Husbandman (properly n^'^i* HJ"^!!*, man of the ground; yfwpyoc), one whose profession and labor is to cultivate the ground. It is among the most ancient and honorable occupations (Gen. ix, 20; xxvi, 12, 14; xxxvii, 7; Job i, 2; Isa. xxviii, 24-28; John xv, 1). All the Hebrews who were not consecrated to religious ofliices were agricidturists. Husbandmen at work are depicted on the ancient monuments of Egypt. It was remarked by the members of the French Commission that there is a great similarity between the joj-lcss looks of the husbandmen on the monuments and the sombre countenances of the modern fellahs, whose toil is so miserably remunerated. In reference to the hus- bandmen of Syria, Dr. Bowrmg says, "The laboring classes, if left to themselves, and allowed mimolested to turn to the best account the natural fertiUty and rich- ness of the country, would be in a highly favorable con- dition. But this cannot be considered as the case when their services may be and are called for as often as the government require them, and for which they are al- ways inadequately paid; they are likewise frequently sent from one part of the country to another wholly without their consent. The fellah, or peasant, earns little more than a bare subsistence. In Syria a great proportion of the labor is done by females, and they are constantly seen carrying heavy burdens, and, as in Egypt, a large portion of their time is employed in fetch- ing water from the wells for domestic use. They bring home the timber and brushwood from the forests, and assist much in the cidtivation of the fields." — Bastow. See Hireling.
God is compared to a husbandman (John xv, 1 v 1
HUSBANDRY
417
HUSBANDRY
Cor. iii, 9) ; and the simile of land carefully cultivated, or of a vineyard carefully dressed, is often used in the sacred writings. The art of husbandry is from God, says the projjhet Isaiah (xxviii, 24-28), and the various operations of it are each in their season. The sowing of seed, the waiting for harvest, the ingathering when ready, the storing up in granaries, and the use of the products of the earth, afford many points of comparison, of ajit figures, and similitudes in Scriptiure. — Calmet.
See lIusliANDKY.
Husbandry (in Heb. by circumlocution f^^'^^^:, the ground; Gr. prop, yswpyi'a, 2 Mace, xii, 2; also ytioQ- yiov, a. plot of tilled ground, 1 Cor. iii, 9). The culture of the soil, although coeval with the history of the hu- man race (Gen. ii, 15 ; iv, 2 ; ix, 20), was held of sec- ondary account by the nomade Hebrews of the early period ((Jen. xxvi, 12, 14 ; xxxvii, 7 ; see Job i, 3 ; comp. Harmer, i, 88 sq. ; Volney, Travels, i, 291 ; Burckhardt, Beduin. p. 17 ; see Michaelis, De antiquitatibus aeon, pa- triarch, i, Ilalle, 1728, and in Ugolini Thesaurus, xxiv, etc.), but by the Jewish lawgiver it was elevated to the rank of a fundamental institution of national economy (]\Iichaelis, Mos. I'echt, i, 249 sq.), and hence became as- siduously and skilfidly practiced in Palestine (comp. 1 Sam. xi, 5; 1 Ivings xix, 19; 2 Chron. xxvi, 10; Prov. xxxi, 16; Ecclus. vii, 15; also Isa. xxvii, 27, and Gese- nius, ad loc), as it continues in a good degree to be at the. present day in the East. Upon the fields, which were divided (if at all) according to a vague land-meas- use termed a yoke ("l^?!?, 1 Sam. xiv, 14), and occasion- ally fenced in (see Knobel, Zu Jesaias, p. 207), were mostly raised wheat, barley, flax, lentils (2 Sam. xxiii, 11), garlic, and sometimes spelt, beans, a kind of durra or holcus ("jH^), cummin, fennel, cucumbers, etc. (Isa. xxviii, 25). See these and other vegetables in their alphabetical place ; for the later periods, compare the Mishna, Chilaim, i. The fertility of Palestine (q. v.), especially in many parts, made the cultivation tolerably easy, and it was gradually increased by the clearing away of forests (Jer. iv, 3), thus enlarging the arable plains ("l"^?, novale; comp. Prov. xiii, 23); the hills (2 Chron. xxvi, 10 ; Ezek. xxxviii, 6, 9) being formed into terraces (compare Niebuhr, Beschreih. 156 ; Puu-ckhardt, Trav. i, 64), upon which the earth was kept by a facing of stones, while the low gromids and flats along streams were intersected by ditches (C'l'^ ''.?^?) Prov. xxi, 1; comp. Psa. i, 13) for drainage (comp. Mishna, Moed Ka- ton, i, 1 ; Niebuhr, Beschr. 15G; Trav. i, 356, 437; Har- mer, ii, 331 sq.), or, more usually, irrigation by means of water-wheels (Mishna, Peuh, v, 3). The soil was manured ("i"?^) sometimes with dung (compare Jer, ix, 22 ; 2 Kings ix, 37), sometimes by the ashes of burnt straw or stubble (Isa. v, 24 ; xlvii, 14 ; Joel ii, 5). More- over, the keeping of cattle on the fields (Pliny, xviii, 53), and the leaving of the chaff in threshing (Korte, Reisen, p. 433), contributed greatly to fertilization. For breaking up the surface of the groimd (-^H, also 35^), ploughs (ndTllO?), probably of various construction, were used (■• Syria tenui sulco arat :" Pliny, xviii, 47 ; comp. Theophrast. CausscB plant, iii, 25; on D^SHX Joel iv, 10, see Credner, ad loc). The latter, like the har- rows, which were early used for covering the seed (Pliny, xviii, 19, 3 ; see Harduin, ad loc), were dra;vn by oxen (1 Kings xix, 19 sq.; Job i, 14; Amos vi, 12) or cows (Judg. xiv, 18; Baba Mez. vi, 4), seldom by asses (Isa. xxx, 24 ; comp. xxxii, 20 ; Varro, ii, 6, 8, " Ubi levis est terra"), but never with a yoke of the two kinds of ani- mals together (Deut. xxii, 10), as is now customary in the East (Niebuhr, Beschreib. p, 156) : the beasts were driven with a cudgel (^"ds'O, goad). (Delineations of Egj^ptian agriculture may be seen in Wilkinson, 2d ser. i, 48 ; Roseilini, Mon. civ. table 32, 33.) See each of the above agricultural implements in its alphabetical place. The furrows (cbp!, H3>^), among the Hebrews,