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. ' The Jewish Agency for Palestine
Institute
of
Agriculture
and
Natural History
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
B u l l e t i n 10.
THE FELLAH'S FARM
by
I. Elazari-Volcani
Director Agr icultural Exper iment Station .
Tel-Aviv, September
1930.
r
\ \
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i
. " The Jewish Agency for Palestine
Institute of Agriculture and Natural H istory
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
B u l l e t i n 10.
THE FELLAH'S FARM
by
I. Elazari-Volcani
Director Agricultural Experiment Station.
Tel-Aviv, September 1930.
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mi
torn the Hebrew
•oel-Hazair Printing Press;
«Zincography M.Plkovsky.
P R E F A C E .
This monograph, of which the descriptive chapters were
published in Hebrew in the year 1928, is intended both as a sequel
to the study which preced ed it on "The Transitio n from Primitive
to Modern Agricu lture," and as an introduction to a series of
studies of vario us types of farms in the grain belt of Pale stine.
Some of these studies have already been published in H ebrew,
while others are now ready for the press.
The chief types of farms in que stion ar e: the grain farm,
the dairy farm, the farm in transitio n, and the mono cultural
modern farm. Descriptions of these types are given not for the
sake of description per se, but as bases for analytical comparison
between them. Certain tendencies and factors are em phasized,
some points being described in detail; while others, which are
not required for the purpose in mind, are passed over more
summarily.
The tendency in P alestin ian agricu lture is to chang e from old
forms to new. The function of the transformation process is the
uprooting of what is bad in the old m etho ds and the abso rbin g
what is good from the new ones. But the reality is not always
so exact. Uprooting wh at is bad in the old is apt to involve
the uprooting of the goo d at the sam e time. N ot everyth ing
new that supersedes the old is beneficial, and often it happens
that discrimina tion ^is not exercise d. We find at times within
III
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the old methods, which are base d on ancient traditions, worth-
while elements meriting use in the accepted new systems. The
ideal practice is to seek out the good elem ents in both tradition
and modern practice, and to amalgamate them.
When agriculture is found in a transitional phase , two
factors are at work, namely, mec hanics and biology. The first
—
mechanics replaces primitive implements by complicated machi-
nery. The second involves the improvement of breeds and seeds,
increased productivity of the soil by the use of manure and fertilizer
and increase of returns by changes in the cropping system. The
first method requ ires a consid erable investm ent of capita l, b ut
the second can b e. introduced gradually, at a small cost, and
withou tsudd en and radical c hanges. The problem here is: in how
far can a primitive farm be improved during its early transition
stages by the use of biological methods alone, which do not
require sums to be invested beyond the means of the primi-
tive cultivator, a nd which do not sudde nly force him out of
his accustomed habits and methods of work.
These problems are not peculiar to Palestine alone, but
apply to ail Oriental countries. In many respects Palestine may
be regard ed as a field of investigation and resea rch. Within
its bord ers, the oldest of the old and the newest of the new
cross each other 's pa ths : traditions going back thousa nds of
years operate side by side with the latest technical achieve-
ments. Therefore, Palestine can play the same part in agricul-
tural econ om ics as an experim ent field does in agricultura l
technique, the results being intended not only for its own
benefit, but for application to agriculture on a large scale.
. This mono graph deals with economic and technical pro -
blems only. Prob lems of agrarian policy and credit will be
dealt with in a special study.
I
In gathering data on which to base a scientific inquiry
into the fellah's farming, peculiar hindrances are met with. The
fellah is suspi cious of everyone who tries to pum p information
out of him. H is crops will increase or- diminish acc ordin g to
the supposed identity of his questioner. If the latter is suspec-
ted of being a Governm ent tax collector, th e yield will shrink to
less than n othing . But if he is imagine d to be a pros pec tive
purchaser of land or a bank agent, the crops will exceed any-
thing to be expected from the most fertile re gion s. The facts
chan ge in the twinkling of an eye. In a certain instan ce, one
que stion ing a fellah in this regard replied to him, "If the
crop s are so small, we canno t allow you the credits we had
intended." Whereu pon a second fellah promptly appe ared upon
the scene, and pushing the first aside as a "du nce ," assev era-
ted that the yield was three or fourfold as large.
The figures given in the present study are derived from
*he following direct sources:
1. The Palestine Land Development Company had large
• tracts of land in the Valley of Jezreel which were work ed by
tenant farmers until transferred to the new colonists. The th resh-
ing floor and the fields were supervised by watchmen in the
•employ of the Company, and an exact record of the crops was
kept from year to year. The re cord s of ten yea rs (1914—1923)
for an area .of 10,000 dun am s which were cultivate d by 50 or
QO tenant farmers, have here been summarized. Mr. Yochevedson-
Pevsner, chief superviser of this district, h anded these reco rds
•to the author each year, together with n otes of his obse rva-
tions of the habits and customs of the tenant farmers.
2. The farms of Ben-Shemen and H uldah, w hich were
adm inistered by the author from 1909 to 1919, were like sma ll
IV
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islands of modernity amon g the fellah farms. Th e fellah s'
threshing floors were close beside our bounda ries, and it wa s
possible to determine the yield of their threshing floors exactly.
Records of observations were made each year. Experiments-
were also made with the me thod s of fellah cultivation . Du ring
the War, because the farm anim als had been requisitioned, Ben
Shemen was obliged to lease p art of its land in the Jiills to fel-
lahs. These fields continued to be supervised by the farm, and
exact recor ds were kept of their crop s. A similar sou rce of
information was the settlement of Beer-Tuviah, where a group
of labou rers w orked "under the direction of the w riter.
3.
Good relations with the Arab neighbours at the places-
mentioned facilitated the gathe ring of data. The fellahs un de r-
stood th at the q uestion ers had no motive but to study conditions-
and to devise meth ods of increas ing the yield. Fo r the first
time they saw the marvel of how the "sowing of salt increases
the crops." For many years the writer 's as sistants gathered data-
in various parts of the country.
4. At the Experiment Station atGe vath, the Division of Rural
Econo mics co-op erated with the Division of Agron omy on an.
area of 250 dunams, which was divided into economic units. One
of these, com prising 60 du nam s, was turned over for cultiv ation
to a fellah from a nearby v illage, and special re cord s w ere kep t
of the results over a period of five years.
In describing the working methods of the fellah, the writer
has relied on his own direct ob serv ation s. The references to-
ancient Jewish folklore are drawn from the Talmud
•
and other
primary so urce s, while those bearing on fellah folklore are all
based on
Prof.
Gustav Dalmann's latest book, entitled "Arb eit
und Sitten in Palastina."
VI
The author wishes to express his thanks to Mr. Yo che-
vedson -Pevsne r, and to Mr. Klivaner, assistan t in the Division
of Agronomy, for their constant aid in the assem bling of ma -
terial ; to Mr. Kostrinsky
r
assistant in the Division of Agronomy
at Gevath, for keeping the rec ord s; to- Mr. Ezrahi-Krishevsky,
meteorologist of the Egyptian Government, for working up the
meteorological data; and to Messrs. Sussman, assistant in the
Division of Rural Economics, and Rosolio, secretary of the
Institute, for their aid in arranging the statistical material.
Agricultural Experiment Station
Division of Rural Economics.
Tel-Aviv, Palestine
July 1930.
I . Elazari-Volcani.
VII
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1
1
CONTENTS
Page-
Chapter On e: Waiting for the rain 1
The ra iny season
, .
> 2
Ancient cus toms surviving at the p r e s e n t day . . 10-
C h a p t e r
Two :
S e a s o n s
of
a g r i c u l t u r a l w o r k ,
16
Season
of
sowing
18
;
The harves t seasou 23
C h a p t e r T h r e e
:
C r o p p i n g s y s t e m
29
Shelef and k e r a b 29'
The kerabs according to the i r impor tance . . . . 31
C h a p t e r F o u r :
Th e
h a r m o n i o u s s t r u c t u r e
. . . . . . 39'
E x t e r n a l a p p e a r a n c e and s t r u c t u r e 40
Inves tment capi ta l
43
Income and e x p e n d i t u r e 49
C h a p t e r F i v e : The way of life of the fe l lah 51
1.
The
fe l lah 's working
day . 51
2. Size of f a r m s 54
3
The
household
of the
fellah
57
4.
Th'e
comm unal organisa t ion
59
C h a p t e r Six : The F e l l a h ' s f a r m u n d e r e x p e r i m e n t . . . 05
Plan
of
e x p e r i m e n t s
70
Types of f a r m s u n d e r e x p e r i m e n t 74
E e s u l t s
of
e x p e r i m e n t s
in
fields
of the
feilah
. . 83
Resul ts of e x p e r i m e n t s in modern farming . . . 90-
C h a p t e r S e v e n : / M o d e r n i s i n g th e f e l l a h ' s f a r m . . . . 97
Fi rs t t rans i tory s tages
in
modernisation,
of a
pr imi t ive farm
97
I m p r o v i n g
the
fe l lah ' s fa rm wi th
his
p r e s e n t
i n s t r u m e n t s of product ion 107
Modernis ing the fellah's farm in accord wi th
geographica l d is t r ibut ion
of
f a n n i n g s y s t e m s
. 116-
The sums requ i red for the i m p r o v e m e n t of
the fe l lah ' s fa rm
123-
IX
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TABLES.
Page
1. Seasonal rainfall . Monthly means in millimetres . . . . 11
2. Mean tempe rature 12
3.
Calendar of operation on a fellah's farm (80 -10 0 dun.) . 19
4.
Calendar of operations on an Arab farm in different seasons 20
5. A. Chemical analyses 20
B.
