DOI article:
Berg, Gösta: The introduction of the winnowing-machine in Europe in the 18th century
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49000#0031
THE WINNOWING-MACHINE • EUROPE
29
Factories and workshops are difficult to examine
closely, if one cannot afford to spend anything.
However, wherever I could, without insulting an-
yone, I sketched things and made notes in my
diary. Otherwise, I also looked carefully at the
Chinese agricultural machinery, their way of culti-
vating their rice paddies, of sowing and planting the
rice ... But this had to be.done by stealth, for I saw
that there was jealousy even among the heathen.
Otherwise, these servants of the East India
Company had great ambitions, as is shown
especially by the comprehensive research pro-
gramme which one of Hjortberg’s colleagues,
Dean Pehr Osbeck (1723-1805) presented in
1758 in his inaugural address to the Royal
Academy of Sciences entitled “Anledningar
till nyttig uppmarksamhet under kinesiska re-
sor” (Reasons for Making Useful Observa-
tions on Voyages to China) (Osbeck 1758).
One of the Company’s faithful servants,
Carl Gustaf Ekeberg (1724-76), who in the
capacities of mate and captain made no less
than 10 voyages to China, dealt in a special
work with the husbandry of the Chinese and
in that connection also referred to the
winnowing-fan. He adduces the experience
that he had gained in “three, slow, 15-month
sojourns in Canton” (Ekeberg, 1757, 5). His
book attracted international attention and was
translated into English, French and German.
He writes as follows:
The method of threshing rice or wheat is the
same as that used in Sweden, with flails. After being
threshed, the wheat must be passed through a spe-
cially made tossing or cleaning box, in which all the
dust is blown away, before the corn is ground. If
the mills at Canton were as conveniently contrived
as this cleaning box, both manpower and work
could be saved. Grinding by hand-mills is rather
laborious in this country. It seems somewhat
strange that the Chinese sometimes have quite skil-
ful inventions, which make it easier to carry out
minor tasks. But flour-mills, saw-mills and the
like, which require more power, are driven by
hand, not withstanding that they have the means,
both in the rivers and (on the hills) in the wind, for
driving such machinery (Ekeberg 16).
When Leser put forward in 1928 his view
that the winnowing-fan was a Chinese con-
tribution to European agriculture, he based
this view on the occurrence of the implement
in homogeneous forms in modern times in
both these continents. The occurrence of the
implement in China also in ancient times is
confirmed, however, by abundant source ma-
terial. Above all, it is discussed and illustrated
in the famous Chinese encyclopaedias on agri-
culture. The designs vary somewhat. Thus,
the fan is depicted both with and without a
Fig. 5. Wirmowing-machine in use in China. After
T’ien-Kung K’ai-Wu, first printed 1637. After a
copy in the Nat. Ethnographical Museum, Stock-
holm.
Worfelmaschine in Gebrauch in China. Nach
T’ien-Kung K’ai-'Wu, erstmals gedruckt 1637.
hood (Figs. 5, 13); I shall return to the latter
form later. The enclosed form, with only one
outlet, is known from a drawing made in 1313
in the book entitled Nu/ng Shu (illustration in
Needham 1965, 118). The handbook entitled
29
Factories and workshops are difficult to examine
closely, if one cannot afford to spend anything.
However, wherever I could, without insulting an-
yone, I sketched things and made notes in my
diary. Otherwise, I also looked carefully at the
Chinese agricultural machinery, their way of culti-
vating their rice paddies, of sowing and planting the
rice ... But this had to be.done by stealth, for I saw
that there was jealousy even among the heathen.
Otherwise, these servants of the East India
Company had great ambitions, as is shown
especially by the comprehensive research pro-
gramme which one of Hjortberg’s colleagues,
Dean Pehr Osbeck (1723-1805) presented in
1758 in his inaugural address to the Royal
Academy of Sciences entitled “Anledningar
till nyttig uppmarksamhet under kinesiska re-
sor” (Reasons for Making Useful Observa-
tions on Voyages to China) (Osbeck 1758).
One of the Company’s faithful servants,
Carl Gustaf Ekeberg (1724-76), who in the
capacities of mate and captain made no less
than 10 voyages to China, dealt in a special
work with the husbandry of the Chinese and
in that connection also referred to the
winnowing-fan. He adduces the experience
that he had gained in “three, slow, 15-month
sojourns in Canton” (Ekeberg, 1757, 5). His
book attracted international attention and was
translated into English, French and German.
He writes as follows:
The method of threshing rice or wheat is the
same as that used in Sweden, with flails. After being
threshed, the wheat must be passed through a spe-
cially made tossing or cleaning box, in which all the
dust is blown away, before the corn is ground. If
the mills at Canton were as conveniently contrived
as this cleaning box, both manpower and work
could be saved. Grinding by hand-mills is rather
laborious in this country. It seems somewhat
strange that the Chinese sometimes have quite skil-
ful inventions, which make it easier to carry out
minor tasks. But flour-mills, saw-mills and the
like, which require more power, are driven by
hand, not withstanding that they have the means,
both in the rivers and (on the hills) in the wind, for
driving such machinery (Ekeberg 16).
When Leser put forward in 1928 his view
that the winnowing-fan was a Chinese con-
tribution to European agriculture, he based
this view on the occurrence of the implement
in homogeneous forms in modern times in
both these continents. The occurrence of the
implement in China also in ancient times is
confirmed, however, by abundant source ma-
terial. Above all, it is discussed and illustrated
in the famous Chinese encyclopaedias on agri-
culture. The designs vary somewhat. Thus,
the fan is depicted both with and without a
Fig. 5. Wirmowing-machine in use in China. After
T’ien-Kung K’ai-Wu, first printed 1637. After a
copy in the Nat. Ethnographical Museum, Stock-
holm.
Worfelmaschine in Gebrauch in China. Nach
T’ien-Kung K’ai-'Wu, erstmals gedruckt 1637.
hood (Figs. 5, 13); I shall return to the latter
form later. The enclosed form, with only one
outlet, is known from a drawing made in 1313
in the book entitled Nu/ng Shu (illustration in
Needham 1965, 118). The handbook entitled