Ruth 3:2

2. He winnoweth barley to-night The night was chosen for the purpose because of the breeze which usually set in with the cool of the day. “The winnowing was performed by throwing up the grain with a fork against the wind, by which the broken straw and chaff were dispersed, and the grain fell to the ground. The grain was afterwards passed through a sieve to separate the morsels of earth and other impurities, and it then underwent a final purification by being tossed up with wooden scoops or short-handled shovels, such as we see figured in the monuments of Egypt.” Kitto.

The threshingfloor This was a level plot of ground of a circular shape, generally about fifty feet in diameter, and beaten down to a hard, smooth surface. Upon this the sheaves of grain were thrown, and the threshing was usually performed by driving cattle over them: the Scriptural mode of “treading out the corn.”