agriculture Summary and Overview

Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession of the Promised Land, their circumstances favoured in the highest degree a remarkable development of this art. Agriculture became indeed the basis of the Mosaic commonwealth. The year in Israel was divided into six agricultural periods:- I. SOWING TIME. Tisri, latter half (beginning about the autumnal equinox.) Marchesvan. Kisleu, former half. Early rain due = first showers of autumn. II. UNRIPE TIME. Kisleu, latter half. Tebet. Sebat, former half. III. COLD SEASON. Sebat, latter half. Adar. [Veadar.] Nisan, former half. Latter rain due (Deut. 11:14; Jer. 5:24; Hos. 6:3; Zech. 10:1; James 5:7; Job 29:23). IV. HARVEST TIME. Nisan, latter half. (Beginning about vernal equinox. Barley green. Passover.) Ijar. Sivan, former half., Wheat ripe. Pentecost. V. SUMMER (total absence of rain) Sivan, latter half. Tammuz. Ab, former half. VI. SULTRY SEASON Ab, latter half. Elul. Tisri, former half., Ingathering of fruits. The six months from the middle of Tisri to the middle of Nisan were occupied with the work of cultivation, and the rest of the year mainly with the gathering in of the fruits. The extensive and easily-arranged system of irrigation from the rills and streams from the mountains made the soil in every part of Israel richly productive (Ps. 1:3; 65:10; Prov. 21:1; Isa. 30:25; 32:2, 20; Hos. 12:11), and the appliances of careful cultivation and of manure increased its fertility to such an extent that in the days of Solomon, when there was an abundant population, "20,000 measures of wheat year by year" were sent to Hiram in exchange for timber (1 Kings 5:11), and in large quantities also wheat was sent to the Tyrians for the merchandise in which they traded (Ezek. 27:17). The wheat sometimes produced an hundredfold (Gen. 26:12; Matt. 13:23). Figs and pomegranates were very plentiful (Num. 13:23), and the vine and the olive grew luxuriantly and produced abundant fruit (Deut. 33:24). Lest the productiveness of the soil should be exhausted, it was enjoined that the whole land should rest every seventh year, when all agricultural labour would entirely cease (Lev. 25:1-7; Deut. 15:1-10). It was forbidden to sow a field with divers seeds (Deut. 22:9). A passer-by was at liberty to eat any quantity of corn or grapes, but he was not permitted to carry away any (Deut. 23:24, 25; Matt. 12:1). The poor were permitted to claim the corners of the fields and the gleanings. A forgotten sheaf in the field was to be left also for the poor. (See Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut. 24:19.) Agricultural implements and operations. The sculptured monuments and painted tombs of Egypt and Assyria throw much light on this subject, and on the general operations of agriculture. Ploughs of a simple construction were known in the time of Moses (Deut. 22:10; compare Job 1:14). They were very light, and required great attention to keep them in the ground (Luke 9:62). They were drawn by oxen (Job 1:14), cows (1 Sam. 6:7), and asses (Isa. 30:24); but an ox and an ass must not be yoked together in the same plough (Deut. 22:10). Men sometimes followed the plough with a hoe to break the clods (Isa. 28:24). The oxen were urged on by a "goad," or long staff pointed at the end, so that if occasion arose it could be used as a spear also (Judg. 3:31; 1 Sam. 13:21). When the soil was prepared, the seed was sown broadcast over the field (Matt. 13:3-8). The "harrow" mentioned in Job 39:10 was not used to cover the seeds, but to break the clods, being little more than a thick block of wood. In highly irrigated spots the seed was trampled in by cattle (Isa. 32:20); but doubtless there was some kind of harrow also for covering in the seed scattered in the furrows of the field. The reaping of the corn was performed either by pulling it up by the roots, or cutting it with a species of sickle, according to circumstances. The corn when cut was generally put up in sheaves (Gen. 37:7; Lev. 23:10-15; Ruth 2:7, 15; Job 24:10; Jer. 9:22; Micah 4:12), which were afterwards gathered to the threshing-floor or stored in barns (Matt. 6:26). The process of threshing was performed generally by spreading the sheaves on the threshing-floor and causing oxen and cattle to tread repeatedly over them (Deut. 25:4; Isa. 28:28). On occasions flails or sticks were used for this purpose (Ruth 2:17; Isa. 28:27). There was also a "threshing instrument" (Isa. 41:15; Amos 1:3) which was drawn over the corn. It was called by the Hebrews a moreg, a threshing roller or sledge (2 Sam. 24:22; 1 Chr. 21:23; Isa. 3:15). It was somewhat like the Roman tribulum, or threshing instrument. When the grain was threshed, it was winnowed by being thrown up against the wind (Jer. 4:11), and afterwards tossed with wooden scoops (Isa. 30:24). The shovel and the fan for winnowing are mentioned in Ps. 35:5, Job 21:18, Isa. 17:13. The refuse of straw and chaff was burned (Isa. 5:24). Freed from impurities, the grain was then laid up in granaries till used (Deut. 28:8; Prov. 3:10; Matt. 6:26; 13:30; Luke 12:18).