Mechanical analyses 20
6. System of farming and specified crop returns of Arab tenants 33
7. System of farming and. specified crop ret urns of selected
Arab tenants 34
8. System of farming and classified crop returns of Arab tenants 41
9. System of farming and specified crop return s of selected
Arab tenants 42
10. Eetu rns of Arab tenant farmer in Yalley of Jezree l . . 45
11. Returns of selected Arab tenant farms 46
12. A. Income and expenditure of a 12 feddan farm in Galilee 55
B. Income and expenditure per feddan 55
13.
System of fanning and crop returns on various types of
Arab farms . 5G
14 .
Income and expenditure in various types of Arab farms . 56
15. Rainfall at Gevatli Experim ent Station 71
16. Calendar of operation in Arab farming experiments, Agr.
Exp. Station Gevath 85
17. "Working days. A. "Wheat exper imen tal field at Gevatli
(Arab farming) . -.
B.
Durra experimental field at Gevath
(Arab fanning) . S6-87
18. Income and expenditure of Arab farm under experim ent
in Gevath 88
19. Retu rns per dunam on experimen tal plots, Arab farming 88
20 .
Comparative expenditure of different types of farms . . 109
21 . Standard of living on farms in transitory stage in different
settlements 110
22 .
Areas, seeds and yields in Tel-Adass 117
23.
Cash income and expenditure and net farm income at
Tel-Adass 118-119
24 . Density of population in Palestine 123
ILLUSTRATIONS.
facing
• page
At the spr ing . . . f ront i sp iece
Arab vi l lage in the h i l ly count ry XI I
Arab vi l lage in the p la in XI I
"Water wh eel ("Sakia") . 1
Wate r ing goats . • 1
Pales t ine ra infa l l map 8
Map of Pale stine soils 9
Mending the p lough 16
Fi rs t p loughing 16
Prepa r ing the seed bed and sowing 17
H a r v e s t o f w h e a t 2 4
Loading • 24
F e e d i n g s t u b b l e s 2 5
F i r s t t h r e s h i n g w i t h a n i m a ls 2 8
Threshing wi th the threshing board 28
Fina l threshing wi th animals 29
Yiew of the threshin g f loor 29
Bam ia field 32
Durr a f ie ld 32
S e s am e f ie ld . 3 3
"Water melo n field 33
Making sun-dr ied br icks 40
Bin for chopped s t raw 40
Making mud oven for na t ive bread 41
"W innow ing t h e g r a in cro p . . . . . . . . 4 8
"Winnowing and sacking 49
Fel lah adobe hut 56
B e do ui n h u t of m a tt in g a a d b r a nc h e s . . . . 5 6
F e l la h e e n d w e lling h o u se . . . . . . . . . 57
Bedouin tent , the wife making but te r 57
Arab ploug h . . . . '. 64
A n c i e n t H e b r e w p l o u g h 6 5
Modif ied H ebre w plough 65
H oeing sesame . . 72
Sesam e threshing f loor 72
XI
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Heap.-of • durra . . . ; . . 7 5
Sioving grain 1'i
T h e f e l l a h c o m i n g
t o
w o r k
8' 2
S o w i n g s e s a m e w i t h a f u n n e l 8 2
W h e a t f i e ld w i t h o u t f e r t i l i z e r . . . ' . . . . 8 5
W h e a t f i e l d f e r t i l i z e d 8 3
F e l l a h , w h e a t f i e l d ,
a t
G e v a t h
. . . ; . ; . . . . 8 8
W h e a t f i e ld f o l l o w i n g g r e e n m a n u r e . . . . . 8 8 -
S o w i n g i n s t r i p s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9
C u l t i v a t e d f a l lo w . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . -
:
8 9 - .
M o d e r n i s i n g , a g r i c u l t u r e - . . . . - . , . . - . . . . 9 6 -
H a r v e s t i n g w i t h b i n d e r
. . . . : . , . - : . ' . . .
- 9 7
•
T h r e s h i n g w i t h m a c h i n e . . . . . . - . . . . 97
G a u l a n b r e e d c o w . . . . 1 0 4
C r o s s b r e d c o w , A r a b a n d D u t c h . . . . . .. . 1 0 4
Grossbred cow, Arab an d Dutch . , . . , . . .•
Crossbred co w , Beyrouth au d Fr iesian .. „•
Crossbred
cow,
Beyrouth
an d
Fr iesian
. . .
Crossbred co w , Beyrouth an d F r i e s i an . . . ..
Pasturing sheep on the hiUs of Ben Shemen
Carob. grove on the hills of Ben Shemen .
Suggested geographical distribution
of the-
-
•
I';
farming systems
iu
P a l es t i n e .
. . . . . . .
Comparative values of principal crop
(1 ^ retu rns in Palestine . . . . . . . .
Old carob tree on rocky ground . -. . , -
104
.
105-
1 Q 5 -
1 0 5 -
112 -
-113-.-
-.
12 0
-121
12 4
Garob. planted
on
rocky ground
• . . 124
Rock}:
ground before planting • . . 12 5 •
Xoung orchard on terraced rocky ground
;
.:.-. ,. 12j>
XII
V-
I ' . -
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Water wheel ("Sakia")
Watering goats
THE FELLAH'S FARM
For the land whither thou goe'st in to possess,
•
it'i s not as the land: of- E gypt from whence;y,e' came
:
out; w here thou sdwedst thy- see d' and: wateredst
it'with thy foot, as. a; garden of herbs..-; - >• .'; ,•
:
V But:the land whither: ye go topo sse ss it is'
a,land,. of,hills and valley, a nd. drinketh water of
the rain of. heaven.
'A' land which the Lord thy God careth for*,
the'eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon-it
from th e beg inning of the< yea r
;.everi
unto-the-end
" o L t h e y e a r . . : ".•;;;;;•••••••-•. \; .. .
r
" ' : . : . ; ; ; : . • >
[Deut , XI, 10-1 2] - . . . . .
C h a p t e r 0 n e . '
WAITING FOR THE RAIN.
The ancient H ebrews used to divide the year into two de-
finite period s — the seaso n of the rain and the seaso n of the
sun, This division corresponds to the character of the country,
which has no
:
transition periods of any length, like spring
and autumn in other countries. F rom the.middle';of: Gh.eshvan
(October)
:
to-.the m iddle of
1
Nisan (April),-, rain:
.fall's:
at intervals-
for .about- forty-or 1ifty
;
days, and
1
to ;an"> amou nt-., of;.from five
v hundred- to- six-hundred" millim etres. For- seven m onths-the-.cou ntry
s
is <
:
dry-without-a' dro p; of»rain,'.and"the:Isun-- reigns Isuplreme.'.In
1
-
the 'Jordan - -Valley' the- rainy- d ays'.are; fewer,:the: rainfall
less,:
an d
th e
:
day s"of/h ot sunshine^-more; numerous.' . In the.Negeb the rain-
fall only am oun ts.to. from two;to three;hundred millimetres ' , and-
even this- is not regular e very year. • Years of d rought in that
distri ct are- noth ing unusual.". ' : :
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Summer winds.
— The summer heat is tempered by winds
that blow regularly from the sea from morning to even ing. The
soil as it becomes heated in the course of the day causes the
layer of air upon it to rise, and the cool,air from the sea rushes
in to fill its place. In the night the proc ess is reve rsed. The
earth cools more rapidly than the surface of the sea, and air
curren ts are borne from it in the direction of the sea. Th us
nature mak es provisio n for alleviating the toil of the day and
1or assurin g the repo se of the night. In the mou ntain region
and in the plain which is open to the sea these air currents
sail along in the shape of light breezes in their two contrary
directions. The prophet also refers to the "dry wind on the
high plac es" (Jer., IV, 11). In the valley and in the clefts in
the m ountains, and especially in the valleys of the Jordan, these
wind s rage as if they were trying to break out of a prison ,
swirling round and round and raising clouds of dust. The
burning east wind which blows from the Arabian desert for a
few days in the year is not opp ressiv e in the winter, bu t is
exceedingly oppressive in the spring and summer, raising the
temperature to 35-46°C.
The rainy season.
— The rainy season is the time of w ater
storage for animals and plants. The inhabitants of the moun -
tain region dig cisterns in the rock for reservo irs, and the wa -
ters collected during the few rainy days in a d eep hole, protec-
ted by the cover of a thick stone, supply man and beast du-
ring the whole long summer p eriod. The F ellah stores up the
rain in the layers of the soil itself all over his fields for the
nourishing of his summer cr ops by breaking up its surface with
his light plough and laying it open tolhe rain, by preparing a
good tilth before sowing, and by breaking up all the hard su r-
face which forms after th e later rain s. Summ er plants do not
see a sing le dro p of rain d uring the w hole four month s of their
growth . Only the heavy dew w hich falls at nignt
them. On an average, dew falls on 64 out of 92 summ er day s
(about
2
/s). In the Jord an v alley there is no dew e ither, and its
produ cts, such as sesam e, do not thrive in unirrigated fields. Th us
the loose layer (mulch) formed by the light "nail plough" pro-
tects-
the moisture stored in the ground against excessive eva-
poration and preserves it for the benefit of the plant, just as the
stone protects the water in reservoir for living creatures to drink.
The features of the soil.
— The soil of the plain, w hich is
light and easy to till, forms a comparatively short and quite
narrow stretch extending parallel to the coast from Caesare a in
the North to the village of Khan Yunnis in the South, its other
side being formed b y a zigzag line following the chain of the
mountains. The soil of the Negeb which borders with the sou th-
ern desert is also not heavy. On the other han d the who le of
the plain and all the valleys are composed of heavy soil. The
Shep helah , most of Sha ron, the plain of Acre, the Valley of
Jezreel, Upper and Lower Galilee, and the Valley of the Jordan—
the soil of all th ese contains from thirty-five to forty perce nt
of clay. When this soil is very moist it bec ome s highly c om -
pact; it sticks to the plough, dulling its edge, and the clod s
turned up by the plough hang on to one another and becom e
solid block s. Trying to walk over this heavy grou nd after rain
is like putting on bo ots of clay which grow thicker at every
step until by their weigh t they chain the wayfarer to the spo t.
