Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 



141 



approach so near as to allow the hunter to throw his net over it. In this manner they catch these birds 

 with astonishing rapidity. 



874. Of the implements and operations of Persian agricul- 

 ture little is known with precision. ITie plough is said to be 

 small, and drawn by lean cattle, so that it merely scratches the 

 ground. The plough of Erzerum {Jig. 109 ) is a clumsy 

 implement, on the share of which the driver stands, both for 

 the sake of being carried along and of pressing down the 

 wedge. After the plough and harrow the spade is used for 

 forming the ground into squares, with ledges or little banks to retain the water. 



The 



dung used is chiefly human, and that of pigeons, mingled with earth and preserved for 

 two years to diminish its heat. 



875. The dung of 

 pigeons is so highly 

 prized in Persia that 

 many pigeon-houses 

 (/5. 110.) are erect- 

 ed at a distance from 

 habitations, for the 

 sole purpose of col- 

 lecting their ma- 

 nure. They are 

 large round towers, 

 rather broader at 

 the bottom than at 

 the top,and crowned 



by conical spiracles through which the pigeons descend. Their interior resembles a 

 honeycomb, forming thousands of holes for nests ; and the outsides are painted and 

 ornamented. The dung is applied almost entirely to the rearing of melons, a fruit indis- 

 pensable to the natives of waim countries during the great heats of summer, and also the 

 most rapidly raised in seasons of scarcity ; and hence the reason that during the famine 

 of Samaria a cab of dove's dung was sold for five pieces of silver. (2 Kings, vi. 25.) In 

 Persia are grown the finest melons in Asia. The nobles pride themselves in excelling 

 in this fruit, and some are said to keep pigeons to the extent of 10,000, and upwards, 

 solely for their dung, as a manure for this fruit, the pigeon not being eaten by Persians. 

 {Moriers Second Journey, 141.) 



876. No arable culture is carried on in Persia without artificial watering ; and various 

 modes are adopted for raising the element from wells and rivers for this purpose. The 

 Persian wheel is well known. The deficiency of rivers in Persia has obliged the natives 

 to turn all their ingenuity to the discovery of springs, and to the bringing of their streams 

 to the surface of the earth. To effect this, when a spring has been discovered, they dig a 

 well until they meet with the water ; and if they find that its quantity is sufficient to 

 repay them for proceeding with the work, they dig a second well, so distant from the 

 other as to allow a subterranean communication between both. They then ascertain the 

 Clearest line of communication with the level of the plain upon which the water is to be 

 brought into use, and dig a succession of wells, with subterranean communications 

 between the whole suite of them, until the water at 

 length comes to the surface, when it is conducted by 

 banked-up channels into the fields to be irrigated. The 

 extent of country through which such streams are 

 sometimes conducted is quite extraordinary. In making 

 the wells (Jig. 111.) a shaft is first dug, then a wooden 

 handle is placed over it, from which is suspended a^ 

 leathern bucket, which is filled with the excavated 

 matter by a man below, and wound up by another above. Where the soil is against the 

 mouth of the wells, they are secured by masonry. This mode of procuring water is 

 common to the whole of Persia, and has the great defect of being easily destroyed by an 

 enemy. (Morier^s Second Journey, 164.) 



877. The forests of Persia are few, and chiefly in the mountains of Mazanderam and 

 Ghilan, and those towards Kurdistan. The trees are several kinds of pines, the cedar 

 and cypress, limes, oaks, acacias, and chestnuts ; the sumach is abundant, and used for 

 tanning ; manna is procured from the JFrixinus O'rnus. "Very little fuel is consumed 

 in Persia, and timber is seldom used ; in the castles and principal houses, arches are 

 employed instead of timber floors. 



