Page 55 - Arabian Studies (I)

The Cultivation of Cereals in Mediaeval Yemen 41

streams half-way through TishrTn I (29 October), sowing of it
continuing untilJthc middle of Tishrin II (28 November), this being
the best of Wasm/Wism wheat, and it too is harvested after three and
a half months. A sowing of it called Qiyad6 9 is sown in the places
watered by running streams, this coming after the millet-harvest,
from the beginning of the winter (shit(7) season, in Kanun I
(14 December) up to Kanun 11(14 January-), standing three months
and then being harvested.
Another (variety) of wheat is ‘Arab!70 which is white and fine of
grain, the places for sowing it being the cold districts. It is sown at
the beginning of the month of HazTran (14 June-), and continues
being sown until the first of summer (saif) time, i.e. when the sun
falls in the Zodiacal sign of Cancer (23 June). This is the time in the
mountains and mountainous districts for sowing it as surah67
(autumn cropping) — it stands four months and is then harvested In
Milh/Mulah al-malahah11 he said: ‘Some may be sown there72
(though) rarely, following the uY/s/w~-rain, it being called Ditha’ in
the Sabir country73 and some regions of the Mikhlaf.74 Some called
'aqar (rain-land)75 may be sown in the mountains of al-Sha‘ir,
al-Haqul, al-Shawaft, and districts adjoining them. All that consists of
winter (shita’) sowings according to the amount of wasml-nun
occurring that year. It is the weakest variety of wheat.
lialha is another (variety) of wheat. In al-Isharah he said: ‘It has
short thick white grains without a husk as there is upon the other
varieties of wheat. The places where it is sown are (the same as) those
where ‘Arab! wheat is sown, but it is sown at the close of the sowing
of ‘Arab! wheat, half-way through HazTran (28 June), standing three
and a half months and then being harvested.’
Another (variety) is HabashT (? Abyssinian). In al-Isharah he said:
‘Its grain is middling between long and short, white and red, while in
quality it stands somewhere between ‘Arab! and WasnT/WisnT, there
being a type of it called Samra’ [brown].76 Sowing of it commences
half-way through HazTran [28 June] as the sun falls in the Zodiacal
sign of Cancer, and the last [sowings] are up to the [first] of
Tammuz [ 14 July].’
The way wheat is sown, as he says in Milh al-malahah.11 is ‘that
the ground is ploughed three or four times, or (even) more than that,
in accordance with the goodness or poorness of the land and its
hardness or softness. It is manured with good manure and ploughed
over, that which is watered by running streams being levelled so that
it may be irrigated evenly and the water settle in it evenly covering
all of the ground. What is watered by rain-water requires no levelling.
When the time for sowing comes it is sown by hand-scatter while the
ground is moist from rain — yet without being runny7 8 from heavy