This was little cared for by the patriarchs. The pastoral life, however, was the means of keeping the sacred race, whilst yet a family, distinct from mixture and locally unattached, especially whilst in Egypt. When grown into a nation it supplied a similar check on the foreign intercourse, and became the basis of the Mosaic commonwealth. "The land is mine," #Le 25:23| was a dictum which made agriculture likewise the basis of the theocratic relation. Thus every family felt its own life with intense keenness, and had its divine tenure which it was to guard from alienation. The prohibition of culture in the sabbatical year formed a kind of rent reserved by the divine Owner. Landmarks were deemed sacred, #De 19:14| and the inalienability of the heritage was insured by its reversion to the owner in the year of jubilee; so that only so many years of occupancy could be sold. #Le 25:8-16, 23-35| Rain.--Water was abundant in Israel from natural sources. #De 8:7; 11:8-12| Rain was commonly expected soon after the autumnal equinox. The period denoted by the common scriptural expressions of the "early" and the "latter rain," #De 11:14; Jer 5:24; Ho 6:3; Zec 10:1; Jas 5:7| generally reaching from November to April, constituted the "rainy season," and the remainder of the year the "dry season." Crops.--The cereal crops of constant mention are wheat and barley, and more rarely rye and millet(?). Of the two former, together with the vine, olive and fig, the use of irrigation, the plough and the harrow, mention is made ln the book of #Job 31:40; 15:33; 24:6; 29:19; 39:10| Two kinds of cumin (the black variety called fitches), #Isa 28:27| and such podded plants as beans and lentils may be named among the staple produce. Ploughing and Sowing.--The plough was probably very light, one yoke of oxen usually sufficing to draw it. Mountains and steep places were hoed. #Isa 7:25| New ground and fallows, #Jer 4:3; Ho 10:12| were cleared of stones and of thorns, #Isa 5:2| early in the year, sowing or gathering from "among thorns" being a proverb for slovenly husbandry. #Job 5:5; Pr 24:30,31| Sowing also took place without previous ploughing, the seed being scattered broad cast and ploughed in afterwards. The soil was then brushed over with a light harrow, often of thorn bushes. In highly-irrigated spots the seed was trampled by cattle. #Isa 32:20| Seventy days before the passover was the time prescribed for sowing. The oxen were urged on by a goad like a spear. #Jud 3:31| The proportion of harvest gathered to seed sown was often vast; a hundred fold is mentioned, but in such a way as to signify that it was a limit rarely attained. #Ge 26:12; Mt 13:8| Sowing a field with divers seed was forbidden. #De 22:9| Reaping and Threshing.--The wheat etc., was reaped by the sickle or pulled by the roots. It was bound in sheaves. The sheaves or heaps were carted, #Am 2:13| to the floor--a circular spot of hard ground, probably, as now, from 50 to 80 or 100 feet in diameter. #Ge 1:10,11; 2Sa 24:16,18| On these the oxen, etc., forbidden to be muzzled, #De 25:4| trampled out the grain. At a later time the Jews used a threshing sledge called morag, #Isa 41:15; 2Sa 24:22; 1Ch 21:23| probably resembling the noreg, still employed in Egypt --a stage with three rollers ridged with iron, which, aided by the driver's weight crushed out, often injuring, the grain, as well as cut or tore the straw, which thus became fit for fodder. Lighter grains were beaten out with a stick. #Isa 28:27| The use of animal manure was frequent. #Ps 83:10; 2Ki 9:37; Jer 8:2| etc. Winnowing.--The shovel and fan, #Isa 30:24| indicate the process of winnowing--a conspicuous part of ancient husbandry. #Ps 35:5; Job 21:18; Isa 17:13| Evening was the favorite time, #Ru 3:2| when there was mostly a breeze. The fan, #Mt 3:12| was perhaps a broad shovel which threw the grain up against the wind. The last process was the shaking in a sieve to separate dirt and refuse. #Am 9:9| Fields and floors were not commonly enclosed; vineyard mostly were, with a tower and other buildings. #Nu 22:24; Ps 80:13; Isa 5:5; Mt 21:33| comp. Judg 6:11 The gardens also and orchards were enclosed, frequently by banks of mud from ditches. With regard to occupancy, a tenant might pay a fixed money rent, #So 8:11| or a stipulated share of the fruits. #2Sa 9:10; Mt 21:34| A passer by might eat any quantity of corn or grapes, but not reap or carry off fruit. #De 23:24,25; Mt 12:1| The rights of the corner to be left, and of gleaning [CORNER; GLEANING], formed the poor man's claim on the soil for support. For his benefit, too, a sheaf forgotten in carrying to the floor was to be left; so also with regard to the vineyard' and the olive grove. #Le 19:9,10; De 24:19|

