Agriculture (Hastings' Dictionary)

Apricnltnre, which in ite wider sen.se enilirnces horticulture, forestry, and the pastoral industry, is here restricted to the art of arable farming — including not only ploughing, hoeing, etc., but reaping and threshmg. As the savage phase has been followed by the pastoral, .so the pastoral has been followed by the A*", in the history o) the progressive peoples.

The first important «dvance upon the primitive stage took the form of the domestication of wild animals, and this, by bringing man into closer and more deliberate contact with the soil, contained the promise of further progress. The domestication of wild plants naturally succeeded, and the neolithic man is knowTi, not only to have reared cattle, goats, and swine, but to have cultivated wheat, barley, and millet, which he ground mth mill- stones and converted into bread or pap.

While the Aryans were still virtually in the pastoral stage, the A*" art was being actively developed in Egypt and Assyria. In the Nile Valley nature bountifully paved the way. The inundations of the Nile create an admirable bed for the seed by reducing the irrigated soil to a ' smooth black paste,' and the monuments exhibit the people as improving from the earliest times their great natural advantages. The early traditions of the Hebrews, on the other hand, were essentially nomadic.

The association of Cain with A. (Gn 4) implies a disparagement of the calling. Abraham is represented as a pure nomad. And although, as is indicated in the histories of Isaac (Gn 26'^) and Jacob, the be- ginnings of A. would naturally have a place in the primitive period, it is only after the conquest of Can. that the Jews take rank as an A"^ people ; and even then the tribes of the trans-Jordanic plateau, whose territory was unsuitable for tillage, continued to depend on cattle-rearing.

The agrarian legislation of the Pent, in reference to the settlement of Can. doubtless embodies some ancient laws and customs regulating the tenure of the soil, although other enactments must be regarded as of later origin, or even as the unfulfilled aspirations of the exUic age.

To the last class probably belon" the institution of the sabbatical year (Ex 23", Lv 25^), the produce of which, or its ' volunteer ' crop, was reserved for the poor, the stranger, and cattle ; and that of the year of jubilee (Lv 25^), in which the dispossessed heir resumed possession of his ancestral acres.

Among the enactments of a greater antiquity and validity may be mentioned the law against the removal of landmarks (Dt 19'*), which was made urgent by the fact that the arable lands, unlike the vine- yards, were not divided by hedges (Is 5'). The climate of Pal., owing to the removal of forests, must now be much less humid than in early times. The summer is rainless and warm, the winter and early spring are rainy and colder. During tlie dry season the heat, esp.

in the low country, is excessive, and rapidly bums up all minor vegetation ; while any surface-water, as from springs, is evident in the spots of unwonted verdure which it induces on the parched landscape. In autumn the cisterns are nearly empty, and the ground has become verj' hard. The husbandman must consequently wait for the rains before he can start ploughing. The rainy season begins about the end of Oct.

, and is divided into three periods — early rains (^ic), which prepare the land for the reception of the seed, hea\'y winter rains (era), saturating the ground and tilling the cisterns, and late rains (c'lp^n), falling in spring and giving the crops the necessary moisture. Snow is often seen on the higher lands in winter, and hail is not infrequent. The coldest month is February, the warmest August. The soil of Pal. varies widely in texture and appearance.

In the higher regions it is formed mostly from cretaceous limestone or decomposing basalt rocks; in the maritime plain and the Jordan Valley there are more recent formations. Like the sedentary soils, where of suHicient depth, the alluvial deposits are naturally fertile ; and under tlie intensive and careful cultivation of ancient times the fertility was proverbial (cf. Ex 3- ", AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURE 49 Jer 11, Tacitus, ffist. lib. v. c. 6).

The lessened productiveness of modem times is due in part to the diminished rainfall, but mainly to political and social changes. The high farming of antiquity took several fonns. Low walls, built along hill-slopes to prevent ' 8oil-washin<»,' gave rise to flat terraces. Various methods of irrigation were practised (Gn 2'", Pr 21', Is 30'=» 32^ *>). Canals conveyed the water from the natural sources to the fields, or water-wheels might be used.

