Agriculture

The extraordinary fertility of the soil rendered agriculture in one sense an easy matter. The land uncovered after the inundation would produce easily three or four succe ive crops. But a great amount of irrigation was nece ary in order to bring the later crops to perfection. For this the Shadoof (q.v.) was largely used, and men also carried two pots attached to a yoke over the shoulders. The implements in use in ancient times were very much like those still used by the *Fellahin*. The clumsy wooden plough was attached to the horns of a yoke of oxen. The hoes were of wood, with broad blades and short handles. The seed having been sown, it was then trampled into the stiff muddy soil by sheep being driven over it. The corn when ripe was cut with a small sickle, not near the earth, but just under the ears. The sickle is in most cases short-handled, slightly curved and made of wood, set with flint teeth, so that the proce of reaping must have been one of sawing rather than cutting. As soon as the corn was cut, the tax collector came to gather the official tenth before the grain was stored. The "treading out the corn" was most frequently done by donkeys under the Old Empire, but later, oxen were usually employed. Barley and wheat are both represented on the monuments, and occasionally a crop which is in all probability the modern *dhurra*. This crop was pulled up by the roots, and the heads separated from the stalks by a peculiar implement that looks like a comb. Vegetables must also have been extensively cultivated, since they figure so largely among the offerings. Vines and olive trees were also grown, the former being trained over trellises supported by forked poles. Certain papyri and tomb inscriptions give most doleful accounts of the hard life and miserable condition of the agricultural labourer. This poverty is not nece arily to be attributed to harsh treatment from their superiors, but rather to their own improvidence.