AG'RICULTURE . In its special sense, and as here employed, the term denotes the cultivation of grain and other field crops. In a broader meaning, the threefold business of many agriculturists includes, besides such cultivation, the keeping of flocks and herds, and horticulture. History. -- To dress and keep the garden of Eden was the happy employment given to man at his creation. After the Fall, Adam was driven forth to till the ground as the first farmer. This was also the employment of Cain, but Abel was a keeper of sheep. After the Flood, "Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard." The patriarchs and their descendants, till their settlement in Palestine, gave little attention to agriculture. Joseph's words comprehensively describe their occupation; "The men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle." With the possession of the cultivated lands of the Canaanites, the Hebrews adopted a more strictly agricultural life, and, in general, the methods of farming of those whom they conquered. Pastoral employments were, however, never wholly abandoned. The tribes east of the Jordan were possessed of "a very great multitude of cattle," and in Judaea and all the more hilly districts shepherds always abounded. Soil. -- Palestine is divided agriculturally, and as to all its physical conditions, into four districts : 1. The maritime plains, including the rich coast lands of Gaza, Sharon, etc., with a mild and equable climate, under which even the orange and banana flourish. 2. The valley of the Jordan, reaching from the waters of Merom to the southern end of the Dead Sea, having a tropical temperature. 3. The hill-country between these divisions eastward of Carmel, bisected by the rich plain of Jezreel, and bosoming many fertile vales, such as those of Nazareth, Shechem, Samaria, Hebron, but often rising, especially southward, into bleak moors and highlands, where snow sometimes falls in winter. 4. Peræa, the rolling and often mountainous plateau east of the Jordan valley, not very different in climate from the last division, but in soil more fertile. In this last region Dr. Merrill reports the tillable area of the Hauran (ancient Bashan) to be 150 by 40 miles in extent, and one vast natural wheat-field. Here he has "seen a peasant plough a furrow as straight as a line, one and even two miles long." In Argob and Trachonitis he saw one of the largest lava-beds in the world, covering 400 or 500 square miles, and the source of inexhaustible fertility. Of Palestine west of the Jordan, which is less in extent than the State of Vermont, Captain Warren says: "The soil is so rich, the climate so varied, that within ordinary limits it may be said that the more people it contained the more it may. Its productiveness will increase in proportion to the labor bestowed on the soil, until a population of fifteen millions may be accommodated there." By others we are told that the very sand of the shore is fertile if watered. The soil of Palestine is enriched by the disintegration of the rocks, which are commonly limestone, often quite chalky. Seasons. -- Of these there are practically but two -- the rainy and the dry -- nearly divided from each other by the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The showers begin to fall in November, at the latest, and the rains of the winter months, except it be February, are heavy. These are "the former rain" of Scripture, which rarely fails, while "the latter rain" of March and early April is more uncertain; and as the filling of the ears of grain depends upon it, this "latter rain" is eagerly expected. Job 29:23 ; Zech 10:1. Storms in Palestine are ordinarily brought by the west or south-west wind. 1 Kgs 18:44; Luke 12:54. Without question, this country was in Bible times better supplied with forests and orchards than now, and its climate was more humid and equable. The hills were generally terraced and provided with reservoirs, as abundant ruins testify, and the sudden torrents, which now wash away what little soil they find, were, by these means and others, dispersed and absorbed by the ground. Many of the most rugged districts were covered with vineyards and olive-orchards, so that Deut 8:7-9 is but a literal description of what the land once was, and, in particular localities, still remains. Unlimited extortion, in addition to heavy taxes upon every crop and every tree, even to the oak upon the hills, the unrestrained pillage of the harvests by Bedouins, with other causes, are fast abandoning this fertile land to denudation, drought, and the desert. Calendar of Labor. -- There have been few changes in the art or instruments of agriculture in Western Asia since ancient times. The present tense may therefore ordinarily be used for the past. Ploughing and sowing grain begin with the rainy season, and, as the ground does not freeze, continue, when the weather permits, till March. Then are sown the podded and garden plants, the melons, and all the crops which demand a warmer soil. Barley-harvest quickly follows the cessation of the latter rain, and then wheat-harvest. The remaining crops having one after another been brought to perfection and gathered, the droughts of summer now end most agricultural operations till the ingathering of the fig, the olive, and the grape in August and September. Occasionally, during the busy season, the husbandman tents upon the land he cultivates. Ordinarily, his home is in some village or walled town, perhaps miles away from his farm. In the early morning he walks or rides to his labor, the patient ass or the camel bearing his light ploughs and other implements. Thus in the parable the "sower went forth to sow." So varied is the character of the soil and climate within short ranges as often greatly to prolong the season of planting and harvesting. Grain frequently requires replanting or replacing with other crops. Where there are permanent streams or opportunities for irrigation, sowing follows harvest, crop succeeds crop through the entire year, and the promises of Lev 26:5 and Am 9:13 are verified. Crops. -- In this fertile soil, with an almost unparalleled variety of climate and exposure, between such points as Jericho, Hermon, and Gaza, there is opportunity for the cultivation of nearly all plants either of the torrid or temperate zones; and we find in the Bible, for such a book, a very extended botanic list. The variety of cultivated species was, however, much less than now. Wheat, barley, millet, and spelt (not rye) were the only cereals. Beans and lentiles were staples, while flax, cucumbers, fitches, cummin, and the onion family were often extensively cultivated. Jewish writers mention peas, lettuce, endives, and melons as ancient garden plants. Fruit- and nut-bearing trees were cultivated for the most part within enclosures. Methods and Instruments. -- As population increased, irrigation, by conducting water to the crops from brooks and reservoirs, became more common. The painful Egyptian labor of raising a supply from a lower level was rarely necessary. Such passages as Jer 9:22 show that the use of dung as manure was not uncommon. In Jer 4:3; Hos 10:12 there is reference to the practice of leaving the land fallow for a time. The former passage, with many others, reminds us of the great variety and abundance of thorny plants in Palestine, said to be one mark of a fertile soil. Rotation of crops seems to have been practised to some extent. The instruments of agriculture are particularly described under their respective titles. Oriental ploughing does not turn a sod, but merely scratches the earth to the depth of three or four inches at most, which is all the primitive and light plough and the small cattle of the East