On the other hand, when this ground is dried by the summe r
heat, it becomes as hard as brick*).
During the last four months of the summ er the grou nd
has a gloomy and. morose appearance. The blazing sun extracts
from it the last remna nts of moisture which are stored in it
from the rainy seaso n. T he surface of the groun d yaw ns and
splits into clefts, like a tree split by the heat after it ha s lost
•) See table 5 p. 20.
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another and above medium in a third. On a ou,uuu
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them, not merely is all this water lost, but it lays the plan ts
flat, it carries away the superficial layer which has been tilled
and fertilised, and spoils whole portions of the fields. Par ti-
cularly severe damage is done by the torrential rains in a low
country when they sw eep down from the moun tains. Neither
the ground hardened by the heat of summ er nor the groun d
moistened in the middle of the winter can absorb the rain ex-
cept when it comes down gently and is distributed over a long
period. The ground receives more benefit from a rainfall of
four hundred mm s. distributed over a long period than from six
hundred coming in heavy falls and at short intervals.
The "M alko sh" is the latter rain. When it comes as it
should do, it fails in a peculiar way, in straight lines as if
with a plummet. Sometim es the large drops catch the rays of
the sun and assum e a peculiar colour. Th e latter rain also
comes down with a special rhythm, the drops seeming to dance
upon the ground.
Distribution of rain. — Marked differences in the rainfall
are observe d even in one district and in places distant only a
few miles from one a nother . Sometim es the clouds will pa ss
over the fields of one v illage and pour their blessing upon
those of another close by, so that what is a good year for one
may in certain cases be a bad year for the other.
The precipitation, rain and dew, may sometimes differ in
one and the same district as regards quantity or seasona l d istri-
bution to s uch an extent as to decide the character of the farm
and of crop rotatio ns, whether there is to be cereal farming,
dairying, summ er kerab- or black fallow. On a tract totalling
30,000 dunam s, for instanc e, within the Nu ris Block, it h as
seemed necessa ry, at any rate for the present, to introdu ce three
systems of cro p rotation s. At one spot, indeed , just be fore
Beit Shan, summer crops are scanty, while they are medium in
tract in. central E sdraelon , between N ahalal and Afuleh, the
harvests vary not only because of the difference in the holding
capacity of the soil but because of the difference in precip itation.
In" one place clover will give three crops, in another one or
perhaps two, and not too abundan t at that. Nor must it be
forgotten that the keeping of cows for dairying depend s to a
considerable degree on the success of the clover crop.
The withholding of rain is one of the wor st plagues of
the country. The period of growth is thereby shortene d. T he
months of Tebeth and Shebat (January and February) are the
coldest in the year, and- growth is particularly delayed by the
cold of the nights. The success of the crop depends upon the
lenght of the period allowed for growth, and is conditioned by
the time when the cold comes —whether when the plants have
already m anaged to strike root and can therefore resist the
cold, or whether it attacks them when they are still ten der.
Sowing at the end of Cheshvan (Novem ber) allow s the plants
time for developm ent before the cold nights of Tebet h (January)
come. Late sowing falls just in the cold tim e. The lack of latter
rain as a rule b odes evil. If there was not much rain in the
winter time, the winter plants will not find enough moisture for
their sustenance. The ground splits under them and rends
asunder the bed of their roots, and even thos e that are left of
them are as it were imprisoned in thick clods, and in this way
they are cut off from their sources of sustenance. A rainy year
also hampers their development because the upper layer of soil
becomes dry in any case, and the stalks on which the sun
beats from above are not able to draw sufficient moisture from
below, and the conse quence is that as they have no opportunity
to swell out they become shrivelled and stunted, when they are
full-grown, even if the stalk in its early stages reaches a fair height.
• ? •••
m
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Prayers for rain.
— The rains themselves are divided
into falls — first, sec ond and third. The Heb rew w ord for this—
"reb iah " — itself sym bolises the fructification of the earth w hen
it comes into contact with the rain. In the days of He rod — so
we are told — rain used to co me dow n in the n ight, then in the
morning the wind blew, the clouds scattered, the sun came out
and the earth d ried. In the good days, according to the Talmud,
the rain used to come on Wedn esday and Saturday. The rain
used
to
come down in the night, and the next day the wind
would blow, the clouds scattered and the sun cam e out, and
everyone arose to his work, thus showing that they were doing
the work of He aven. Th e Rab bis say that since the day of the
destruction of the Temp le the rains have not come dow n from
the "good storeho use." In ancient times fasts were decreeded
on accou nt of the delay of the rainfall. If the seventee nth of
March eshvan (Novem ber) arrived and rain had not yet fallen,
the students of the Beth-H amidrash alone used to fast Monday,
Thursday, and Monday. If the New Moon of Kislev (December)
arrived and rain had not yet fallen, the Beth-Din ordered the
whole community to fast three days, Monday, Thursd ay and
Mond ay. If these went by and there was still no answer, tne
Beth-Din ordered three more fasts, Monday, Thursday and
Monday. During the whole time of these three fasts.they were
forbidden to do work by day, to do more business than was
absolutely n eces sary, to build or to plant, and to give gree tings
to one an other ; they were to be like men who were in disgrace
with the Almigh ty. If Nisan (April) came and the sun reach ed
the. beginning of the constella tion of the Ox, they did not fast
any more, because rain at that season was nothing but a curse,
seeing that it had not come down since the beginning of the year.
On each day of the seven last fasts, following service of
prayer- used to be observe d. Th e Ark was brough t out into the
30 '
JO»
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Palestine SoiLs
pieludino tljp mountains
bu f.
Act. £xp. JiA. TeL-Avi . p,ifstine.
Red Ijtauu
oa
mu sail
tfed Loamu sanclu jo ic
•'///\ CaLcafiaui-ioamu mil o^itjt Platn
f DoUan
j"aMj
Loamy
s o i l
?3£ -public square, and all the people collected there, wearin g sack -
•cloth. They put ashe s on the Ark and on the Sefer Tora h in
order to increase their sorrow and to humble their hearts. One
• of the peop le to ok some of the ashe s and put it on the head of
the Nasi and of the Ab-beth-din in the place where the Tefihn
rested, so that they should feel sham e an d repent, and each
•one took and place d some on his own head. After that they
used to call on a «ZakSn" and "Chacham" to rise among them
while they sat ; if there was not among them one who was both
«Chacham" and «Zaken" they called on a «Chacham"; if there
was neither «Zaken" no r « Chacha m" they called on one with a
good presence. He addressed to them words of reproof as fol-
l ows :
«My brethren, it is not sackc loth an d not fasting that will
produce the desired effect, but repentance and good deeds; for
so we find in the case of the men of Nineveh that it is not said
•'and God saw their sackcloth and their fasting', but 'God saw
their deed s.' " After this one had finished his ad mo nition, they
stood up in prayer and appointed as a reader one who was
fitted to pray on these fasts. And this is the kind of man who
was fitted to pray: one who was well versed in prayer and
practised in the reading of the Torah, the Prophe ts and the
Writings; one with several young children and no money, but
who did hard work in the field; one who did not count a bad
• -character among his sons or the occupants of his house or all
his relatives who were connected with him, but whose house was
free from sin; one who never had a ba d name in his early day s;
a man of humility and well liked by the public , and one who
had a good v oice and could sing tun es. If with all these qua li-
ties he was a « Zake n" as well, he suited perfectly; if he
was not a «Zaken", since he had these qualities, he was
fitted to pray. After pra yers a ll the peop le went out to the ce-
metery and prayed there. If rain began to fall while they were
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even to-day. The signs of the times may have changed, but not
the times themselves, nor yet the not ions of the times. "El
Vusmi", nothingelse than a translation of the idea of Yore (early
rain) as it s tands in Saadya the Sage, exists in the every-day
speech of the Fellah. They distinguish between the first early
rain beginn ing five da ys before the festival of St. George in
Lydda, and the latter early rains coming a fortnight later. "The
Yore in its time" falls on that very days, i. e. from the 3rd to
the 16th of November . The entire of period lasts from October
18 to November 18, roughly co rresponding to the month of
Heshvan, or its 8th day, as it was fixed in the Mishnaic period.
When the skies withhold their blessings, they try to bring them
down by prayers and supplications, by cries, exhortations, and
sacrifices. Each district has its local rites. The re may be a
procession of girls in the twilig ht after the evening meal, be ating
empty petrol tins containing pebbles, in. order to make even
more noise. They knock
at the
doors
of the
houses ,
and are
sprinkled with water.
An old
woman marches before them,
a
handmill
on her
head,
on top of
which
a
rooster shut
in a
basket crows lustily
to
call forth divine compassion.
A
pitcher
of water occasionally replaces
the
hand-mill.
A
white cock
an d
a
black
hen are
carried along
and
beaten
at
intervals
so
that] they may cry all the louder. Grain and flour sifters are
carried on the head to symbolise the famine threatening man
and beast. Sometimes an old woman riding a donkey backwards
and carrying an infant grinds an empty hand-mill. These figures
are meant to personify innocence. The old woman can no
longer do wrong, while the infant has not yet tasted sin. The
rooster represents the domestic animals.
Elsewhere they carry an effigy thro ugh the streets, water
being sprinkled thereon from within the houses . The effigy is
dressed like a woman. It is made like a cross , a pitch fork
13
12
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C h a p t e r T w o .
SEASONS OF AGRICULTURAL WORK.
