Page 70 - Arabian Studies (I)

56 A rab ian S tuclies I
month from the [time of the] beginning of its scatter-sowing it
stands in the ground for four months.’
In al-Ishdrah he said: ‘It is sown only in places watered by
gharb-buckets, and its ears come up small and round with separate
extremities shaped like finger-nails, its grains being very small and
much harder than Hamra’ [Red] millet. Harvesting it comes four
months after it has been sown, its heads being plucked by hand [with
a twist of the wrist], and whenever any is plucked more appears after
it - one comes and goes to [pluck] it four times in the space of a
month like bulrush-millet [dukhn). Moreover, in Tihamah, when it is
watered repeatedly, on a single stalk there will be up to fifty or sixty
heads, taken bit by bit. It is exposed to the sun on the
threshing-floor until it dries, and beaten out with flails. Know this
and understand.’

7. The seventh species is lucerne (qadb).

In al-Isharah193 he said, God rest him: ‘The ground is prepared well
as it is prepared for madder, 1 9 4 and in it is great fortune [barakah],
for with watering and manure it lasts up to ten years. As often as it
puts forth [new growth] whatever is above [the surface of] the
ground is cut off, and it is irrigated, then the best there is is cut. What
most harms it is that the ground and places where it grows should be
pastured over. The time for sowing it is throughout the year except
the days of autumn [kharif] and much rain - for this weakens it and
makes it muddy.’
In Milh al-malahahl 9 s he said: ‘Through preparation of the land
by ploughing, dunging, and flattening with the scraper-board 1 9 6 it is
cleared of scrub, wabal-weed, 1 9 6 and grass. When the ground is right
for it and one wants to sow it (the ground) one takes the lucerne-
seed — with which a like quantity of soil or fine sand is mixed — and
scatter-sows it by hand in uninterrupted sequence 1 9 7 in such a way
that there will be ten grains under one’s foot. There are some people
1 who scatter-sow barley and 'alas-wheat over it. When scatter-sowing
it is completed it is ploughed over gently till it is covered with earth.
The ground is divided up into plots, and the bund (enclosing) the
ground is raised using an iron mattock so as to retain water. When
the laying out of plots is finished the ground is irrigated with
water, I 9 8 plot by plot, without breaching a hole in (any) plot (i.e. so
that water does not flow from plot to plot). After the watering one
leaves it until it sprouts, then, after eight days, repeats the water­
ing over it, continuing to water it when it needs watering, until
the ears of the barley or ‘ato-wheat appear. It is cut along with
the lucerne by cropping it close to the ground with the (fretted) 1 9 9

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