can do. Often -- always in the case of new ground -- a second ploughing crosswise was practised; and this is referred to by the word "break" in Isa 28:24. Steep hill-sides were prepared for planting with the mattock or hoe, an iron-pointed instrument of wood resembling in shape the modern "pick." Isa 7:25. Good farmers ploughed before the rains, that the moisture might be more abundantly absorbed. The seed, being scattered broadcast upon the soil, was ordinarily ploughed in, as is still the custom. Light harrowing, often with thorn-bushes, completed the process. In wet ground the seed was trampled in by cattle. Isa 32:20. After its planting there was commonly little further labor bestowed upon the crop till it was ready for the harvest. Weeds were removed by hand when it was safe to do so. Matt 13:28, 1 Chr 2:29. Irrigation was sometimes necessary. As the ingathering drew near, the fields must be protected by the watchman in his lodge from the wild boar and other beasts, and from human marauders. The newly scattered seed and the ripening crop also required to be defended against great flocks of birds. Matt 13:4. Grain when ripe was, in more ancient times, plucked up by the roots. Later, it was reaped by a sickle resembling our own, either the ears alone being cut off or the whole stalk. The sheaves were never made into shocks ; but this word in Scripture use denotes merely a loose An Egyptian Threshing-Floor (From Eiehn.) heap of them. Laborers, animals, or carts bore the harvest to the threshing-floor, where, as elsewhere described, the grain was separated from the ears and winnowed. More delicate seeds were beaten out with a stick. Isa 28:27. Peculiarities. -- Agriculture was recognized and regulated by the Mosaic law as the chief national occupation. Inalienable ownership -- under God -- of the soil was a fundamental provision, and renting the ground till the year of jubilee was alone possible. "The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." Lev 25:8-10, Lev 25:23-35. The encouragement such a provision gave to agricultural improvements cannot be exaggerated. That the land must rest one year in seven was another remarkable and most beneficent requirement. Lev 25:1-7. The Jews were forbidden to sow a field with divers seeds. Deut 22:9. For example, wheat and lentiles must not be mixed, nor areas of them meet. The rabbis describe with minuteness how to vary the position of crops, yet avoid actual contact between them, and prescribe at least three furrows' margin between such divers kinds. The yoking together of an ox and ass was prohibited, but is common enough among the present inhabitants. Horses were never used for farm-work. Vineyards are enclosed in walls, and gardens are usually protected in the same way, or by banks of mud taken from ditches. Otherwise, in agricultural districts the absence of all fences or enclosures is, and always was, in striking contrast to our own practice. A brook or a cliff may serve as a boundary, but ordinarily large stones almost covered by the soil are the landmarks. Deut 19:14. Exceedingly beautiful to the eye are the vast fertile areas of Palestine, checkered only by cultivation. As cattle find pasture through most of the year, there are no proper barns to be seen. Grass is cut in watered places with a sickle for "soiling," and stock is fed with this or with grain when the fields are dried up. More commonly, during periods of scarcity, the flocks and herds are driven to other feeding grounds. Booths are sometimes provided for inclement weather, and at night cattle are driven into caves or folds. The permission to pluck and eat a neighbor's grapes or grain, but not to put the former in a vessel nor use a sickle on the latter, is not to be forgotten. Deut 23:24,Deut 23:25. There was also merciful provision that the poor might glean in the vineyard and harvest-field, and that something should be left for them. Lev 19:9, 1 Kgs 16:10 ; Deut 24:19. Altogether, the agricultural laws of the Pentateuch have been unapproached in their wisdom and beneficence by any similar legislation on record. See Garden, Mowing, Plough, Seasons, Thresh, Vines, etc.