The festivals of Israel are fixed for the most part accord-
ing to the seas ons of ag ricultural lab ou r: the countin g of the
Omer from the feast of Pass over, the feast of first fruits, and
the feast of in-gathe ring. No w a s of old the work of the thresh-
ing floor finishes in the farm of the Fellah at the end of Tishri
(October). From harvest time to in-gathering man and beast
pass from the confinement of the clay hut to the unconfined
threshing-floo r under the open sky. Tha t is then where life
throbs both by day and night. The harvest pa sses, the summer
ends, the threshing finishes, and the threshing floor is emptied
of living creatu res and the last remna nts of prod uce. Th en
commences the great work of household renovation, the women
taking comm and. It is they who gather dry grass in the fields
and bring it hom e on their shou lders, w ho m ix mud for mortar
and crush to powder the animal dung when it has been dried..
A mixture of these m aterials with stubble serves for plaste ring
the roofs and the wa lls. Under the diligent han ds of the wom en
the walls are clothed with new coats of plaster. The low co ne-
shaped straw-stacks are renovated with a new coat of moist
plaster. The men after the hard work of the threshing-flo or
now sit with their han ds folded and cha t idly, raisin g the while
their eyes to heaven- app eaiin gly; for w ithout the early rain the-
husbandman cannot go out to his work in the field.
The first rain.— Th e first early rain which deserv es the
name m oistens the soil to a depth of about 20 m ms . It is oniy
16
• / :
Meudiug the plough
First ploughing
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then that the Fe llah can begin to open up the field. Th e work
commences with a proce ssion of
the.
elder s of the village to the
field to measure out to each one his portion. The measurement
is made with an ox-goad about two and a half metres long, or
with a rope. They then fix the individual plots, the plot 'ex-
tending the length of the field to which each Fe llah is ass ig-
ned with a breadth of one to three ox-goads . When the mea-
surement has been finished, the time of ploughing beg ins. The
plough of the Fe llah is light, corre spo ndin g to his beast. The
combined strength of the two of them cann ot make so much
as a deep scratch in the dry soil left by the harvest, m uch less
peel off the crust of the groun d. Cons equently as a rule the
Fellah does not p lough the ground as it is left after the harves t,
but only after the rain has fallen. He is practically compelled
to do this by the nature of his implem ents and the composition
of his soil, which for the most part is heavy. Only where the
dry ground left after the harvest is light the Fe llah does not
wait for the rain to open his field. In such place s there are
some who even so w before the early rain (Afir). M any, how ever,
wait with their sowing till the rain comes not only because be-
fore then it is impo ssible to sow, but also to allow time for
the sprouting of the we eds , which they can destroy with the
ploughing, thus assuring the cultivated plants against the attacks
of the noxious ones.
Opening furrows.
- The opening up of the field is done
with rough plough ing. Th e furrows are open and are u sually
distant 20 centimetres from one another. T he ob ject of this is to
open up the tight ground to the penetratio n of the rain, which
will be retained in the open furrow and so water the smo oth
surface. Ground w hich is plough ed finely with narrow and clo se
furrows is not so receptive of the rain as w hen it is ploughed
with open furrows.
17
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Season of sowing. — The time of sowing is when the rain
penetrates to such a depth that the plough does not touch dry
ground . Winter plants, viz. beans, karsena, and early lentils,
barley and wheat, are sown by broadc asting over the open
furrows. The plough is then passed crosswise over the field so
as to cover over the seeds which have been sown with a fine
ploughing, with narrow and close furrows. The ancient H ebrews
distinguished between rough ploughing and fine ploughing, be-
tween the furrows for open ing and furrows for sowing, between
ploughing after the harvest and ploughing after the rains. These
ancien t term s are preserv ed in the lang uage of the fellah till
the present day, to denote his operations.
System of ploughing.
— The Arab plough is like the ancient
Hebrew plough. The latter, however, seems to have been more
comp licated. Its distinguishing characteristic is that it cuts the
surface soil and does not turn it up. It perform s, very slowly it is
true, but very thoroughly, all the functions for which a combi-
nation of m odern machines is required — a plough, a roller and
a harrow. Its great virtues are that it does not bring up.clods,
that it doe s not pres s or crush the m oist earth, .but flits as it
were over the ground with its coulter which resem bles a duck's
foot in its ba se, and that it pen etrate s the grou nd with its point
which is sharp and long like the head of a spear. It produces
the requ isite loose and broke n crust by itself witho ut the aid
of other implements. The Fellah has only one garment which
he wears both day and night. From the point of view of clean-
liness and comfort this of course leaves much to be desired.
But the ploughing of the Fellah is above reproach . H is field,
prepared for sowing, is never inferior to tha t prepared by the
most perfect implements, and sometimes it even surp asses all
oth ers. The defect lies only in the slow ness which calls for
modification in .order to ada pt the workin g proce ss to the rate
of speed in our time.
18
T a b l e 3 .
Calendar of Operation on a Fellah's Farm.
(80—100 Dunams) .
<ind of operation
Opening furrows
Sowing
Opening furrows
First ploughing
Second ploughing
Sowing of chick peas
,, „ durra
Third plough, of sesame
Sowing of sesame
Weeding
Weeding and hoeing
F'ulling chick peas
H arvest of barley
Transport „
Pulling of beans
Transport „
H arvest of Faenum
Graecum
Transpo rt of „ „
H arvest of wheat
Transport of „
£
J3
H
Wheat
Barley
Beans
Chick peas
Faenum Graecum
H arvesting of durra
Transport „ „
Threshing „ „
H arvest of sesame
Threshing „
Total
Season
Nov.-Dec.
Dec-Jan .
Jan.-Feb.
February
March
April
1»
Ma y
»
June
»
»
i»
»
n
n
June-July
n »
June-Sep.
n n
it >t
n n
n n
August
j»
Sept.-Oct.
September
October
Working days
Men
5
12
^3
l
/2
( 8
2
1
4
2
—
—
5
1
_
1
2,
12
1
20
4
35
10
3
(3 )
2
&
V - . .
(J
^4
147
Women
—
—
—
—
2
—
—
—
12
4
5
2
~"
3
—
t/o
1 / 2
—
20
8
3
( 3 )
V
'
2
t
1
'
2
1
75V2
ren
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
_
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
20
8
1
JL
1
—
—
—
—
-
31
Working days
(animals)
Oxen
15
36
10
24
24
12
3
12
6
—
—
_
—
—
_
—
—
—
—
70
20
8
8
8
—
—
4
—
2
262
Camels
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
_
_
3
—
1
1
—
4
—
—
—
—
_
—
1
—
1
-
11
19
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T a b 1 e 4.
Calendar
of
operations
on an
Arab farm
in
different S eas ons .
Seasons
V»
Nov.—January
Feb.—March
April—V» May
Va May—A Nov.
Total
N
o
d
78
59
45
183
365
Rain and Idie days
R
n
24
24
4
-
52
S
h
a
H
o
d
—
-
-
-
-
S
c
a
d
e
d
10
15
1
13
39
O
p
n
f
u
w
s
7
1
—
—
8
S
w
i
n
12
2
3
-
17
P
o
n
—
16
4
—
20
H
a
v
a
T
e
n
—
-
—
101
101
N
o
o
w
o
k
d
19
19
7
101
146
N
o
e
e
d
25
1
33
69
128
T a b l e 5.
A. Chemical Analyses (calculated
on dry
matter)
in %.
Locality
Dagania A
Nahalai
Ben-Shemen
Ueplh
0-601
0-30
0-50
H
2
O
7-00
11-17
10-35
P
2
O
5
0-18
0-20
0-17
0-37
0-54
0-43
CaCo,
39-25
7-54
15-8
N
Cl
Oig.
Matter
0-2l
0-0060
0-121 -
0-16 - ;
Salts
Soluble
in Water
0-085
1-261 -
0-70 -
B. Mechanical Analyses (size
of
particles
in
mms.) .
Locality
Dagania
A
Nahalai
Ben-Shemen
Depth
0-60
0-30
0-50
<0,01
10-2
49-75
28-88
0,01-0,05
30-1
14-51
17-54
0,05-0,1
37-1
18-29
19-22
0,1-2,0
22-5
17-21
34-29
Total
99-90
99-76
99-93
Water
Capacity
48-5
*) The income of £ 12 during the leisure da ys, derived from outsid e work, is-
Included in the account of income and expenditure of the Fellah's farm (see Chapter IV),
20
Not every Fellah
is
accustomed
to
clear
out and
weed
his
field. Those
who do so
look chiefly
for the
darnel,
the
thorn
and
the
mustard w hich grow am ong
the
winter crops .
A
good
Fellah devotes
his
whole energy
to
preparing good
the
rota-
tion crops (kerab);
in
this
way he
automatically destroys
the
weeds and prevents them from injuring the winter crops sown
in these fields.
The
weeds which
are
left after
the
ploughing
among
the
kerab
are
plucked
up
by
hand
or
dug up
with
a hoe
after
in the
months
of
Adar
and
Nisan (March
and
April) .
The sowing
of
winter crops, leguminous
and
cereal, goes
on from Kislev
to
Shebat (December
to
February),
and is de-
termined
by the
time when
the
rain falls
and by its
distribution.
The time
of
sowing varies
in
different parts
of the
country.
It
is eailiest
in the
Negeb.
In the
Shefelah
and in
Sharon
it is
earlier than
in the
Emek,
and
there
it is
earlier than
in
Upper
Galilee. After
the
sowing
of the
winter crops
is
finished,
the
preparation
of the
summer crops commences. This
is
done
in
various ways.
Preparation
of the
kerab.
— The
preparation
of the
kerab
also begins with opening
up the
fields. Open furrows
are dug
specially suited
for
absorbing
the
rain. After
the
rain has come
down
on the
first open ploug hing
a
second
is
made. Just before
sowing durra there
is
another ploughing
and
before sowing
sesame
two.
