Manure. Although the Scriptures do not furnish us witli many details respecting the state of agriculture in Juda?a, yet we may collect from various passages many interesting hints that will enable us to form some itlca of the high state of its cultivation. See Agricul- TUKK. It is not probable that the Hebrews derived their knowledge of manures from Eg\'pt,but they doubt- less adopted and preserved the customs which existed among the previous inhabitants of the country. In the parable of the tig-tree which had for three years been barren, and which the proprietor therefore doomed to be cut down, the gardener is represented as praying for de- lay, until he should " dig about it and dung it" (Luke xiii, 7). To explain this, Lightfoot quotes the follow- ing from the Talmud : " They lay dung to moisten and enrich the soil; dig about the roots of trees; pluck up the suckers ; take off the leaves ; sprinkle ashes ; and smoke under the trees to kill vermin." In addition to the various modes of irrigation, the soil was likewise enriched by moans of ashes; to which were added the straw ("2Pi, teben), stubble (d]?, kash), husks, or chaff (VT^, mots), together with the brambles and grass that overspread the land during the sabbatical year; all be- ing reduced by fire and used as manure (Prov. xxiv, 31 ; Isa. vii, 23; xxxii, 13). The burning over the surface of the land had also another good effect, that of destroy- ing the seeds of noxious herbs (Jahn, Bibl. Arch. § 57). Dunghills are mentioned in 1 Sam. ii, 8; Ezra vi, 11; Dan. ii, 5 ; iii, 29, and one of the gates at Jerusalem was called the Dung-gate, from dung being carried out there (Neh. ii, 13). That the soil was manured with dung, we learn from 2 Kings ix, 37 ; Psa. Ixxxiii, 10 ; Jer. viii, 2 ; ix, 22; xvi,4; xxv, 33; Luke xiv, 35. The Israelites had comparatively few horses and few swine, two sources of excellent strong maniu^e. Their animals consisted chiefly of oxen, camels, asses, sheep, and goats. The dung of the cow and camel was used to a considerable extent for fuel, and the dung of the sacrifices was direct- ed to be burned — circumstances calculated to diminish the supply. That salt was used for manure we learn from Matt, v, 13 and Luke xiv, 34, 35, and it would ap- pear that salt was sometimes sown by itself on the land, at others mixed in the dunghill. From the Talmud we learn that a dunghill in a public place exposed the own- er to. the payment of whatever damage it might occa- sion, and any person might remove it as a nuisance. Dung might not, during the seventh year, be transport- ed to tiie neighborhood of the fields intended to be ma- nured. Under certain restrictions it was, however, per- mitted to fold cattle, for the sake of their manure, upon the lauds that required it in the sabbatic year, and it is from this only we learn that the practice existed among v.— Zz
the Jews, who would seem more generally to have fold- ed their sheep within walled enclosures (John x, 1-6), the occasional clearance of which must have afforded a principal supply of manure. It would seem that gar- dens, except a few old rose-gardens, were not allowed within the walls of Jerusalem, on account of the maimre they would have required, and " because of the stench," as the Mishnah states, this produced, as well as because of that arising from the weeds thrown out from gardens. From another passage of the Talmud we are informed that the surplus blood of tlie sacrifices offered in the Temple, that is to say, the blood which was poured out at the foot of the altar, after the altar had been duly sprinkled, was conducted by a subterraneous channel to the outside of the city, and was sold to the gardeners as manure for their gardens; by which we are to under- stand that the gardeners were allowed to use it on pay- ing the price of a trespass-offering, without which it could not be appropriated to any common use after hav- ing been dedicated at the altar. See Duxg.
Manus Mortua. See Amortisation.
Manuscripts, Biblical. These are either He- brew or Greek ; we shall treat of them separately, using largely the matter found in the Dictionaries of Kitto and Smith.
I. Jewish Manusa-ipts. — 1. These are divided into (a.) Synagogue 7-olls or sacred copies, and (6.) Private or common copies.
(o.) The synagogue rolls contain the Pentateuch, the appointed sections of the prophets, or the book of Es- ther, which last is used only at the Feast of Purim. The three are never put together, but are written on separate rolls. They are in the Chaldee or square Hebrew char- acter, Avithout vowels and accents, accompanied with ihepuncta exiraordinaria, and having the unusual forms of certain consonants. The parchment is prepared in a particular manner by the hands of Jews only, and made from the hides oi clean animals, which, when duly wrought, are joined together by thongs made out of the same material. They are then divided into columns, the breadth of which must not exceed half their length. These columns, whose number is prescribed, must be of equal length and breadth among themselves, and con- tain a certain number of lines, each line having no more- than three words. The Talmud contains strict rules concerning the material, the color, the ink, letters, divi- sions, writing instrument, etc., which are closely fol- lowed, especially in the Pentateuch. These rules are extracted from the Talmud, and translated in Adler's Judceontm Codicis Sacri rite scribendi leges, etc. (Ham- burg, 1779, 8vo). The minuteness of such regulationg renders it a most irksome task for the sopher or scribe to write out a synagogue roU. The revision of th& Torah, as the synagogue roll is often called, must be undertaken within thirty days after its transcription,. else it is unfit for use. Three mistakes on one side or skin are allowable ; but shoidd there he four, or shoiUd there happen to be an error in the open and close sec- tions of the law, in the position of the songs in Exod. v and Dcut. xxii, which are the only portions of the Pen- tateuch written in poetical lines, then the whole copy is worthless. The great beauty of penmanship exhib- ited in these synagogue copies has always been admired. They are taken from authentic exemplars, without the slightest deviation or correction. Seldom do they fall into the hands of Christians ; since, as soon as they cease to be emploj'ed in the synagogue, they are either buried or carefully laid aside, lest they should be profaned by coming into the possession of (ientiles.