While the patriarchs were in Canaan, they led a pastoral life, and little attended to tillage; Isaac and Jacob indeed tilled at times (Genesis 26:12; Genesis 37:7), but the herdsmen strove with Isaac for his wells not for his crops. The wealth of Gerar and Shechem was chiefly pastoral (Genesis 20:14; Genesis 34:28). The recurrence of famines and intercourse with Egypt taught the Canaanites subsequently to attend more to tillage, so that by the time of the spies who brought samples of the land's produce from Eshcol much progress had been made (Deuteronomy 8:8; Numbers 13:23). Providence happily arranged it so that Israel, while yet a family, was kept by the pastoral life from blending with and settling among idolaters around. In Egypt the native prejudice against shepherds kept them separate in Goshen (Genesis 47:4-6; Genesis 46:34). But there they unlearned the exclusively pastoral life and learned husbandry (Deuteronomy 11:10), while the deserts beyond supplied pasture for their cattle (1 Chronicles 7:21). On the other hand, when they became a nation, occupying Canaan, their agriculture learned in Egypt made them a self subsisting nation, independent of external supplies, and so less open to external corrupting influences. Agriculture was the basis of the Mosaic commonwealth; it checked the tendency to the roving habits of nomad tribes, gave each man a stake in the soil by the law of inalienable inheritances, and made a numerous offspring profitable as to the culture of the land. God claimed the lordship of the soil (Leviticus 25:23), so that each held by a divine tenure; subject to the tithe, a quit rent to the theocratic head landlord, also subject to the sabbatical year. Accumulation of debt was obviated by prohibiting interest on principal lent to fellow citizens (Leviticus 25:8-16; Leviticus 25:28-87). Every seventh, sabbatic year, or the year of Jubilee, every 50th year, lands alienated for a time reverted to the original owner. Compare Isaiah's "woe" to them who "add field to field," clearing away families (1 Kings 21) to absorb all, as Ahab did to Naboth. Houses in towns, if not redeemed in a year, were alienated for ever; thus land property had an advantage over city property, an inducement to cultivate and reside on one's own land. The husband of an heiress passed by adoption into the family into which he married, so as not to alienate the land. The condition of military service was attached to the land, but with merciful qualifications (Deuteronomy 20); thus a national yeomanry of infantry, officered by its own hereditary chiefs, was secured. Horses were forbidden to be multiplied (Deuteronomy 17:16). Purificatory rites for a day after warfare were required (Numbers 19:16; Numbers 31:19). These regulations, and that of attendance thrice a year at Jerusalem for the great feasts, discouraged the appetite for war. The soil is fertile still, wherever industry is secure. The Hauran (Peraea) is highly reputed for productiveness. The soil of Gaza is dark and rich, though light, and retains rain; olives abound in it. The Israelites cleared away most of the wood which they found in Canaan (Joshua 17:18), and seem to have had a scanty supply, as they imported but little; compare such extreme expedients for getting wood for sacrifice as in 1 Samuel 6:14; 2 Samuel 24:22; 1 Kings 19:21; dung and hay fuel heated their ovens (Ezekiel 4:12; Ezekiel 4:15; Matthew 6:30). The water supply was from rain, and rills from the hills, and the river Jordan, whereas Egypt depended solely on the Nile overflow. Irrigation was effected by ducts from cisterns in the rocky sub-surface. The country had thus expansive resources for an enlarging population. When the people were few, as they are now, the valleys sufficed to until for food; when many, the more difficult culture of the hills was resorted to and yielded abundance. The rich red loam of the valleys placed on the sides of the hills would form fertile terraces sufficient for a large population, if only there were good government. The lightness of husbandry work in the plains set them free for watering the soil, and terracing the hills by low stone walls across their face, one above another, arresting the soil washed down by the rams, and affording a series of levels for the husbandman. The rain is chiefly in the autumn and winter, November and December, rare after March, almost never as late as May. It often is partial. A drought earlier or later is not so bad, but just three months before harvest is fatal (Amos 4:7-8). The