If a pile of grain was stacked [on part of a field] from which gleanings had not yet been collected, whatever touches the ground belongs to the poor. If the wind scattered the sheaves, they estimate the amount of gleanings the field would have yielded and they give that to the poor. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: he must give to the poor the amount that would fall.

The top of a single ear of grain [that remained] after the harvesting and its top touches the standing stalk: If it can be cut with the stalk, it belongs to the owner; But if not, it belongs to the poor. If an ear of grain of gleanings that became mixed up with a stack of grain, [the owner] must tithe one ear of grain and give it to him [the poor]. Rabbi Eliezer says: how can this poor man give in exchange something that had not yet become his? Rather, [the owner] must transfer to the poor man the ownership of the whole stack and then tithe one ear of grain and give it to him.

They should not [irrigate a field] with a water wheel, the words of Rabbi Meir. The sages permit it, because it is still possible [for the poor to get their gleanings].

A property owner who was passing from place to place and need to take gleanings, the forgotten sheaf, peah or the poor man’s tithe, he may take them, and when he returns home, he must pay [for the amount gathered], the words of Rabbi Eliezer. The sages say: he was a poor man at that time [and so he need not make restitution].

One who exchanges with the poor, [what they give in exchange] for his is exempt [from tithes] but what [he gives in exchange] for that of the poor is subject [to tithes]. Two who received a field as sharecroppers, this one may give to the other his share of the poor man’s tithe and this one may give to the other his share of the poor man’s tithe. One who receives a field in order to harvest it, he is forbidden to take gleanings, the forgotten sheaf, peah or the poor man’s tithe. Rabbi Judah said: When is this so? When he receives it [in order to pay the owner] a half, third or quarter [of the crop]. But [if the owner] had said to him: “A third of that which you harvest belongs to you,” then he may take gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and peah, but not the poor man’s tithe.

One who sells, the seller is permitted [to take the agricultural gifts] and the purchaser is forbidden. One may not hire a worker on the condition that the son [of the worker] should gather the gleanings after him. One who does not allow the poor to gather, or one who allows one but not another, or one who helps one of them [to gather] behold he is a robber of the poor. Concerning him it is said: “Do not remove the landmark of those that come up (olim)” (Proverbs 22:28).

A sheaf which the workers forgot but not the land owner, or which the land owner forgot but not the workers; or [a sheaf] which the poor stood in front of [and blocked its view], or they covered it up with stubble, it is not considered a forgotten sheaf.

One who binds sheaves into stack covers, stack bases, round stacks or regular stacks, he is not subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf [while binding]. [When bringing them afterwards] to the threshing-floor, he is subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf. One who piles up the sheaves to make a stack, he is subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf. [When bringing them afterwards] to the threshing-floor, he is not subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf. This is the general rule: whoever makes the sheaves at the place which is the end of the work is subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf, [and afterwards when he takes] them to the threshing-floor, he is not subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf. However, [one who piles up the sheaves] at a place which is not the end of the work, is not subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf; [and afterwards when he takes] them to the threshing-floor, he is subject to the law of the forgotten sheaf.