harvesting

The harvest was reaped with a curved sickle, a tool that has changed little since Roman times. In some places, the ears of grain were cut and carried in wicker baskets to the threshing floor. The straw was cut and stacked later.…

Basketry is also used in harvesting foodstuffs; for example, in the form of winnowing trays (from whose French name, van, the French word for basketry, vannerie, is derived). One basket, found in the Sahel region south of the Sahara, is swung among wild grasses and in knocking against the stalks…

Harvesting of cocoa beans can proceed all year, but the bulk of the crop is gathered in two flush periods occurring from October to February and from May to August. The ripe seed pods are cut from the trees and split open with machetes.…

Fresh and fully ripened wine grapes are preferred as raw material for wine making. In cool climates, as in northern Europe and the eastern United States, however, lack of sufficient heat to produce ripening may necessitate harvesting the grapes before they reach full maturity.…

Sugar beets are grown in temperate areas of Europe, North America, and northern Asia. They are harvested from September through November, almost always by multirow harvester machines. The machines remove some dirt, the leaves, and sometimes the crown (depending on the contract…

Sugarcane is generally harvested in the cooler months of the year, although it is harvested year-round in Cuba, the Philippines, Colombia, and other prime areas. As much as two-thirds of the world’s cane crop is harvested by hand, using long machetes. Since…

The stage of development of vegetables when harvested affects the quality of the product reaching the consumer. In some vegetables, such as the bean and pea, optimum quality is reached well in advance of full maturity and then deteriorates, although yield continues to increase.…

Most leafy vegetables that do not require harvesting by mechanical device are cooled immediately after harvest to remove field heat, sorted to remove debris, washed to remove dirt, and bundled or packed for shipping and retail. In most cases vegetables are bundled…

Harvesting of wood differs radically from harvesting of other crops. The yearly growth of each individual tree cannot be detached from the living plant. Rather, new wood is added inseparably to preexisting growth until the entire tree is harvested, after a…