crop depended for its amount on timely rain. The "early" rain (Proverbs 16:15; James 5:7) fell from about the September equinox to sowing time in November or December, to revive the parched soil that the seed might germinate. The "latter rain" in February and March ripened the crop for harvest. A typical pledge that, as there has been the early outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, so there shall be a latter outpouring previous to the great harvest of Israel and the Gentile nations (Zechariah 12:10; Joel 2:23; Joel 2:28-32). Wheat, barley, and rye (and millet rarely) were their cereals. The barley harvest was earlier than the wheat. With the undesigned propriety that marks truth, Exodus 9:31-32 records that by the plague of hail "the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled i.e. in blossom, but the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up." Accordingly, at the Passover (just after the time of the hail) the barley was just fit for the sickle, and the wave sheaf was offered; and not until Pentecost feast, 50 days after, the wheat was ripe for cutting, and the firstfruit loaves were offered. The vine, olive, and fig abounded; and traces everywhere remain of former wine and olive presses. Cummin (including the black "fitches," Isaiah 28:27), peas, beans, lentils, lettuce, endive, leek, garlic, onion, melon, cucumber, and cabbage also were cultivated. The Passover in the month Nisan answered to the green stage of produce; the feast of weeks in Sivan to the ripe; and the feast of tabernacles in Tisri to the harvest home or ingathered. A month (Veader) was often intercalated before Nisan, to obviate the inaccuracy of their non-astronomical reckoning. Thus the six months from Tisri to Nisan was occupied with cultivation, the six months from Nisan to Tisri with gathering fruits. The season of rains from Tisri equinox to Nisan is pretty continuous, but is more decidedly marked at the beginning (the early rain) and the end (the latter rain). Rain in harvest was unknown (Proverbs 26:1). The plow was light, and drawn by one yoke. Fallows were cleared of stones and thorns early in the year (Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 10:12; Isaiah 5:2). To sow among thorns was deemed bad husbandry (Job 5:5; Proverbs 24:30-31). Seed was scattered broadcast, as in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8), and plowed in afterward, the stubble of the previous crop becoming manure by decay. The seed was trodden in by cattle in irrigated lands (Deuteronomy 11:10; Isaiah 32:20). Hoeing and weeding were seldom needed in their fine tilth. Seventy days sufficed between sowing barley and the wave sheaf offering from the ripe grain at Passover. Oxen were urged on with a spearlike goad (Judges 3:31). Boaz slept on the threshingfloor, a circular high spot, of hard ground, 80 or 90 feet in diameter, exposed to the wind for winnowing, (2 Samuel 24:16-18) to watch against depredations (Rth 3:4-7). Sowing divers seed in a field was forbidden (Deuteronomy 22:9), to mark God is not the author of confusion, there is no transmutation of species, such as modern skeptical naturalists imagine. Oxen unmuzzled (Deuteronomy 25:4) five abreast trod out the grain on the floor, to separate the grain from chaff and straw; flails were used for small quantities and lighter grain (Isaiah 28:27). A threshing sledge (moreg), Isaiah 41:15) was also employed, probably like the Egyptian still in use, a stage with three rollers ridged with iron, which cut the straw for fodder, while crushing out the grain. The shovel and fan winnowed the grain afterward by help of the evening breeze (Rth 3:2; Isaiah 30:24); lastly, it was shaken in a sieve. Amos 9:9; Psalm 83:10, and 2 Kings 9:37 prove the use of animal manure. The poor man's claim was remembered, the self sown produce of the seventh year being his perquisite (Leviticus 25:1-7): hereby the Israelites' faith was tested; national apostasy produced gradual neglect of this compassionate law, and was punished by retribution in kind (Leviticus 26:34-35); after the captivity it was revived. The gleanings, the grainers of the field, and the forgotten sheaf and remaining grapes and olives, were also the poor man's right; and perhaps a second tithe every third year (Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 14:28; Deuteronomy 26:12; Amos 4:4). The fruit of newly planted trees was not to be eaten for the first three years, in the fourth it was holy as firstfruits, and on the fifth eaten commonly.