FARMERS' REGISTER— ARABIC AGRICULTURE. 



583 



EXTRACTS FROni AN ARABIC WORK ON AG- 

 RICULTURE, TRANSLATED FOR THE FAR- 

 MERS' REGISTER. 



{^Continued from No. 9.] 

 To the EJitorof the Farmers' Register. 



University of Virginia, ? 

 1st Jan. 1834. ^ 

 1 have the pleasure to send you a part of the se- 

 cond article of the first chapter of the Work you 

 mentioned to me, which contains an account oi 

 the different soils of inferior quality, and the best 

 mode of improving them. I have omitted certain 

 parts I thought too absurd to be repeated, amongst 

 which is the nfode of improving and curing " helle- 

 bore land," which, the author says, is such as is 

 rather wet, and smells of hellebore, and hence 

 brings nothing but beans of an inferior quality. 

 As a cure for this " infirmity" in the land, he re- 

 commends having a great number of fires " con- 

 tinually" burning all over the field ;. adding, how- 

 ever, that this is a dangerous remedy, for though 

 it cure the evil, it sometimes leaves the (patient) 

 land so weak that it will be difficult to bring it to 

 strength again by manuring! For the credit of 

 Ehn-el-jlicain, it must lie, however, confessed, 

 that he quotes other authors for what seemed ab- 

 surd to me, and that the " continually" is not the 

 Moor's, but the Spanish translator's a!)surdity. 



G. BLiETTERMANN. 



*' There are two kinds of soil that require and 

 deserve most the care of the husbandman : the fat 

 or heavy, and the sweaty or swampy. The mode of 

 improving them, in order to make them yield 

 abundant crops, is the same for both. They ought, 

 in the first place, to be fallowed six times at least, 

 during the summer months — that the sun, by toast- 

 ing the particles of which they are composed, may 

 extract the noxious juices, and render them mel- 

 low. 



" Such soils as are denominated thin or meager 

 by agriculturists, and which have a sour and disa- 

 greeable taste, are not benefitted by often j)lough- 

 ing, but must receive frequent dungings in order 

 to render them fertile. Frequent ploughing, with- 

 out adhibition of dung, would ultimately convert 

 such soils into a barren desert. 



" Yambushad, however, advises farmers to 

 plough thin or meager land several times about the 

 vernal equinox, and manure it with any kind of 

 dung, except that of mules, since this, he adds, is 

 the very kind of improvement it stands most in 

 need of, making it bring any thing; such land, 

 thus improved, may be planted with grape vines, 

 which will grow well, and bear excellent grapes 

 for making wine. But in another place, this au- 

 thor, speaking of thin and meager land, seems to 

 contradict himself when he says, that it should be 

 less ploughed, but dunged more, than other land, 

 as by too much stirring it, there would be danger 

 of weakening it still more ; that after it had been 

 dunged and once ploughed, it should be seeded 

 with barley, and if it lie convenient for irrigation, 

 it should be very copiously watered during dry 

 weather. 



" Tise same author, speaking of sharp or saltish 

 soil, says that it should be improved with cow dung 

 mixed with straw, leaves and sweet virgin earth ; 

 also, that it should be seeded Avithpeas, beans, and 

 similar plants, whose roots do not penetrate deep 

 into the ground. 



" As to such soils generally called sandy, it will 

 lie necessary to examine whether they consist of 

 sand alone, or of a mixture of sand and various 

 eartlis. Should, on examination, you find the soil 

 consist almost of pure sand, it may be improved 

 by adding a sufficiency of clay and dung, as has 

 been said before; but should much white earth be 

 found among the sand, such a soil will be difficult 

 to improve, for it is al)solutely sleril, unless you 

 can change its whole nature, by adding ])lenty of 

 horse or asses' dung, mixed with virgin earth of a 

 hot nature. Sandy soil of a gray color, as it con- 

 tains a good proportion of black mould, is easily 

 ameliorated by a slight addition of any dung the 

 farm yard affords. All these soils, being from 

 their very nature mellow, do not want much stir- 

 ring. 



" Red soil, being naturally of a tolerable fertili- 

 ty, needs no particular mode of improvement, but 

 the necessary cultivation, to keej) in heart: it 

 must be ploughed in autumn, but not deep. If it 

 can be dunged beftjre seeding it in grain, your crop 

 will be the better and surer. 



" There is certain bottom land of a gray color, 

 rather compact in its texture, which cannot be said 

 to be steril, as it will bring certain plants, but 

 which, from its hard and dry surface in hot weath- 

 er, seldom produces a crop of any thing, be it 

 grain or vegetables. It will bring rice however, 

 as the roots of rice going deep, find sufficient nou- 

 rishment from the water which abounds in it at 

 a certain depth. If such land can be irrigated in 

 dry weather, it will greatly benefit the crop grow- 

 ing on it. 



" V^ery black land of the same description is much 

 better as to quality, but it often has the same in- 

 conveniences; by means of artificial irrigation 

 you may grow very fine vegetables in it, such as 

 cabbages, cauliflowers, cale, &c. Should you sow 

 grain, you must not suffer the ground to get dry, 

 else you will endanger your crop. Such land, 

 however, if you can always keep it moist, in hot 

 weather, will be more profitable to you by grow- 

 ing all sorts of garden plants in it, for trans- 

 plantation, as they come very fast, and prosper 

 uncommonly under the influence of heat and mois- 

 ture. 



" Soil consisting of a reddish clay, which cracks 

 open in dry weather, ought to be i.mproved by 

 deep and frequent jdoughings, in order to have its 

 particles well toasted by the sun, properly mixed 

 with those that are not so. Then manure it 

 with dung, mixed with rotten straw of all sorts. 



" There are certain mountain tracts whose soil, 

 if soil it may be called, is of the consistency of 

 stone, especially such as is called soft sand stone; 

 its color is of an orange yellow, mixed with streaks 

 of brown and black, and has a very thin crust of 

 black vegetable mould on the surface, where here 

 and there a stinted pine or cypress is growing, and 

 which, during the rainy season, becomes green 

 with a short meager grass, which is burned up 

 with the first heat of the sun. Should you possess 

 such land on your estate, let it not lie waste and 

 useless, for it is nevertheless susceptible of great 

 improvement, and will soon repay with interest all 

 the trouble you may bestow on it. As it has been 

 done in the mountainous districts of Babylonia, 

 where such land abounds. 



" The best mode of bringing such land under 

 cultivation is, in the first placej to break it open, 



