in Agriculture, are implements for winnowing corn, or for separating the chaff, husks, and dust, from grain seeds. For descriptions of winnowing machines, see AGRICULTURE, vol. ii., p. 283; and PNEUMATICS.

Among the ancients corn was separated from the chaff by a kind of shovel or broad basket, with which it was thrown in the direction of the wind; and sometimes it was cleaned by means of a sieve, as among the Jews and Greeks. In Virgil (Georg. i.) the simple implement used for winnowing is styled mystica vannus Iacchi. The vanus was borne in the processions celebrated in honour of Bacchus and Ceres, whose rites had a continual reference to rural occupations. It was also used at initiations into the mysteries, as an emblem of that purity of life which was essential; or in other words, to denote the separation of the virtuous from the vicious and profane.