52 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 



Palestinians cultivated on the mountain slopes general!}- a low 

 growing vine. Vineyards were, however, also planted on low- 

 land (("lypH, plain), for instance, in the plain of Yisreel', the 

 plain of Sharon- and probably also in the Negeb '. The vine- 

 )'ards were surrounded with hedges^, or walls, sometimes pro- 

 bably with both-^ in order to protect them against the wild 

 animals*" and the pasturing cattle '. Sometimes vineyards were 

 simply surrounded with thorns, cf Jesus Sirach, 28,24a Thoii 

 fencest in thy vineyard with thorns". In the vineyard either 

 simple huts 8, or watchtowers^ were erected. The latter con- 

 sisted of a square building of solid masonry. The tower some- 

 times reached a considerable size, rising to the height of forty 

 feet. The top-story contained several apartments, with suffi- 

 cient windows. These towers, called pyrgos^^' (2'^5~5'53), ofter 

 contained on the ground floor a stable and the ^\ine-press 

 The lower portion of the tower had also a small door anc 

 a few narrow windows at a considerable height from the 

 ground. The pyrgos was used as a dwelling place of the 

 vinedressers ^^ or the guardians of the vineyard i-. Great care 

 was taken to weed the ground ^^. According to the experience 

 of the Hebrews it was harmful to the culture of vines to 

 sow other plants betw-een the vines and this was legally for- 

 bidden^^, although it was the custom of antiquity ''. In Rab- 

 binic time, however, it was permissible to raise other crop; 

 between the rows(M*Orla 3, 8 pT' S'lt:: ClDi. While Pliny testifiei 

 to the culture of low growing vines, the Hebrews certainly knew 

 also of the practise of training the vines to wooden poles 

 trellis work of cane-reed and to trees'*'. The\' often proppec 



l) Jdg. 9, 27; 1. Kings 21, I fl. 2) According to the Talmud. 



3) See Palmer, Wi'istenwanderung Isracs, pp. 271 IT., 283, 286, und 289 



4) ns^^^. 5) Is. 5, 2. 5; 17, II. 6) Ps. 80, 14; Cant. 2, 15. 



7) Is. 7, 25; Jer. 12, 10. Cf. also Sir. 36, 30 "without a hedge the vine 

 yard is being fed off", Q-iz ~^2^Z'^ -^inj -jiXS. 



8) Is. I, 8. 9) Is. 5, 2. 



10) Matth. 21, 33; Mark. 12, i. ii) 2. Chron. 26, 10. 



12) Job 27, 18; Cant, i, 6; 8, 11 ff. 



13) "i"i35 Is. 5, 6; the weeding hoe, T^SJ/a Is. 7, 25. 



14) Deut. 22, 9. 15) Pliny, h. n., XVII, 21. 



16) Mishna, Kilaitn, Bava-Bathra and Bava-mezia. The fruit of th< 

 low growing vine matures earlier than that of the trained vines. But thf 



