Threshing is the act of separating the edible part of a grain or crop from its husk or straw. This laborious task was accomplished mostly by hand prior to the 19th century. Central rooms in barns were fitted with wide, tight fitting planks known as the threshing floor, where humans or oxen stomped on the grain, or later beat the grain with a tool called a flail. After many decades of stomping or flailing on these floors, they have developed a time worn look that cannot be reproduced. As with all early agricultural elements, the settlers used what was readily available nearby so the species and dimensions of this limited and exquisitely unique product vary.