Other A** improvements were the removal of stones from the fields, and the utilisation of the ash residue of stubble and weeds. Ordinary dung, made in dunghills by treading in straw (Is 25'°), was also in common use (2 K 9"). A bare fallow would be occasionally allowed to raise the tempo- rary fertility of the soil. The number of Crops under cultivation was large. The most important was wheat (nifn).

The supply exceeded the requirements of the country, and it was possible to export it in con- siderable quantities (Ezk 27"). Second in im- portance was barley (•■ni'if), which was extensively used as food (Ru 3"), esp. by the poorer classes. Spelt {n-03) was frequently grown on the borders of fields. Millet (ini), beans p'ls), and lentils (dv^jz,) were cultivated and used as food (Ezk 4', 2 S 17^). Flax {m-^s) was grown (Ex 9*'), and probably also cotton (D5"13).

Among the statutory regulations relating to the crops, the most noteworthy are : — the prohibition againt>t sowing a field with mixed seed (Lv 19'*), a rejnilation implyinjj considerable botanical know- ledge ; the provision for damages in case of pasturing a beast in a neighbour's field (Ex 22') ; permission to the wayfarer to pluck from the standing corn enough to satisfy hunger (Dt 23^) j reservation for the stranger and the poor of the comers of the field (Lv 19°), and other provisions dictated by humanity (Dt 24'").

The A. of Pal. has not advanced or changed in any important particular since OT times. In consequence we can, apart from Biblical notices, largely reconstruct the A* picture of the past from the Syrian conditions of to-day. An additional source of information has of recent years been opened up in the Egyp. hieroglyphics, and esp. in the representations of A" operations found in the Egyp.

tombs ; and in order the better to bind together this material, we shall now follow the process of cultivation of one of the common cereal crops from seed-time to harvest, giving some account of the implements employed and of the dangers incident to the growing crops. The year of the agriculturist was well filled up^from the middle of Oct. to the middle of Apr. with ploughing, sowing, harrowing, weeding ; from the middle of Apr. onward with reaping, carrying, thresliing, and storing the grain.

The interval between threshing and sowing was occupied with the vineyard pro- duce. It appears that the seed was sometimes sown without any previous cultivation, and after- wards ploughed m or otherwise covereil, while at other times the seed was scattered on ploughed land, and covered by a rude harrow or oy cross- ploughing.

The former method was common in T'l^^'ypt, where tlie grain, dejiositcd on moist ground, might be covered by dragging bushes over it, and afterwards trodden down by domestic animals (cf. Is 32*"). Where cultivation jireceded sowing, various implements were used. From the I''gyp.

monuments it is possible to trace the evolution of the Plough — the starting-point being a forked branch used as a hoe, which was afterwards improved into a kind of mattock, and finally was enlarged and modil cd so as to be drawn by oxen. The plough was urawn by two oxen, and the draught was sometimes from the shoulders, some- VOL. I. — 4 times from the forehead, or even from the homs In some cases men with hoes may have pulverised aODKBS BTaiAN piouaH.

(1) EI-Eabuaah, grasped in working by the left hand ; (I) d-akar, the handle or slilt ; (3) el-buruk, the beam ; (4) el-niteh, a support, secured by a wedge ; (5) el-sawajir, the couplings; (6) el-wuslah, the pole ; (7) el-sikluh, the ploughshare. the surface after the plough, as in Egypt. (See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 2nd series, roL L woodcut 422. ) The old Heb.

plough was of very simple construction, consisting of a wooden ground- work (1 K Iff") with iron wearing parts (Is 2, cf 1 S 13»). It had one stilt to guide it (Lk 9"), leaving the other hand free to use the ox-goad (icpo). ^^e The plough was drawn by oxen, i.e. the ox-kind, for the Jews did not mutJate their animals (Am 6'^), or by asses (Is 30*), but not by an ox and ass together (Dt 22'°). On thin soil a mattock was sometimes necessary (1 S 13^).

