FARMERS' REGISTER— ARABIC WORK ON AGRICULTURE. 



517 



ling old rotten duno^, every thing, either grains, 

 garden vegetables or fruit trees, grows to advan- 

 tage, whilst, in that having the qualities of the 

 land around Carmona, nothing but wheat will 

 grow. 



According to Kastos, the best land is that which 

 imbibes most moisture, and in which grass and 

 weeds are growing luxuriantly, when left uncul- 

 tivated. Junius Moderatus Columella says : " that 

 land, which is destined to bring garden vegetaldes, 

 must not be white, coarse-grained, nor easily 

 hardened in the heat of summer. Such land w hen 

 well ploughed and mixed with dung, may serve to 

 plant an orchard in. For garden vegetables, we 

 ought to choose a soil that contains much alluvial 

 mud, and which you may find out easily by stirring 

 a handful of the soil in a vessel with water. 

 Should you find, from not muddying the water 

 much, that most of it is sand, 3'ou must not use it for 

 cultivating garden vegetables, until by a proper 

 mixture of dung and black mud from ponds and 

 rivers, you have rendered it fit for your purpose. 

 You may also know the quality of soil by taking 

 up a part of it in your hand : if, by pressing it, you 

 find it similar to wax, it will be good soil for pro- 

 ducing vegetables. 



Aben-Hajaj, in his treatise on the different soils, 

 says that some farmers, in order to know and 

 judge of the quality of land, make use of their 

 taste and smell ; others of their sight and touch, 

 and others again judge of it by the plants that it 

 produces naturally. But the examination of it by 

 the sight and the touch is also subject to little error. 



Junius Moderatus Columella, says: soil of a 

 good quality is known by seeing that it easily im- 

 bibes the water, becomes after rain soft and slimy, 

 without baking or becoming hard afterwards, in 

 the heat of the sun. This same author tells us, 

 that some ancients had discovered another method 

 to judge of the quality of land, viz : when forest 

 trees of great magnitude grow in it, whose branch- 

 es are so thickly interwoven that the sun cannot 

 penetrate, this is a sign that the land is good. On 

 the contrary, when forest trees are only of a mid- 

 dling height, and their branches and foliage but thin, 

 such land on which they grow is but of a middling 

 quality ; but should such trees be dwarfish, and 

 their foliage poor, you may be sure the land is 

 poor also. 



Those that judge of soil by its taste, will prefer 

 the sweet to that which tastes strongly of salt. 

 And on this subject Columella says, that when 

 taking some earth from a certain depth, you mix 

 it with sweet water, and taste the water when it 

 has become clear, if you find it of a saltish taste, 

 you may be sure that it is good for no other vege- 

 table but palm trees, or at most, for cabbages and 

 cucumbers. 



Those who use their smell to judge of the qua- 

 lity of land, say that no soil is good that has any 

 bad smell, and Deniocrite says, that it is a sign 

 of good land when, excavating it to the depth of 

 two feet, you take a part of the earth from the bot- 

 tom and put it in a glass in which some rain water 

 or sweet water from a river had previously been 

 poured, you find, after it has clarified, the water 

 to have neither a disagreeable taste, nor an offen- 

 sive smell, you may know that the land is of good 

 quality, and will be productive in grain, as well as 

 in vegetables and trees, that you should wish to 

 ^•aise. 



Kastos says, that land of a fetid smell, and of a 

 saltish taste, is only good for palm trees. Accord- 

 ing to Aben-Ilajaj, some farmers take for their 

 guide, in the selections of land for tillage, the plants 

 that grow on it naturally, which I think is the 

 surest way of judging of its quality. When they 

 see the large thistle, and the wild hemp growing 

 spontaneous!)- on any land, they pronounce it good 

 without hesitation, for they know that these two 

 kinds of weeds only grow in the very best land. 

 On the contrary, when they perceive any wild 

 Zaatar (penny royal .^) wild sorrel, Anrntin (po- 

 verty grass .^) cinquefbil, tribalus and wild 

 wheat.' growing on any land naturally, they at 

 once pronounce it poor, and are seldom mistaken 

 in this respect. It is not the same with other 

 weeds, w hich will grow equally on rich and on poor 

 land, such as the wild onion and others. Some say 

 that rich land, though it should be left for a long- 

 time without cultivation, does not so easily grow 

 up in scrubby oaks, pines, cyjnesscs, wild wood, 

 &c. as poor land does when left unfilled. 



Wehavenow,says Aben-Hajaj, quoted the max- 

 ims of different authors, on the qualities of land, 

 with respect to the advantages and disadvantages 

 that farmers may expect from them, and perhaps 

 some will say, that those very soils which these 

 learned authors disapprove of, have been found to 

 be highly suitable to certain kinds of plants, which, 

 besides being produced in them abundantly, are of 

 the best quality. This is undoubtedly true, but 

 such kinds of plants are but few, and commonly 

 of little utility, whilst the most useful plants, such 

 as wheat, barley, beans, peas and other vegetables 

 for the support of man and beasts, can only be 

 raised in such lands as have been approved of, by 

 those authors. 



According to Solon, in good, moist, rich mould, 

 every vegetable jou ])lant or sow, comes well, and 

 with the assistance of God, prospers and produces 

 a plentiful crop : who would therefore prefer a poor, 

 dry, sandy soil, though lupins maA^ grow well in it.' 

 especially when he could have the former with 

 equal convenience. In a good soil will grow all 

 that can be raised in sand ; but who would sow 

 wheat on sand, before it has been improved by a 

 great admixture of clay and dung.' In sand, we 

 see that pine trees and some species of thorn will 

 grow tolerably well : but who would plant apple, 

 pear, or cherry trees in such a soil .' Thus, that 

 land ought to be considered the best in which most 

 things will grow for the food and comforts of man. 

 But some persons will ask : the inheritance which 

 our fathers left us, consists of such a soil as you 

 describe to f)e naturally poor and unproductive, 

 must we abandon it and seek a better soil else- 

 where.' JNly answer is: by no means, but you 

 must by industry, perseverance and judicious ma- 

 nagement, improve and ameliorate your inheri- 

 tance, and make it yield, with the assistance of 

 God, abundant crops of every thing necessary for 

 your support, and that of your family ; the means 

 of doing so, are within the reach of every intelli- 

 gent husbandman. 



jJ ben-Hajaj sTxys: though it cannotbe denied that 

 apricots, pomegranates and quinces will grow in a 

 poor sandy soil, it is nevertheless a fact, that, if 

 such a soil be improved by an admixture of clay 

 and dung, those trees will yield a larger and more 

 juicy fruit. In the Nabathean Agriculture, treat- 

 ing of the same subject, we find the following ex- 



