The climate of Pal., owing to the removal of forests, must now be much less humid than in early times. The summer is rainless and warm, the winter and early spring are rainy and colder. During tlie dry season the heat, esp. in the low country, is excessive, and rapidly bums up all minor vegetation ; while any surface-water, as from springs, is evident in the spots of unwonted verdure which it induces on the parched landscape. In autumn the cisterns are nearly empty, and the ground has become verj' hard. The husbandman must consequently wait for the rains before he can start ploughing. The rainy season begins about the end of Oct., and is divided into three periods — early rains (^ic), which prepare the land for the reception of the seed, hea\'y winter rains (era), saturating the ground and tilling the cisterns, and late rains (c'lp^n), falling in spring and giving the crops the necessary moisture. Snow is often seen on the higher lands in winter, and hail is not infrequent. The coldest month is February, the warmest August.
The soil of Pal. varies widely in texture and appearance. In the higher regions it is formed mostly from cretaceous limestone or decomposing basalt rocks; in the maritime plain and the Jordan Valley there are more recent formations. Like the sedentary soils, where of suHicient depth, the alluvial deposits are naturally fertile ; and under tlie intensive and careful cultivation of ancient times the fertility was proverbial (cf. Ex 3*- ",
AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURE
49
Jer 11*, Tacitus, ffist. lib. v. c. 6). The lessened productiveness of modem times is due in part to the diminished rainfall, but mainly to political and social changes. The high farming of antiquity took several fonns. Low walls, built along hill-slopes to prevent ' 8oil-washin<»,' gave rise to flat terraces. Various methods of irrigation were practised (Gn 2'", Pr 21', Is 30'=» 32^ *>). Canals conveyed the water from the natural sources to the fields, or water-wheels might be used.
Other A** improvements were the removal of stones from the fields, and the utilisation of the ash residue of stubble and weeds. Ordinary dung, made in dunghills by treading in straw (Is 25'°), was also in common use (2 K 9"). A bare fallow would be occasionally allowed to raise the tempo- rary fertility of the soil.
The number of Crops under cultivation was large. The most important was wheat (nifn). The supply exceeded the requirements of the country, and it was possible to export it in con- siderable quantities (Ezk 27"). Second in im- portance was barley (•■ni'if), which was extensively used as food (Ru 3"), esp. by the poorer classes. Spelt {n-03) was frequently grown on the borders of fields. Millet (ini), beans p'ls), and lentils (dv^jz,) were cultivated and used as food (Ezk 4', 2 S 17^). Flax {m-^s) was grown (Ex 9*'), and probably also cotton (D5"13).
Among the statutory regulations relating to the crops, the most noteworthy are : — the prohibition againt>t sowing a field with mixed seed (Lv 19'*), a rejnilation implyinjj considerable botanical know- ledge ; the provision for damages in case of pasturing a beast in a neighbour's field (Ex 22') ; permission to the wayfarer to pluck from the standing corn enough to satisfy hunger (Dt 23^) j reservation for the stranger and the poor of the comers of the field (Lv 19°), and other provisions dictated by humanity (Dt 24'").
The A. of Pal. has not advanced or changed in any important particular since OT times. In consequence we can, apart from Biblical notices, largely reconstruct the A** picture of the past from the Syrian conditions of to-day. An additional source of information has of recent years been opened up in the Egyp. hieroglyphics, and esp. in the representations of A*" operations found in the Egyp. tombs ; and in order the better to bind together this material, we shall now follow the process of cultivation of one of the common cereal crops from seed-time to harvest, giving some account of the implements employed and of the dangers incident to the growing crops. The year of the agriculturist was well filled up^from the middle of Oct. to the middle of Apr. with ploughing, sowing, harrowing, weeding ; from the middle of Apr. onward with reaping, carrying, thresliing, and storing the grain. The interval between threshing and sowing was occupied with the vineyard pro- duce. It appears that the seed was sometimes sown without any previous cultivation, and after- wards ploughed m or otherwise covereil, while at other times the seed was scattered on ploughed land, and covered by a rude harrow or oy cross- ploughing. The former method was common in T'l^^'ypt, where tlie grain, dejiositcd on moist ground, might be covered by dragging bushes over it, and afterwards trodden down by domestic animals (cf. Is 32*"). Where cultivation jireceded sowing, various implements were used. From the I''gyp. monuments it is possible to trace the evolution of the Plough — the starting-point being a forked branch used as a hoe, which was afterwards improved into a kind of mattock, and finally was enlarged and modil cd so as to be drawn by oxen. The plough was urawn by two oxen, and the draught was sometimes from the shoulders, some- VOL. I. — 4
times from the forehead, or even from the homs In some cases men with hoes may have pulverised