Grass - Something About One Of Its Varieties Esparto Grass Harvesting Footage

GRASS - SOMETHING ABOUT ONE OF ITS VARIETIES Esparto Grass Harvesting
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	Catalog #:	442919
	Clip Number:	442919-1
	Orginal Film:	EP 269
	Timecode:
	Location:	Algeria
	Year Shot:	1933 (Actual Year)
	Audio:	No
	Color:	No
	Headings:	FARMING: Harvest
	Description:	GRASS - SOMETHING ABOUT ONE OF ITS VARIETIES Processes involved in harvesting Esparto Grass (halfah grass, needle grass) in Northern Africa. Algeria WS looking across water - at port of Oran. WS looking over rounded Atlas Mountains. LS man riding donkey across barren landscape - flat land w/ mountains in BG. CU worker holds out his arm while another man (the boss?) reaches over to hold onto a long tool tied by a rope around the worker's arm; the boss moves the stick rubbing it against rags wrapped around the worker's wrist and covering top part of hand - apparently a protection against the stick or the rope chafing the skin? MCU worker bending over and harvesting grass - actually it looks like he grabs handful of grass wraps it around stick and pulls it, yanking off a handfull of grass. LS group of workers advance in a row all bending low to do this work; men are at left, women at rt. LS side view of workers; the nearest man grabs a rock off the ground and hurls it across the field at the farthest woman who darts out of the way. MS women at work, moving in a sort of rhythm. MLS side view of workers, moving faster over a spot where grass is more sparse; a small child follows along, and an older child carrying a baby. WS looking across grass at a man on horseback, then several camels carrying loads of grass, with people on foot, crossing field. LS same. LS workers unloading camels, making big stacks of grass. LS more women workers stand at long tables in front of open-sided shed; they are binding bundles of grass; a toddler sits on pile of grass on table. MS side view: women working at fast speed, pulling off roots of grass tied in bundle. Children making ropes with machine; in FG 2 boys hold onto end of ropes and back away to left, pulling ropes from machine that is twisting fibers together; the boys also hold bunches of grass under their arm and are somehow twisting it into the rope. MLS boy c. age 8 cranking handle to turn large wheel which in turn makes the other spools spin. MCU boy walking backward and moving hand so fast it's hard to tell just how he's doing what he's doing. Cut back to boy turning wheel. MLS boys backing farther away. Next, boys running forward - one is holding a thing into which 4 different narrow ropes are fed and twisted together, coming out the back end as one single rope. MS men stuffing esparto grass into a press. LS man whips a mule to start him running round in a circle, hitched to one end of a long board which is attached in the middle and rotating like a propeller attached to the ground; this is in corner of a farmyard, between barn and stone wall. MLS worker removing bale from press. LS line of workers roll bales in front of them, passing huge stacks of grass at rt. Farming, agriculture, grass, esparto grass, workers, women workers, Arab, Algeria, sexes, harvest, hay, industry, processing, machines, primitive, child labor