The sowing
of
summ er plan ts differs from that
of
winter
crops. It is not done like the latter by broadca sting. Durra is
sown from
a
funnel,
the
upper part
of
which
is
joined
to the
handle
of the
plough while
its
point touches
the
share .
The
ploughman fills
his
hand w hich ho lds
the
handle
of
the plough
as full
as he can
with seeds,
and
lets them drop
one by one
into
the
funnel from w hich they fall
on to the
surface
of the
moist layer
in the
midst
of the
open furrow.
The
dust
of the
21
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dry crust then covers over the seeds and the germ ination is
assured. Sesame is sown in two ways. One is like that of
sowing durra, only to the side of the ploughsh are is attached
a board like a wing a bout twenty c entim etres. broad which
sweep s aside the loose dry dust and so clears a way for the
sesame seeds to fall on to the moist layer which has been
opene d. The object is twofold. On the one hand the germi-
nation is assured, and on the other it become s easier for the
tender seeds to spring up, as they have not to break through
the thick crust, a task which is sometimes beyond their strength.
Under this method the covering of the seeds is made with .
moist loose du st The second kind of sowing is calle d: "sh e-
gag p arhah ", i. e. sowing with two ploughs. One plough ope ns
a furrow with wings on each side. Behind it comes the so w er -
a young lad — who with his hand throws the grains through
the funnel into the furrow which has been opene d on moist
soil. The second plough then passes after the sower through the
open furrow, an d takes the mo ist dust from the sid e for cov er-
ing. Th us, while the first plough is returning to open the se-
cond furrow for sowing , this one closes the first furrow with
the dust of the dry crust.
Peas and durra are sown before the later rains, sesame
after them . Rain injures the sesam e wh ether it com es down
on it before the germ ination or after. Before g erm inatio n it
closes the dust of mulch and prevents the sprouting of the seeds.
After germ ination it cau ses a splitting of the grou nd, bec ause
with the closing of the crust there is an increase of evaporation
. due to capillarity . It is therefore a strict rule that sesam e shou ld
be sown only after the later rains, when it is quite certain
that the dust of the uppe r crust will be left loose . Care is ta-
ken to protect the fields from the inroa ds of n oxiou s plants,,
and the "junbut" (Proso pis Stephaniana Willd.) is cut down
22
and the "helfeh" u prooted. The clearing and the weeding are
done in the months of Sivan and Tammuz (June and July).
The harvest season. — The ha rvest begins in Iyar (May).
All species of leguminous plants are plucked by hand. Cereals
are reaped with a scythe when they are tall and plucked by
hand when they are low. The sesam e is plucked up with the
roots, but the durra is doubled over, the stalks being left. The
sesame does not ripen all at the same time; the gatherer goes
into the field every day and picks out by the colour of the
pods those stalks which are ripe for plucking. It is not possible
to wait till they all grow ripe,- bec ause the sesa me po ds, wh en
they ripen, split, and the seeds fall out on the ground.
All the mem bers of the family take part in the harve st.
Each one on an average reaps an area of about two dunams
a day and plucks an area of about one dunam. The reaped
cereals and the plucked leguminous plants are made into
sheaves in the field, and are then carried away to the p lace of
the threshing. Transport is done by means of camels or asses.
Occasionally the women carry away the produce on their
shoulders. The reapers are followed by the gleaners, the
practice of "leket" being still preserved to the present day.
Preparation of the threshing. — Close to every village is to
be found a broad open space set aside for threshing. The place
selected for this pu rpose is alwa ys one exposed to the wind
and with a smooth and hard soil, as a rule on the top of a
hill. Each Fellah has a place set aside for his own threshing .
With the commencement of the threshing all the inmates of the
village, both hum an and animal, take up their abode at the
place of the threshing. The day is spent in work, and during
the
night each one sleeps by his sheaf to protect it from thieves
both from outside and inside. The threshing, animals also, the
ass, the ox and the camel, stand at their mangers by the side
23
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of the hea p, and eat during the p eriod s of rest. Durin g the
first and last threshin g a muzzle is put on their mou ths. Th e pr e-
cept "thou s halt not muzzle an ox in his thresh ing" is not obse rved.
In the days of the Tu rks it was cu stoma ry to divide the
produ ce into eight hea ps in the shape of bricklings, at the
threshing place, and occasionally in the field. One of the eight
heap s was for the taxgatherer of the Oshe r Tax . The G overn-
ment took its portion in kind, a nd farmed out the Osher by
public auction. T he taxgatherer used to pitch his tent, which
was ornamented with bright-coloured curtains by the side of
the thresh ing floor. The luxury of this tent was in glaring
contrast with the poverty of the environment. Its watchers had
their eyes on all sides of the thre shing-floor to see that the
produce was not tampered with. The produce that was threshed
in the day was sealed up at night in wooden presses which
left their shape on the heaps of grain. Every touch altered the
shap e and revealed the offence. T he present Government had
arranged after the occupation to receive the Osher tax in money.
It sent asse ssors to value the crops, and the owner of the
produ ce paid according to the valuation, in instalm ents. If the
village could not come to an agreement with the asse ssors,
•they divided the harves t on som e threshin g-floors into ten
heaps, from which the assessor choosed one. They then threshed
"this one and used this as a stand ard for fixing the amou nt of
produce. According to some, the valuation was usually too high
in the ca se of legumino us pla nts and too low for cerea ls,
sesame and durra.
Recently the estimation of the Osher was rectified and it
is now based on the average yield of the four preced ing yea rs.
One tenth of the entire yield is taken and imposed on th e village
as a w ho le; in the village a special comm ittee is formed levying
40 to 70 mils per dunam, according to the types of the soil.
24
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is a maxim with him that for threshing there is nothing better
than the iron hoofs of the oxen. H e goes thresh ing in this way
for a few da ys. Now and then he exam ines to see if there are
still any grains in the clump s. Whe n no more are found, the
"tna i" is finished. He then lifts up the "ta rch a" a second time
and arranges it in a heap as in the "ksaria". He sweeps the
place of the "tarcha" well and goes round the heap. Whatever
is gathered up he puts on one side in a corner of the thresh-
ing-floor, and arra nge s it into a special heap which is called,
the heap of the "terabia h". He winn ows the "tnai" in the
morning and evening winds to sepa rate the straw, and in the
midda y winds to sep arate the grain from the stubb le. When the
wind slacken s a little between m idday and evening , from abou t
five to seven, he passe s the grain thro ugh a sieve (arbal). The
grains fall through the holes of the sieve, and on top are left
the bits of stalk that have not been threshed and other leavings..
These remnants are in turn arranged in another heap which is
called the heap of the "sab alia h" for a new threshing-floor
("tarc ha") , thresh es it, lifts it up and winno ws it. Fina lly he
winnows the heap of the "tarabiah" from dust, and clods of earth,
with grains are left in the hea p. The wives of the F ellaheen •
beat this heap with sticks, break up the clods of ea rth, and .
strain the grain s. Wh atever is left after the b eating and the-
straining they was h in water, softening the earth and picking
out the grain s. Th e thresh ing is done in the heat of th e day
when the sun bea ts down on the head, after the dew which,
came down on the produc e has evaporated, and the produce
has becom e so dry that it can be easily broken up under the-
feet of the animals and the spikes of the threshing-board.
This is the threshin g system com mon in Judea . In Galilee-
the fellah pre pare s a little h eap every day, the thresh ing of
which may be finished during the day. The second day he adds-
26
a fresh heap and threshes it during the day, and so on. When the
first threshing of the whole heap — called the "ks aria " — is
. finished, the little thresh ed hea ps lie around in a wide circle the
centre of which — the place where the hea p of prod uce lay-
before — is empty. In the spac e left in the centre the fellah
arranges new threshing heaps (in Galilee called "na'am"), and
every evening when its thresh ing is finished, he add s it to the
big heap. Thus, the threshing of the "na'am" is carried on till
the whole "ks aria " is finished, and only then doe s th e fellah
start winnowing.
The threshing of the sesam e is done in a special way.
The sesame stalks are arran ged in a closed c ircle, from which
they are taken out in bund les. These are then beaten with a
stick on the ends of the po ds. This ma kes the seeds fall out,
and the empty stalks are then put back into the middle of the
circle. Thus the sesame threshing-floor is comp osed of three
circles —an outer one contain ing the stalk s brou ght from the field,
an inner one containing the seeds extracted from the shells, and
a central one containing stalks which have been emptied.
The tibn is stacked in the shape of a cone, and is plast-
ered with a mixture of mud, stubble and dung to a thickness
of few centim etres. Th is forms the store hou se of tibn. The se
storehouses are always erected by the side of the thre shing -
floors. Dung for burning is stuck on the walls of these stor e-
houses to dry.
The period of the threshing-floor, with all its various ma-
nifestations, goes on from Iyar to Tishri (May to Oc tob er), dur-
ing which time it is a scene of varying co lours. The heap s
of wheat are golden y ellow, those of durra are white like milk,
while those of sesame shine with a pale gold. T he mixed sp ans
of ox, ass, and camel yoJced to the thre shin g-bo ard go roun d
and round, led by a little boy. The m en winnow to the wind
27
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the prod uce that has been thresh ed, the corn falling by its
weight in columns while the chaff flies away. The women beat
with stick s and sm all hamm ers the re mna nts of the stalks which
have escaped the threshing-board and the hoofs of the animals,
and shake the sieve s. F rom the time of Ruth up to this day
there has scarce ly been any chang e, neither in the metho ds of
operation nor in its notions.
28
First tliveshiiia: with animals
Threshing .with, the threshing board
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Final tliresliiuK with auimals
Yiew of the 'threshing floor
C h a p t e r T h r e e .
' CROPPING SYSTEM.