The unit of square measure was the area ploughed in a day by a yoke of oxen (ijy). The season of Sowing was not one of joy (Pa 126»), owing to the uncertainty of the weather (Mic 6'°, Pr 20'), and the toilsomeness of the work in a hard and rocky soil. A start was made with the pulse croi)s, barley followed a fortnight later, and wheat after another month.

Usually the sower scattered the seed broadcast out of a basket, but by careful farmers the wheat was placed in the furrows in rows (Is 28''"). The summer or spring grain was 80^vn between the end of Jan. and the end of Feb. In a season of excessive drought the late-sown seed rotted under the clods (Jl 1") ; in a wet season the early-sown grain grew rank and lodged, and the hushandman was accordingly counselled to make sure of a crop by attending to both(Ec 11»).

Between sowing and reaping, the crops were exposed to several dangers. Of these the chief were the easterly winds prevalent in Mar. and Ai)r. (Gn 41"), hailstorms (Hag 2"), the irrup- tion of woeds — esp. mustard, thistles, tares, and thorns (Jer 12'^), the depredations of crowj and sparrows (Mt 13*), of fungoid diseases, esp, mildew (Dt 28"), and of injurious insects, esp. the palmer-worm, the canker-worm, the caterpillar, and the locust.

These names do not, as has bein suggested, refer to the ditVerent stages in the life history of the locust {Pacht/tt/lus migratoriiu), but the first three are probably specific names for groujis of pests. The crops were also in danger From the inroads of cattle (Ex 22°), and as harvest aiiproached, from fire (Jg 15*). The commencement of Harvest naturally varied, not only with the season, but according to elevation, exiiosure, etc.

On the average it began with hurley (2 S 21")— in the neinjhbourhood of Jericho about the middle of Apr., in the coast plains ten days later, and in the high-lying districts as much as a month later. Wheat was a fortnight later in ripening, and the barley and 50 AGRICULTURE ACxRICULTURE wlieat harvest lasted about seven weeks (Dt 16'). The harvest was the occasion of festivities wliich in the later legislation were brought into close connexion with the religious history of the i)eoi)le.

The crops were cut, as in Egypt, with tlie sickle. (See Wilkinson, op. cit. woodcuts 426 and 43li. ) Little value was i)ut upon tlie Straw, which was cut about a foot below the ears (.Job 24-'). Tlie reajjer left the grain in liandfuls beliind him (.Jer 9"), and the binder tied it into sheaves (Gn 37'), which, liowever, were not set uj) as shocks. Tlie Egyptians usually cut the straw quite close under the ears, while some crojis, such as dhurah, were simply plucked up by the roots.

The method of JIODKRS SICKLE. pulling the corn was probably also practised in Pal. when the crops were light (Is 17^). In OT there are apparently two kinds of Sickle referred to — s'?-iri and ?;?. Tlie wooden sickle, toothed witli floor, and, according to one system, cattle — four or five harnessed together — were driven round and round, until a more or le.ss complete detachment of the grain was effected (Hos 10"). To facilitate the process, tlie .

straw was repeatedly turned over by a fork with two or more prongs. A well-known picture gives a representation of this system as anciently practised in Egypt, notewortiiy being the fact that the oxen are uiimuz/Ied (cf. Dt 25'). The group further shows how tlie oxen were yoked togetlier that they might walk round more regularly. (See Wilkinson, o/). fi7.) Of the thresh- ing-inacliine two kinds were, and still are, employed in Palestine. TIIEESHLVa-iUCQlXE. One (ji.

iD or pin) consisted of an oblong board, whose under side was rough with notches, nails, and tliaip sti.me cliips, and which, being weigli ted down ^W->:-^- -^■Sv -^..,,.. ;,_^-,... ^:^^ llIKKSHlSe-FLOOfU flints, supposed by Prof. Flinders Petrie to be an imitation of the jawbone of an ox, was used in Syria as well as in Egypt. The reapers were the owners and their families, along with hired labourers (Mt 9*), the latter of whom probably followed the harvest from the plains to the mountains.

