In this country the corn grows very fast, and to an enormous height ; the heavy-laden ears di'oop like bunches of grapes on a vine. The green springing grain shows itself above the earth in May ; in June it already stands in ear, and in the bright summer nights of July it falls beneath the scythe of the reaper. The harvest is reaped at night. This I was told was because the night-dews closed the ears, while in the daytime the dry grain falls out more easily. The charms of a long, light, merry harvestnight in the open cornfields, are very peculiar ; the melancholy songs of the reapers and women, heard from far and near in every cornfield, mingled with the cries of the frogs, have a strange wild beauty of their own.
THE " TALKUS" AND " VAKKEN."
According to old custom, the harvest is always followed by a feast given to the whole population of the estate at the " HofP The Esthonians call these harvest feasts the Talkus^ the Lettes the Vakken. Danemg and music — chiefly of the bagpipes and violin — are not wanting at them ; and as the population of an estate generally amounts to some thousands of human beings, it may be imagined that the mere feeding of so large a party is a spectacle of some interest. Oxen are roasted whole ; the cabbage and pea-soup, the mashed potatoes and porridge, are boiled in immense cauldrons ; the herrings, apples, and cheeses are handed round to the peasants in huge heaped-up baskets. The feasters sit at long benches and tables, erected of fir and pine-wood in the courtyards. Brandy and beer flow in profusion, and high masts, decorated at the top with hoods, caps, ribbons, and handkerchiefs, are erected, that the young men may fetch down presents for their sweathearts and sisters. Swings and seesaws of different kinds are tossing incessantly up and down, and the fiddles and bagpipes, till long after midnight, accompany the incessant stamping of the merry dancers. The peasants very seldom miss the harvest feasts, and come miles and miles to attend them.
Their merriment, however, is still greater in midsummer, at the hayharvest, and — which is perhaps extraordinary — in autumn, at the manuring season. The hay -harvest is one of their hghtest and least oppressive labours, and falls at the season which has in this country been dedicated from remote ages to the goddess of Joy. The peasant girls at this season decorate themselves with garlands of grass and meadowflowers ; and with their rakes thrown over their shoulders, they go about singing together in troops, during the bright summer nights.
At the manuring season, however, the festive merriment of the Lettes reaches its highest pitch. "Whether it be that the long toils of summer are closed by the manuring, or whether for any other reason, I know not, but certainly at this season the universal jollity and merriment surpass those of any other festival. According to old custom, this is the most approved season for making love, and marriage contracts are often concluded on the newly-manured field.
After the harvest begin the ^^ Rigenarbeifen" The ^^ Bige" is a building used partly for the threshing, and partly for the previous drying of gram. Whether the great dampness of the climate, or whether a peculiarity in the com renders such an operation necessary, it has long been the custom in these countries, and in the neighbouring Russian and Lithuanian provinces, to dry com by fire, previously to threshing it. The Rigen are usually very large, and built either near the ^^ Hof'^ or in the middle of the fields. They consist of two wings, of which one is for threshing, and the other for drying. The latter contains a large oven, which raises the temperature of the air to forty, fifty, or sixty degrees of Reaumur. The corn is spread out on boards around it, and soon loses all dampness. Many advantages are gained by this process. The threshing is rendered easier, the corn is firmer, healtliier, drier, more lasting, and less liable to worms.