozes with a harvesting area of 800–1,000 hectares, the threshing floors are 70–80 m long and 45–60 m wide. For natural drying of grain, three or four sloped strips 50–60 m long and 12–15 m wide are created for the drainage of rainwater. On some farms the threshing floor is made of cement. A barn or sheds may be built for temporary grain storage; such buildings contain fire-fighting equipment.

On threshing floors, crops are threshed and grain is processed, using various methods that range from the most primitive—in countries with backward farming—to the most modern, which involves highly efficient machinery (seeGRAIN CLEANING AND DRYING STATION).

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.