The customary rotation of crops is of two fields. Half the
area is set aside for summer plants and half for winter plants.
Winter plants grow for the most part during the rainy se ason,
except wheat, which continue s to grow for abo ut six week s
a(ter the later rains. Summ er plants grow in the sunny pe riod,
being nurtured by the depo sits of rain w hich a re stored in the
ground, and by the dew, and rain itself reac hes them either in
very small quantities or not at all.
Shelef and Kerab.— Winter plants are divide d into cere als, viz.
wheat and barley, called "shelef" (stubble); and leguminous plants,
viz. beans, lentils, "karsena", "jilbana", "hilba" and lupines.
Summer plants are peas, durra and sesam e. L eguminous plants
and summer pla nts are called "ke rab " (i. e. rotation crops).
Cereals are sown after kerab , and they are the real source of
income in many cases, and it is only for their sake that all the
trouble is taken with the growing of the kerab .
The kinds of cereals. — The main winter plants in heavy
soil are wheat and. barley; the main summ er crop s are durra
and sesame. Barley is the best crop in light soil and wh eat in
heavy soil, which is the more important in the sphere of crop-
growing. D urra is best in poor soil an d sesame in rich soil
and in a rainy year. In Galilee chick-pea s do well, in Judea
and in Samaria not. Karsena, jilb ana, and lentils are not of
much importanc e, and are only for dom estic use . In the ro ta-
tion of crops they take the place of durra or sesame on the
29
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slopes of the mountains or on the mountains. The rotation of
crops usual on light sandy ground is barley and lupines. Lu-
pines are sown in soil that is no good for other field plants.
Beans, lentils, onions, "hilba", and ba rley are sown outside the
field on garden land manured with old dung from the village.
In the South , in districts whe re the rainfall is small and
drou ghts are frequent, a rotation of three years is usual: (1) durra,
(2) sesame or fallow, (3) w hea t. In the same way a rotation of
three year s is obser ved on soil the pro duc ts of which suffer
from the ravages of insect pests (Arad, me duad, Syringopais
temperatella): two years of kerab and one year of wheat.
Division of the field accord ing to the kinds of crops. — In
regard to area the major portion is taken up by whe at and
durra . As a rule the F ellah sows half of his fields set asid e for
winter plants with two thirds whea t and less than one-third
barley. The same applies to d urra and sesame , durra taking up
the greater part of the area. In a rainy year the area devoted
to sesame is increased. H ence one may say that the rotation of
crops as a rule is : one year w heat and one year durra, or one
year wheat and one year sesame.
In the valley of Jezreel and in Galilee legumino us plants
are sown more than in Judea and Sharon, the districts where
durra and sesam e thrive best. The fields from Petah Tikvah
to Tulkarem have a particularly go od appearan ce. H andsome
fields of dur ra and sesam e are also to be found in the low
country of Lydda.
Sometimes beans are sown instead of karsena and lentils.
And in the summer crops sometimes the area of peas is dim-
inished and that of durra increased.
The order of sowing is, first beans, then barley, karsena,
early lentils, and last of all wheat. Sowin g is finished by the
middle of Shebat (F ebrua ry). Of summ er plants the first to be
30
sown is chick peas, then co mes d urra and la st of all after the
later rains sesame.
The distribution of pla nts in the fields of the Emek is in
the following proportion:
From 8—10 kels*) of wheat 60 dunam s
2.5 kels barley 10 duna ms
1 — 1.5 kels karsen a 5 duna ms
0.5 kels lentils 5 dun am s
l
l$
kel durra 50 dunams
78 kel sesame 10 dunam s
2 kels chickpeas- 10 dunam s
150 duna ms = 1 feddan.
The kerabs according to their importance.
— The kerabs are
not all of the same value. The most valuable are not the nitro-
gen-fixers but the cultivated c rop s. The storin g of m oisture in
the ground and the destruc tion of weeds are m ore im portant
than the storing of nitrogen for increas ing the yields. When
there is not sufficient moistu re in the grou nd the m aterials
of nutriment found in abu nda nce in the earth are of no avail,
since they are not soluble and consequently cannot be absorbed
by the plant. It is the weeds that destroy the crops. Not only
do they deprive the plant of food and room, but they suck up
all the moisture stored in the ground. Cultivated crops destroy
the weeds, and the wheat which follows them finds exception-
ally favourable cond itions for its deve lopm ent, as it does not
meet with any com petitors which encroac h upon its preserves.
These plants also destroy the fieldmice, or at any rate make it
harder .for them to exist; and the mice are a great plague in
the country. Durra which is gluttonous of nitrogen can in many
•) Galilean kei: wheat and leguminous crops 72-75 kgs., durra 72 kg,
barley 50 kgs, sesame 50 kgs. Every kel contains 12 "meeds".
31
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cases, if it is properly prepared, be a better kerab than chick-
peas, for instance, which gather nitrogen.
As already sta ted, whe at and barley are the principal,
sou rces of the income of the farm. In the choice of kerabs
preference has al.vays to be given to those which create the
best co nditio ns for the deve lopm ent of these plan ts. A distinct-
ion must be made between kerabs for summer plants, kerabs for
half-summer plants, and kerabs for winter plants.
/ . Summer kerabs.-In the front rank stand s sesam e, which
practica lly has no equ al. Its time of sowing is lat e; it should
not be sown till the rainy perio d has entirely pass ed because
then the soil in which it is sown cannot form a hard crust an'
become closed to the air and the dew. The ground is prepared
for it with pa rticular care. It is broken up in such a way as to
become loose and open to the air, while being well drenched,
with rain water in its lower lay ers. T he mulch of the broken,
and loosened crust protects the rain water which is stored in
the groun d from evap oratio n. The nitrification is powerful and
intensive. T he roots are strong and .piercing like a spit; thef
draw their sustena nce from the lower la yers, they do not ex
hau st the surface layer, and they pre pare a path for the wheal
which is to come after them . Th e co nstant hoeing required fa-
sesame loosens the ground still more and preserves its moist
ure. The constant weeding also destroy s the weed w hich ar
left after the winter plo ugh ings . Th e destruc tion of wee ds, a
has been mentioned, is an essential condition for the succes
of the wheat, which comes to grief even in the best soils if th
weed ing is not done properly . T he fertile soil which produce
the wh eat prod uces also plan ts which press it close and try *•
squeez e it out, and when these obtain a foothold in the mids ^
of the whea t it is imp ossib le to exterminate them by weeding;
alone . Not. only is the wheat injured th rough being trod den on]
32
>* -
*" * *
EHSIS
S § © i l
B K B e s s
ff mrniTn dim
IBS
1
i
i
m
^ ^
^ ^
m
1^
1
yyES^MPMi
s
I
I
K
?s
a
Bamia field [Ladies' fingers, Hibiscus]
Durra field
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vo vo
CO CO
CO i—
0 1
o
— 03
vo vo vo
tO tO CO
(JJ [O
M
CO 1—
O J W V O
N 00 Ul
t o
U> CT» CO VO
I
1 I
00 VO O\ ts )
I I I
O CT
I 4
00 CO
VO Ul
O T.
34
•<
n
03
Number
ofFeddan
rr
03
-3 O
CO
CO
•a
£. r
by the weed ers, but their efforts to destro y all the weeds are
unavailing. War must be joined with the weeds while the fields
are under kerabs , and the whea t m ust find a field prop erly
prepared for it in respect both of tillage and of the eradication
of weeds.
.4. Sesame. — Sesame crops themselves are not as a rule
particularly profitable except in fertile soil and in a rainy year,
when the cro p is likely to be con sider able . Very often all the
trouble and care bestow ed on it are only for the sake of the
wheat that is to com e after it. Such wheat alwa ys y ields a lar-
ger crop than wo uld be the case if it were sown in a field of
any other k erab . The wheat is sown after it without an y further
prep aratio n of the soil, because after the pluckin g of the se sam e
the surface soil is left loose , broken up, leaving ex cellent mulch
and free from all remna nts of stalks . The seeds are merely burie d
by one ploughing over close furrows. The drawback of sesame
is that its success depen ds too m uch on the rain coming down
at the proper time and in the proper quantity, so that its crops
are less reliable than those of other plants. F urther, the same
crop does not all ripen at one time, and this makes the in-
gathering more difficult.
B.
Bamia. —
Of equal value w ith sesame is bam ia. This
plant is not very common in Palestine. It is sown with a space
of 60—80 cm s. between the rows, and it is plou ghe d over all
the time that it is growing. The roots are stronger than those
of sesame , and draw up their sustenance from below. The
plants look like twigs of woo d, and form a coverin g for the
ground. The bamia leaves the ground free from weeds; but
if leaves b ehind strong stalks which have to be cleared away
from the field.
C.
Durra.—
Durra is of inferior value, as it exh austs the
soil. It has, however, deep roots, and it loosens the ground and
35
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throw s a shad e over all the grou nd. It is sown in poor soil
where sesame would not thrive. Good durra grows as high as
a man's head , and in exception al years as high as a man on
horseback. It is not so dependent as sesame on the later rain,
but it can be relied upon to do well only in unusually rainy
years. The dew has unq uestion ably a great influence on its
grow th. As late as ten o'clock in the morning its leaves are
still wet with dew. Be sides the fact already mentione d, that the
durra exhausts the soil, it has a further drawback, because the
field sown w ith it is left covered with large stalks which have
to be cleared away (though it must be mentioned that they
serve as food for cattle and as fuel, and therefore cannot be
reckoned a s w aste), and the whole ground is broken into
crannies.
Half-summer kerabs.— Karsena, late lentils and chick-
peas .
