CHAP. XI. CULTIVATION OF THE LANDS. 49 



the tombs, the sower sometimes followed the plough, 

 in those fields which required no previous prepara- 

 tion by the use of the hoe, or from their elevated 

 level were free from the roots of noxious herbs. 

 The mode of sowing was what we term broadcast, 

 the seed being scattered loosely over the surface, 

 whether ploughed or allowed to remain unbroken ; 

 and in no agricultural scene is there any evidence 

 of drilling, or dibbling. Nor were the harrow* 

 or rake known in Egypt ; and the use of the spade 

 was supplied by the hoe, as it still is throughout 

 the valley of the Nile. 



Corn, and those productions which did not stand 

 in need of constant artificial irrigation, were sown 

 in the open field, as in other countries : but for 

 indigo, esculent vegetables, and herbs, which re- 

 quired to be frequently watered, the fields were 

 portioned out into square beds like our salt pans, 

 surrounded by a raised border of earth to keep in 

 the water, which was introduced by channels from 

 the shadoofs or poured in with buckets t; and it is 

 probably to tliis method of sowing the land and 

 turning the water from one square to another, by 

 pushing aside the mud to open one and close the 

 next with the foot, that reference is made in a pas- 

 sage of Deuteronomy, already noticed, t 



Sometimes, as we are informed by Pliny §, they 

 used a dressing of nitrous soil, which was spread over 



* Vide supra, p. 39. note J . 



f These square beds are represented in woodcut, No. 356. Vol. II. 

 p. L37. 



t Vol.11, p. 5. 



^ Plin. lib. xix. c. 5. 



VOL. I. — Seconu Series. £ 



