aODKBS BTaiAN piouaH.
(1) EI-Eabuaah, grasped in working by the left hand ; (I) d-akar,
the handle or slilt ; (3) el-buruk, the beam ; (4) el-niteh, a support, secured by a wedge ; (5) el-sawajir, the couplings; (6) el-wuslah, the pole ; (7) el-sikluh, the ploughshare.
the surface after the plough, as in Egypt. (See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 2nd series, roL L woodcut 422. ) The old Heb. plough was of very simple construction, consisting of a wooden ground- work (1 K Iff") with iron wearing parts (Is 2*, cf 1 S 13»). It had one stilt to guide it (Lk 9"), leaving the other hand free to use the ox-goad (icpo).
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The plough was drawn by oxen, i.e. the ox-kind,
for the Jews did not mutJate their animals (Am 6'^), or by asses (Is 30**), but not by an ox and ass together (Dt 22'°). On thin soil a mattock was sometimes necessary (1 S 13^). The unit of square measure was the area ploughed in a day by a yoke of oxen (ijy).
The season of Sowing was not one of joy (Pa 126»), owing to the uncertainty of the weather (Mic 6'°, Pr 20'), and the toilsomeness of the work in a hard and rocky soil. A start was made with the pulse croi)s, barley followed a fortnight later, and wheat after another month. Usually the sower scattered the seed broadcast out of a basket, but by careful farmers the wheat was placed in the furrows in rows (Is 28''"). The summer or spring grain was 80^vn between the end of Jan. and the end of Feb. In a season of excessive drought the late-sown seed rotted under the clods (Jl 1") ; in a wet season the early-sown grain grew rank and lodged, and the hushandman was accordingly counselled to make sure of a crop by attending to both(Ec 11»).
Between sowing and reaping, the crops were exposed to several dangers. Of these the chief were the easterly winds prevalent in Mar. and Ai)r. (Gn 41"), hailstorms (Hag 2"), the irrup- tion of woeds — esp. mustard, thistles, tares, and thorns (Jer 12'^), the depredations of crowj and sparrows (Mt 13*), of fungoid diseases, esp, mildew (Dt 28"), and of injurious insects, esp. the palmer-worm, the canker-worm, the caterpillar, and the locust. These names do not, as has bein suggested, refer to the ditVerent stages in the life history of the locust {Pacht/tt/lus migratoriiu), but the first three are probably specific names for groujis of pests. The crops were also in danger From the inroads of cattle (Ex 22°), and as harvest aiiproached, from fire (Jg 15*).
The commencement of Harvest naturally varied, not only with the season, but according to elevation, exiiosure, etc. On the average it began with hurley (2 S 21")— in the neinjhbourhood of Jericho about the middle of Apr., in the coast plains ten days later, and in the high-lying districts as much as a month later. Wheat was a fortnight later in ripening, and the barley and
50
AGRICULTURE
ACxRICULTURE
wlieat harvest lasted about seven weeks (Dt 16'). The harvest was the occasion of festivities wliich in the later legislation were brought into close connexion with the religious history of the i)eoi)le. The crops were cut, as in Egypt, with tlie sickle. (See Wilkinson, op. cit. woodcuts 426 and 43li. )
Little value was i)ut upon tlie Straw, which was cut about a foot below the ears (.Job 24-'). Tlie reajjer left the grain in liandfuls beliind him (.Jer 9"), and the binder tied it into sheaves (Gn 37'), which, liowever, were not set uj) as shocks. Tlie Egyptians usually cut the straw quite close under the ears, while some crojis, such as dhurah, were simply plucked up by the roots. The method of
JIODKRS SICKLE.
pulling the corn was probably also practised in Pal. when the crops were light (Is 17^). In OT there are apparently two kinds of Sickle referred to — s'?-iri and ?;?. Tlie wooden sickle, toothed witli
floor, and, according to one system, cattle — four or five harnessed together — were driven round and round, until a more or le.ss complete detachment of the grain was effected (Hos 10"). To facilitate the process, tlie .straw was repeatedly turned over by a fork with two or more prongs. A well-known picture gives a representation of this system as anciently practised in Egypt, notewortiiy being the fact that the oxen are uiimuz/Ied (cf. Dt 25').
The group further shows how tlie oxen were yoked togetlier that they might walk round more regularly. (See Wilkinson, o/). fi7.) Of the thresh- ing-inacliine two kinds were, and still are, employed in Palestine.
TIIEESHLVa-iUCQlXE.
One (ji.iD or pin) consisted of an oblong board, whose under side was rough with notches, nails, and tliaip sti.me cliips, and which, being weigli ted down
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llIKKSHlSe-FLOOfU
flints, supposed by Prof. Flinders Petrie to be an imitation of the jawbone of an ox, was used in Syria as well as in Egypt.
The reapers were the owners and their families, along with hired labourers (Mt 9**), the latter of whom probably followed the harvest from the plains to the mountains. The workers quenched their thirst from vessels taken to tlie harvest-field (llu 2'), and ate bread steeped in vinegar (S"), and parched corn (Lv 23"), the latter prepared by being roasted and then rubbed in the hand.