Sample Passages from Tosefta:
Berakhot 1:1:
From what time can the Shema' be recited in the
evenings?
From the time when people enter to eat their bread on
Sabbath nights. These are the words of Rabbi Meir.
And the Sages say: From the time when the priests are
allowed to eat their heave-offering.
The sign for this is the appearance of the stars.
And even though there is no proof for this, there is an
indication for it (Nehemiah 4:21):
"And half of them held the spears from the rising of the
morning till the stars appeared."
Rabbi Simeon says: There are times when a person recites it
two times in one night, once before the rising of the dawn and once after the
rising of the dawn; and it turns out that he fulfils his obligation for the day
and the night.
Rabbi says: There are four watches in the night.
An 'Onah is one twenty-fourth part of an hour. An 'Et is
one twenty-fourth part of an 'Onah. A rega' is one twenty-fourth part of an
'et.
Rabbi Nathan says: There are three watches in the night, as
it says (Judges 7:19):"in the beginning of the middle watch." There can only
be a middle where there is something before it and after it.
Bava Batra 1:
7. A dovecote must be placed at a distance of fifty cubits from the town.
If a person purchases a dovecote from his fellow and it
collapsed, even if it is a beit rova'
[=an area that can be planted with a quarter-kav of seed] in size, he must rebuild its space.
Young birds found between two dovecotes, fifty cubits from
the one and fifty cubits from the other, belong to the person who finds them.
8. Rabbi Akiva says: He makes it on all sides, and keeps it
at a distance of fifty cubits; except on the west, because it is common.
10. Rabbi Nathan says: A furnace must be placed at a distance
of fifty cubits from the town; and a tree at a distance of twenty-five cubits
from the town.
And just as one keeps such a distance from a town, so does
one keep a distance from wells and from pits and caves.
And just as one keeps a distance from those, so does one
keep a distance from graves.