to overwork a horse

[…] when he is beſt, he is a little worſe then a man, and when he is worſt, he is little better than a beaſt:

We couldn’t solve this problem by the force of one co-op alone, so we united co-ops. But the people were still discussing the best form of agricultural production. “Then Chairman Mao inspected agriculture in Shandong Province and issued the call for people’s communes, summed up in his slogan, ‘People’s Communes are Fine!’

Mum said Dad told her he would fix the problem. We'll put down an ant-bed floor, he suggested. We collected ant-hills from the paddocks, crushed them, mixed the powder to a smooth paste with water, and then spread a thick layer over the dirt floor.Mum told me, adding,The ant-bed dried hard enough to sweep with a broom. I dragged an old pair of trousers dipped in water over it to keep it hard."