The workers quenched their thirst from vessels taken to tlie harvest-field (llu 2'), and ate bread steeped in vinegar (S"), and parched corn (Lv 23"), the latter prepared by being roasted and then rubbed in the hand. The Threshing usually took place in the fields. a custom made possible by the rainless Aveather of harvest. The Threshing-floop (pS) consisted of a round open .

space, probably of a permanent character, and ])referably on an eminence where it was exposed to the free sweep of air currents. For bringing in the sheaves, carts were employed in old times (Am 2"). Threshing was performed in various ways. Small quantities of produce, also pulse-crops and cummin, were beaten out witli a stick (Ku 2").

In dealing with large quantities of grain, the sheaves were spread out over tlie by stones and oy the driver, not only shelled out the com, but lacerated the straw (Is 41'', Job 41*'). TIIRESllINO-WAaOON. The other kind of luachine was the threshing- waggon, ri'^yj^ (Is 2S'^' ^), now seldom seen in Pal. , but AGRIPPA AHAB 51 Btill common in Egypt. It consisted of a low-built, four-cornered waggon frame, inside which were attached two or three parallel revolving cylinders or rollers.

Each of the rollers was armed with three or four sharpened iron discs. There was a Beat for the driver, and it was drawn by oxen yoked to a pole. After the threshing came the work of Winnowing (Job 21"', Ps 35"). The mixture left by the previou.s operation, consisting of corn, chall", and broken straw, was turned about and shaken with a wooden fork (Is 3U''), and advantage was taken of the winds to separate the grain from the lighter material.

This often necessitated night work, aa the winds usually blew from late in the afternoon till before sunrise. lOM, FAK, AN'D TOK& At the later stage of the winnowing process the fork was less needed than the fan ("ni^j, a kind of shovel ; or the grain might be scooped up, as shown in some Egyp. representations, by two pieces of wood. The chaff, after being separated, was burned (Mt 3"), or left to be scattered by the winds (Ps P).

From the heavier impurities the corn waa cleansed by sieves (■tjjj) — an operation specially necessary in view of the mode of threshing, after which it was collected into large heaps. To prevent thieving, the owner might sleep by the threshing-lloor (Ru 3') until the removal of the grain, on waggons or otherwise, to the barns or granaries (Lk 12"). It was often stored in pits (.Jer 41'), the openings of which were carefully covered up to protect them from robbers ami vermin.

The straw remaining from the threshing was used for cattle fodder (Is (>5»). LrntRATURB. — On the (general BTihJect : Benzlnper, H^hrfiifrhe ATcliirulniie ; Stole. l,.».-A. d. I'lilkn Ikt. IVI. i. liuch vii.; LawluirUueh, Jahrhwhrr; .N'owiick, Ltlirbuch iler Archifdliniif ; Thoineon, Land awl Ilnuk ; Fi-Ilows, Aria Minor; Zntuchr^ft det Drutlchen Palitnlitia-VerHmi, IM. Ix., ' Ackerltau uihI Thlerzucht"; Indexed Quart. Statrm^ntt and other putih, of the Pal. Exjdor. Soc. On Ek>T).

Agriculture : WilkiuHon, ilannerf and CttsUnng of the Ancient Kijyjitians (2nd Series). On the PloiiRh : Schumftf^her, ' I)er arnbiHche I'fluif.' in Brl. xii. of at)nve.nained /.eHiichrift. On the ThreMliJn;:-tiuu;hine : VVet?,itfin, 'Die syr. Ureschtalel,' In BmIUh'i ZeUich.J. Ethnoloaie (187^), Witt. J. W. Patebson.