Oriental Hoein
used as a substitute for the plough. But the plough was known in Egypt and Syria before the Hebrews cultivators (Job i, 14). At first it was little
more than a stout branch of a tree, from which pro- jected another limb, shortened and pointed. This, being turned into the ground, made the furrow; while at the farther end of the larger branch was fast- ened a transverse yoke, to which the oxen were har- nessed. Afterward a handle to guide the plough was added. The Syrian plough is, and doubtless was, light enough for a man to carry in his hand (Russell's Nat. llist. of Aleppo, i, 73). The plough, probably,
Modern Syrian Ploughin
was like the Egyptian, and the process of ploughing like that called scarijicatio by the Romans (" Syria tenui sulco arat," Plin. xviii, 47), one yoke of oxen mostly sufficing to draw it. Mountains and rough places were hoed (Isa. vii, 5 ; Maimon. ad Mishn. vi,
Ancient Egyptians II
and Sowing the Land, Trees.
2 ; Robinson, iii, 595, 002-3). The breaking up of new land was performed, as with the Romans, in " early spring" (vere novo). Such new ground and fallows, the use of which latter was familiar to the Jews (Jer. iv, 3; IIos. x, 12), were cleared of stones and of thorns (Is. v, 2 ; Gemara Hierosol. ad loc.) early in the year, sowing or gathering from "among thorns" being a proverb for slovenly husbandry (Job v, 5 ; Prov. xxiv, 30, 31 ; Robinson, ii, 127). Virgin land was ploughed a second time. The proper words are firs, pathach! ', to open, and T"jfcj, sadad' , to level (by cross ploughing, Varro, De Re Rustica, i, 32) ; both are dis- tinctively used in Is. xxviii, 24. Land already tilled was ploughed before the rains, that the moisture might the better penetrate (Maimon. ap. Ugol. De lie Rttst. v, 11). Rain, however, or irrigation (Is. xxxii, 20) prepared the soil for the sowing, as may be inferred from the prohibition to irrigate till the gleaning was over, lest the poor should suffer (Peah, v, 3); and such sowing often took place without previous plough- ing, the seed, as in the parable of the sower, being scattered broadcast, and ploughed in afterward, the
Ancient Egyptian Ploughing alter Suwing. roots of the late crop being so far decayed as to serve
AGRICULTURE
110
AGRICULTURE
for manure (Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 72). Where the soil was heavier, the ploughing was best done dry ("dum sicca tellure licet," Virg. Georg. i, 214); and there, though not generally, the hoeing (sarritio, 1^:', iddur', dressing), and even the liratio, or ridg- ing, of Roman husbandry, performed with tabulm af- fixed to the sides of the share, might be useful (see Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Aratrum). But the more formal routine of heavy western soils must not be made the standard of such a naturally fine tilth as that of Palestine generally (comp. Columella, ii, 12). During the rains, if not too heavy, or be-
tween their two periods, would be the best time for these operations ; thus 70 days before the passover was the time prescribed for sowing for the " wave- sheaf," and, probably, therefore, for that of barley generally. The plough was drawn by oxen, which were sometimes urged by a scourge (Isa. x, 2G ; Na- hum Hi, 2), but oftener by a long staff, furnished at one end with a flat piece of metal for clearing the plough, and at the other with a spike for goading the oxen. This ox-goad (q. v.) might easily be used as a spear (Judg. iii, 31 ; 1 Sam. xiii, 21). Sometimes men followed the plough with hoes to break the clods (Isa.
1 2
Ancient Egyptians Ploughing and Hoeing. 1. Breaks the clods of earth after the plough has passed: •!. Holds the plough; 3. The driver; 4. A ban-el, probably contain- ing the seed; 5. Talks with another ploughman.
xxviii, 24) ; but in later times a kind of harrow was employed, which appears to have been then, as now, merely a thick block of wood, pressed down by a weight, or by a man sitting on it, and drawn over the ploughed field. See Plough.
2. Sowing. — The ground, having been ploughed as soon as the autumnal rains had mollified the soil, was fit, by the end of October, to receive the seed ; and the sowing of wheat continued, in different situations, through November into December. Barley was not generally sown till January and February. The seed appears to have been sown and harrowed at the same time, although sometimes it was ploughed in by a cross furrow. See Sowing.
Occasionally, however, the sowing was by patches only in well-manured spots, a process called ^«3"0, menammer' , variegating like a leopard, from its spot-
ted appearance, as represented in the accompanying drawing by Surenhusius (i, 45) to illustrate the Mishna.
mm
Jewish Field sown in Clumps.
3. Ploughing in the Seed. — The Egyptian paintings illustrate the Scriptures by showing that in those soils which needed no previous preparation by the hoe (for breaking the clods) the sower followed the plough, holding in the left hand a basket of seed, which he
Ancient Egyptians 1'
scattered with the right hand, while another person fillcil a fresh basket. We also see that the mode of sowing was what we call "broadcast," in which the 6eed is thrown loosely over the field (Matt, xiii, 3-8). In Egypt, when the levels were low, and the water had continued long upon the land, they often dispensed with the plough altogether; and probably, like the present inhabitants, broke up the ground with hoes, or simply dragged the moist mud with bushes after the seed bad been thrown upon the surface. To this cultivation without ploughing Moses probably alludes (Deut. xi, 10), when lie tells the Hebrews that the land to which they were going was not like the land of Egypt, where they "sowed their seed, and watered it with their foot, as a garden of herbs." It seems, however, that even in Syria, in sandy soils, the}' sow without ploughing, and then plough down the seed (Russell's Ar. //. of Aleppo, i, 73, etc.). It does not appear that any instrument resembling our harrow was known ; the word TT-- sadad' ', rendered to har-