In Galilee peas are impo rtant as a kerab , especially in
places where sesame does not thrive owing to climatic condi-
tions or to the character of the soil. The great advan tages of
these kerabs is that througho ut the winter the groun d is op en
to the rain. Also the winter ploughings destroy a great part of
the weeds, and leave the ground better prepared for the wheat
which is to come afterwards. These species are also nitrogen-
gath erers , and therefore so far from diminishing the store of
nitrogen for the use of the wheat which is to come after them,
they enrich it, especially if they are not plucked but reaped
with a hand -sick le. Remnants of the roots are always left in
the ground, even when the plants are plucked up by hand.
3.
Winter kerabs. —
Beans, lentils, karsena, "hilba", and
other kinds of legum inous plants. All of these are practically
of the same value, being deep-rooted and gatherers of nitrogen..
The roots of the bean are the stron gest and strike deepest .
Thi s plant require s a deep soil, and in thin soil it will no t
36
prosper. Thes e species as a rule do not pro duce large crops
and beans are worth the trouble they require only in first-class
soil. W hen it is grown rep eatedly in the same field, its yield
falls off. Still, when t here is no other k erab it has to be sow n
for the sake of the wheat which is to follow it. In places
where sesame will not grow well on account of climatic con-
ditions, it is practically the only kerab. Beans may also be reaped
with a scythe or reaping m achin e; th is saves expense and
improves the ground with the remna nts of the roots that are
left in the soil. It does not, however, free the soil from weeds.
Winter weeds drop their seeds while the bean is still growing;
after it is reaped the m oisture still remains in the ground , and
later on it causes to spring up summ er weed s which are in-
jurious to the wheat which is sown subsequ ently. Most of the
things which have been said about the bean, both in respect
of its advantages and its drawbacks, apply also to the other
kinds of leguminous plants . The only difference is that the
other kinds do not require deep soil, and do well both on the
mountains and on the slopes of the mountain s on a thin layer
of earth. Their crops are also smaller than those of the bean
in good years, but are less liable to variation and are m ore
reliable.
Among winter kerab s are to be reckoned also vegetables
like onions etc. These plants possess all the advantages enum-
erated in the sesame, and some of them even surpass it. T he
special preparatio n of the ground, the consta nt hoein g and
weeding, and the properties of the plants themselves with their
peculiar deep-growing, broad, strong and branching roots — al l
these things improve the mechanical character of the g round,
enrich it with certain materials of nutriment, destroy the weeds,
and create favourable conditions for the plants which are to be
sown in this field. Thi s kerab is poss ible, ho wever, only in
37
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; villages close to a town which provides a market for vege-
tables, and on limited a reas , and* it is not merely a sub sidiary
product used for the rotation of seeds, but it has substantive
value of its own as an important source of income. The same
remark applies to the water-melons which are used as a sum-
mer kerab for barley in certain dis tricts, especially in the ne igh-
bourho od of the sea-p orts in Sharo n. T hese plants bring in
much more than wheat and barley; they are reckoned the prime
source of incom e in the farm, and they are an end in them -
selves rather than a mere accessory to wheat and barley.
4. Fallow-
— In places where sesame d oes not thrive, like
the Jord an valley, or in districts where the rainfall is small,
like the Negeb, and also in the northern districts, the following
rotation of crops is practised. Half the field is sown with cereals,
while of the second part a portion is devoted to leguminous
kera bs and a portio n is left fallow, that is to sa y, it is ploug hed
at the end of the winter, and then left fallow for a year.
Th e fellaheen call this tillage "kera b bar ad" i. e. rainy
tillage. In the North it is called "sunny crop-grow ing" and in
the South "sun fallow." Th is is the metho d of dry farming, but in
an imperfect form, be cause it lacks the operations performed in
the course of the summer with a cultivator and with ha rrows. In
rainy countries this tillage is called "black fallow."
This system
is p ractised only in certain ca ses and under special conditions.
38
C h a p t e r F o u r .
THE HARMONIOUS STRUCTURE.
The whole farm of the Fellah forms an organic unity. Every-
thing is produced in it by his own p owe rs; he is not depend-
ent on any external econom ic factors and he is not affected
by the changes and vicissitudes of the outer world . The sim-
plicity of his implem ents c onstitutes his strength in the struggle
of existence. H is world is not governed by the p rinciple of
"time is money", but by the principle of "preservation of matter."
He allows nothing to go to waste. Everything which appea rs
to be lost returns to him after variou s transform ations. Leavings
and remnants which in other places are not thought good enough
for the rubbish heap are used by him for building material, for
fuel and for feeding stuff for his cattle. All work in his ho use
is done by his family and not by hired labourers from without,
so that he is always taking in and never paying out. And the
slightest profit he makes from his labour is of value to him.
In the usual two fields rotation of crops there is thorou gh
regularity. The winter cereals alternate either w ith cultivated
crops or with nitrogen-gatherers. But the only product which
yields a good income without involving much expen diture is
wheat. It is a higher yielder in itself than other crops, and the
reaping and ingathering do not cost much. The other species
require plucking, some of them weeding and tending, operations
which require many hand s. These manual operations however
do not affect the profit of the Fellah . H is work h as no money
39
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value for him. It is no com mod ity in the market and there is
no price for it. In a country w here indu stry is not yet even in
its cradle and where agriculture is primitive to the last degree,
labou r has no money value. Every little (herefore coun ts. In
a place wh ere labo ur comm ands no price there is no need to be
particular about time and to despise slow work. There is no
harm in putting on a spurt one day and sitting idle the next.
What is the use of time-saving implem ents and quick-working
cattle if the w ork can be do ne also with light implem ents whic h
he acquire s for a few pound s and which last him all his life,
sometimes being left over for his son?
External appearance and structure. —
The whole village
both in its external appea rance and in its structure seems to
have risen o ut of the soil on which it stands. It is indeed for-
med from that soil—dust of its dust and stone of its stones. The
Arab village is a creature which takes its colour from its envi-
ronm ent. In the plain it is built of mud, all hom e manu facture
not costing a penny. The materials are compo sed of the dust
of the earth, of the straw which it pro du ces and of the dung
of the animals which it feeds. These prime materials are work-
ed up by the hands of women who gather stubble, make straw,
mix earth and water to make mud, harden the mud w ith cow
dung which has been dried in sun and breaks in their hands,
and bake bricks. On the slopes of the mountains the house s
are built of stone s from the mo unta ins. The mem bers of the
F ellah's, family-collect the stones with their own hands and
raise the w alls, and the village builder only completes the struc-
ture. The Fellah buys from outside nothing except the corner
stone s and wood for the roof and the do or. The stalks of tall
grass covered with dust are used to cover the roofs. This dust
produce s grass and herbs. Only in villages near to town which have
been "spoilt by civilisatio n" ha ve they begun lately to cover the
roof with imported tiles.
40
Making sun-dried bricks
Bin for chopped straw (teben)
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42
Buildings. - In the She felah the whole village is surro unde d
with a mud wall. Acc ording to presen t ideas this wall affords
no protection and it is no wonder that the walls of Jericho fell
at the blast of the trum pet. The y are , how ever, sufficient for
the needs of the Fellah. H ouse adjoins house and every court
is surrou nded with a high fence made of mud . T his is in the
Shefelah. In the South it is built of medium-sized stones. Inside
each court there is one building. The poor man has one room
which serv es at once as a dwelling for m en, a resting place for
beasts and a storehouse for produce, i The ho use of the well-
to-do Fellah has a num ber of roo ms : one large room for the
use of men and beasts, one for receiving visitors, and one for
storing. Besides the main hou se in the court there is a lso a
small building "tab bun " (the oven). Som etimes two families
live in one court. The low conical straw-stacks plastered with
stubble twigs and mud are scattered outside the court, b y, the
side of the threshing floors, where they stand like sentrie s on
guard.
The cost of building the house are for an ordinary Fellah
as follows: In the mountain districts, stones £ 3—4; wood for
roof and door £ 2 ; builder 's wage s from £ 5— 6; total
£
10—12. In the Shefelah, stu bble (Kash) £ 1—1.5; w ood
£ 2; total £ 3-3.5.
Working Animals, — The F ellah's implements are also home
ma de; they are not broug ht from a distance or from abroad.
The who le of his land, coverin g from 120 to 150 dun ams , he
works with three oxen, or with a horse or a cam el - "seeka " in
his own langu age. H e gives the preference to oxen for the
following reason s: (1) they are cheaper to maintain than any
other draught a nim al; (2) the working day is longer with them,
as the oxen do not re quire to rest at midd ay. It is usual to go
out to the field with, three oxen and to work with two , c han g-
43
[
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jfng one ox every two hours, and so they work from dawn to
;dusk without cessation; (3) many operations. are performed
better with oxen
e. g.
ploughing
and
threshing;
(4) in
case
of
^accident or old age the Fellah does not loose much as the
j price of the flesh for slaughter is almost equal to the value of
•
the
draught animal.
i
• Feeding costs nothing. For the greater part of the year
;
the
oxen graze in the fields. Many wild plants have a value for
the farm whe ther they are left in the field or cut down as
weeds. In winter during the period of rainfall they feed on the
tender grasses and in summer on the remnants of the stalks of
the cereals. When the field is too crowded at the beginning of
the sprouting of the cultivated plants, the Fellah sends his
beasts to tick them, and this is good both for the beasts and
for
the
field.
The
plants that
are
weeded
out in the
winter
serve as food for the cattle, and so two birds are killed with
one stone: the field is cleared and the animals are fed. For
about eight months the oxen feed on pasture, and for about two
months
the
Fellah adds
to the
pasture
a
little
hay.
Only
for
two months does he feed them on full d iet in the farm yard,
made up as follows: a manger full of hay with a handful of
: "alif" (concentrated food) three times a day, and two rottles of
sesame cake
or of
beans
in the
course
of the day.
According
to
the
Fellaheen about
two
kantars of sesame cake or of beans
and karsena are required for one "seeka" per year. A part from
the sesame cake, therefore, all the food is home produce.
