AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURE. 



barley. (Judges, xix. 21; 1 Kings, iv. 28.) 

 Our translation does not explicitly state this, 

 but it is clear in the Hebrew original. (Dr. 

 Kennicotfs xxivth Codex; /farmer's Observa- 

 tions,'!. 423.) It is also certain, from the He- 

 brew original, that they tied up calves and 

 bullocks for the purpose of fattening them 

 (Jerem. xlvi. 21 ; Amos, vi. 4, &c., Parkhurrfs 

 Hebrew Lexicon, 673) ; and that they were ac- 

 quainted with the arts of the dairy. " Surely 

 the churning of milk," says Solomon, " bring- 

 eth forth butter" (Prov. xxx. 31") ; and Samuel 

 speaks of the " cheese of kine. (2 Sam. xxvii. 

 29.) The chief vegetable products cultivated 

 by these eastern nations were, wheat, barley, 

 beans, lentils, rye, the olive, and the vine. 

 (Exod. ix. 31; Levit. xix. 10; 2 Sam. xvii. 

 28, &c.) 



The scanty notices which we have of their 

 tillage, give us no reason to doubt that they 

 were skilful husbandmen. The name for till- 

 age (Obed) emphatically expresses their idea 

 of it ; for it literally means to serve the ground. 

 (Parkhurst, 508.) And that the cares and at- 

 tention necessary were well sustained, is evi- 

 denced by the fact, that David, for his extensive 

 estate, had an overseer for the storehouses in 

 the fields ; another over the tillage of the 

 ground ; a third over the vineyards ; a fourth 

 over the olive trees ; two to superintend his 

 herds; a seventh over his camels; an eighth 

 to superintend his flocks; and a ninth to attend 

 similarly to the asses. (1 Chron. xxvii. 25 

 31.) 



Of their ploughing, we know that they turned 

 up the soil in ridges, similarly to our own 

 practice ; for the Hebrew name of a husband- 

 man signifies a man who does so. ( Parkhurst, 

 93.) That they ploughed with two beasts of the 

 same species attached abreast to the plough. 

 (Dm/.xxii.lO.) That the yoke, or collar was fast- 

 ened to the neck of the animal ; and that the 

 plough, in its mode of drawing the furrows, re- 

 sembled our own ; for we read of their sharp- 

 ening the coulter and the ploughshare. (1 Sam. 

 xiii. 20, &c.) Ploughing was an operation 

 that they were aware might be beneficially 

 performed at all seasons ; for Solomon men- 

 tions it as a symptom of a sluggard, that he 

 will not plough in the winter (Prov. xx. 4); and 

 that too much care could not be devoted to it, 

 they expressed, by deriving their name for 

 ploughing from a Hebrew root, which signifies 

 silent thought and attention. (Parkhurst, 244.) 



Their sowing was broadcast, from a basket 

 (Amos, xi. 13 ; Psalm cxxvi. 6) ; and they gave 

 the land a second superficial ploughing to 

 cover the seed. It is true that harrowing is 

 mentioned in our translation (Job, xxxix. 10) ; 

 but Schultens and other Hebraists agree that 

 harrowing was not practised by them. Rus- 

 sell, in remarking upon the mode of cultivation 

 now practised near Aleppo, says, " No harrow 

 is used, but the ground is ploughed a second 

 time after it is sown, to cover the grain." 

 (mtrkhurt, 720.) 



u*he afler-cultivation apparently was not 

 neglected; they had hoes or mattocks, which 

 they employed for extirpating injurious plants. 

 "On all hills," says the prophet, "that shall 

 be digged with the mattock, there shall not 

 34 



come thither the fear of briers and thorns." 

 (ha. vii. 25.) In those hot climates a plentiful 

 upply of moisture was necessary for a health- 

 ful vegetation; and the simile of desolation, 

 employed by the same prophet, is "a garden 

 that hath no water." (ha. i. 30.) In Egypt 

 they irrigated their lands ; and the water thus 

 supplied to them was raised by an hydraulic 

 machine, worked by men in the same manner 

 as the modern tread-wheel. To this practice 

 Moses alludes, when he reminds the Israelites 

 of their sowing their seed in Egypt, and water- 

 ing it with their feet, a practice still pursued 

 in Arabia. (Deut. xi. 10; Nitbuhr, Voyage en 

 Arabic, i. 121.) 



When the corn was ripe, it was cut with 

 either a sickle or a scythe (Jer. 1. 16 ; Joel, iii. 

 13), was bound into sheaves (Psalm cxxix. 7; 

 Deut. xxiv. 19, &c.), and was conveyed in 

 carts (Amos, ii. 13), either immediately to the 

 threshing-floor or to the barn. They never 

 formed it into stacks as we do. These pas- 

 sages in the Scriptures (Exod. xxii. 6 ; Judg. 

 xv. 5 ; Job, v. 26) refer exclusively to the 

 thraves or shocks in which the sheaves are 

 reared as they are cut. (Harmer's Observ. iv. 

 145, &c.) The threshing-floors, as they are 

 at the present day, were evidently level plats 

 of ground in the open air. (Judg. vi. 37 ; 

 2 Sam. xxiv. 18 25, &c.) They were so 

 placed that the wind might, at the time of the 

 operation, remove the chief part of the chaff. 

 They, perhaps, had threshing-floors under 

 cover, to be used in inclement seasons ; for 

 Hosea (ii. 35), speaking of "the summer 

 threshing-floors," justifies such surmise. The 

 instruments and modes of threshing were va- 

 rious. They are all mentioned in these two 

 verses of the prophet; "Fitches are not 

 threshed with a threshing instrument, neither 

 is a cart-wheel turned upon the cummin, but 

 the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the 

 cummin with a rod. Bread-corn is bruised 

 because he will not ever be threshing it, nor 

 break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise 

 it with his horsemen." (Isaiah, xxviii. 27, 28.) 

 When the seed was threshed by horses, they 

 were ridden by men ; and when by cattle, al- 

 though forbidden to be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4), 

 yet they were evidently taught to perform the 

 labour. (Hosea, x. 11.) The "instrument" 

 was a kind of sledge made of thick boards, 

 and furnished underneath with teeth of iron. 

 (Isaiah, xli. 15; Parkhurst, 242, 412.) The 

 revolving wheels of a cart, and the various 

 sized poles employed for the same purpose, 

 need no further comment. To complete the 

 dressing of the corn, it was passed through a 

 sieve (Amos, ix. 9), and thrown up against the 

 wind by means of a shovel. The fan was, 

 and is still, unknown to the eastern husband- 

 men ; and where that word is employed in our 

 translation of the Scriptures, the original 

 seems to intend either the wind or the shovel. 

 (Isaiah, xxx. 24; Jer. xv. 7; Parkhurst, 183, 

 689.) 



Of their knowledge of manures we know 

 little. Wood was so scarce that they con- 

 sumed the dung of their animals for fuel. 

 (Parkhurst, 764.) Perhaps it was this defi- 

 ciency of carbonaceous matters for their lands 