The Fellah keeps
a
camel
for the
following reas ons :
(1) his crops do not suffice to support
him, and the
camel brings
him in money by being used in outside work for transport.
(2) Transport can be done by the camel
itself,
but by oxen only
with a waggon. It does not cost more to keep a camel than to
keep oxen. The camel also obtains m ost of its food in the
44
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46
open field; coarse grass es which any other animal w ould dis-
dain are delightful to the palate of the camel. Th e "sa bar"
(cactus) which grows round the villages serves a double purpose :
it is a "live fence" for the village and provides food for men
and camels — the fruit for th e former and th e leave s with
-their prickly points for the latter. To this food which the camel
obtain s free his master a dds bean s, straw, and a small q uantity
of karsena or jilbana.
Productive animals. -
Not every Fellah has a special milch
cow. But when he has one, it also hardly costs him anything .
It also is a produ ct of the ho me, and lives on the leavings and
extras of the house, also on grass sprouting from a rock and
on thorns that a man cannot get at with a sickle, though the
mouth of the animal can. So too the fowls. No special food
is provide d for them. They rumma ge in the dung hea ps and
live on the refuse and the insects c reeping about there. Never-
theless they are good lay ers ; in some cases they are equal in
this res pect to birds of good stoc k and they have the advan tage
over them of being immune against several diseases.
Implements. — The Fellah's implements are few in number
and light in weight. H e carries his plough on h is shou lders
when he returns from w ork, and a young boy looks after the
threshing board and the m ule attached to it. All his implem ents
are hom e-ma de, formed out of wood obtained on the spot
(mostly from Zizyphus Spina Christi), only the coulter being
made of iron. The plough c annot b e beaten for simplicity,
lightness and su itability to the climate, to the condition of work
and to the object in view. It performs at one stroke and with-
out calling for any undue strain or effort the function of a
plough, a roller and a harrow . It does not bring up cl ods, it
makes the earth loose, it does not overturn it, it does not cause
any of the moisture to evaporate, it does not bury any weeds
47
ili?
11
V^ r
1 «
?
i l l
in his passage, and, of course, it does not make them grow or
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increase their number. When rain comes down for a long tim e
continuously or with brief in tervals, the Arab plough is the only
one with which work can be don e. In such condition s the
European ploug h does not cut the ground, but packs the dust
together, makes bricks, rolls the earth into clods, and dam age s
the ground for years. H ence in rainy years the Arab plough
prolongs the working season.
Investment capital. — The whole "cap ital" required for the
equipment of the Fellah's farm is made up pretty much as follows ;
5 oxen or a camel
(or a horse or mare 10-12) £ 15
15 or 20 sheep 20
An ass 3
A ploug h ' 0.40
A threshing-board 0.60
Two wooden picks 0.15
One iron pick 0.20
7 sack s for straw 0.60
One scythe 0.10
One yoke or pole 0.60
Ropes for binding 0.30
2 sieves 0.25
Total 41.20 — 47.20
Adding a cow £ 6-10, a goat £ 0.80-1,
and 30 fowls £, 3- 4 14 — 14
-2 0
- 4
the total for all implements and sources
of food supply is £5 5.2 0
—
61.20
48
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£
Income and Expenditure of an Ordinary Fellah.
(Area SO-100 Dunains, number of souls 6-9)
1. Expenditure. —
a. Farm Expenses:
Food for two oxen, 2 kantars sesame
cake or beans
Seeds
Communal charges
Various, repairs etc.
Osher and Verko
b.
Household expendi ture:
4 kantars wheat at LE. 4
3 kantars durra at LE. 2.50
600 litres of milk at PT. 1.5
400 eggs
Olive oil 7 jars
Clothing
Vegetable, rice, lamp-oil, sugar etc.
Total expenditure
2. Income.
—
30 dunams wheat at 50 kg.
10 „ barley at 60 „
10 „ karsena
30 „ durra
10 „ sesame
800 litres milk
1,000 eggs
Outside labour
Total income
49
7
6.50
1.60
0.30
4.50
£ 19.90
£
>»
n
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£
£
,,
£
16
7.
9
2
5
4
6
49.
69.
20
6
6
6.
3
12
5
12
70
50
,50
,40
.50
.50
'8 »
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of the night being as of yore. And the same summ oner, who se
intelligence, the gift of his m aker, is blessed by all Jews in
matin s, goes on fulfilling his task. Both the sacre d and the
profane are under his way, from the wo rship of God in his
temple to the farmer in the field. Day by day they once brought
sacrifices to the altar at cock crow. Nor have there been any
chan ges, even in the me anings of the sum mo ns. It is the third
crow of the cock that porte nds good fortune. Who ever takes
the road before cock crow do es so at his own risk and peril,
the Talmud sa ys. Do not fare forth till the rooster ha s crow ed
two times, some say till he has crowed three times. And if
one asks of what rooster, be it said of the ordinary rooster.
It is this triple cock crow which is called awal siaha, tani sia/m
an d talit siaha by the Fellah to this very day. With the third crow
the sound of milling resou nds from every hut throug hout the
village. It is this voice which acclaims life and daily bread. All
the pro phets of misfortune from Jeremia h to the heral ds of
vision saw the wrath of God in the silencing of the voice of
the bridegro om and the bride, in the loss of the murm ur of the
mill and the light of the candle. The day is short and the task is
long. With the dawn she must light the stove, knead dough of the
flour ground before daybreak by candle light and bake her flat
cakes.
Perhaps the milling is less toilsome in the cool of the night.
Weeding and hoeing, harvesting and gleaning, all these
are part of the woman's daily round, apart from her watchful
care for the hom e. The infant that is bound to her gives her
no respite. Suck ings and infants yet in the cradle are borne
out to the fields on their mo ther's hea ds and shou lder s. In
the heat of the day they stay outdo ors in their cradles, right
among the toilers.
Hours of work.
—The Fellah who is poor begins his work
in the field in the sowing season at dawn and finishes it at
dark . Th e whole day is given up to work without any rest
period. He eats his frugal "pittah" while he is ploughing. He
returns home abou t an hour after sunset, when he feeds his
anima l and e ats his own even ing meal. After a few hou rs sleep
he gets up and goes to feed his oxen till dayligh t. Then he
goe s through another day in the same way. In harvest time
the Fellah begins to reap at daybreak and goes on without
cessation till two hours after midday. He then returns home
and gets something to eat, rests about two hours, and
then brings his draugh t anim al — his ass or cam el —, loads it
with the prod uce which has been reaped and takes it to the
threshing-floor. During threshing time work begins with sun-
rise. Till seven he is occupied in turning over the heap or
winno wing. After that begins the threshin g, which goes on till
after mid day. From four o'cloc k he turns o ver the threshed
produce (tarh'a) or makes it into a heap again.
The seasons of work. — The farm of the F ellah does not
dem and the undivide d attention of its owner in this way du ring
the whole of the year. It occup ies him only for four or five
months: three or four weeks in sowing the winter crops, three
or four weeks in sowing the sommer crops, and over three
months in threshing work, while two month s he is idle on
accou nt of the rain. In this way he has ab out five m onths
free for outside work (see table 4, p. 20).
Th e F ellah's farm in the plain is usually mon ocultural,
being devoted wholly to c rops. Occasionally the F ellah has
also a few score of olive trees and a handful of fig trees. In
many villag es there is not a sign of vegetab les, and in most of
them only a few vegetables are grown. In the Shefelah and in
the South nearly every Fellah has a cow. Only a few have sheep.
As has been mentioned, agriculture does not occupy the
Fe llah the whole of the year. He is free for other work for
52
53
T a b l e
12.
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about five months. During this period
he
tries
to
gain
a
living by outside work. Every village provides some additional
occupation itself. Those, however, who live on the mountain
^ slopes
and in the
neighbourhood
of
town s find additio nal occu -
pation
in the
stone quarries, either actually wo rking
in the
quar-
ries or acting as camel-drivers to transport the stones to the
towns. Those who live on the mountains work at the furnaces
and
at
making charcoal.
For
burning lime they
use
" na tch"
(Poterium spinosurn),
a
brushwood that grows
on the
mountains .
Wages are from 8—10 Piast res a day.
2 .
S ize
of
F a r m s .
The normal unit. —
An ordinary Fellah has a portion
in
the village land
of
from 70—100 dunams.
He
works
the
whole
of this area without outside assistance. One who
has
more land
engages a "harat . " The wages of the "harat" are paid as a rule
in kind:
5
kantars
of
wheat
and 5
kantars
of
barley,
or
food
and clothing
and one
pound
per
month.
Among
the
villagers
are
some
who own
larger properties
extending to 400-500 Dunams, and who work all their land by
means of "harats ."
Tenant-Farming. —
The Effendi who lives away from the
village lets
his
land
to a
tenant.
The
large lando wners
in Ga-
lilee
had
stone dwellings everywhere
for the
residence
of
these
tenants. The terms of tenancy are very simple. The Effendi
gives
the use of
his land
to the
Fellah
and in
return
he
receives
the fifth part
of the
product .
A tenant
who
hires more than
a
feddan
(150
Dunams
in Valley
of
Esdraelon,
in
certain places
120
Dunams) engages
a "harat" and pays him a quarter of the total prod uce, and the
"harat"
on his
side pays
his
proportion
of the
fifth
due to the
owner
and of the
Osher
of the
Government.
In
addition
the
Fellah has to pay for the plucking of the durra and of the p e a s
which costs about 3 pounds .
54
A. Income
and
Expenditure
of a 12
Feddan Farm
in
Galilee,
(worked according
to
Arab system
of farming).
I n c o m e
Wheat
Barley
Lentils
Karsena
Chickpeas
Faenum Graec.
Horsebeans
Durra
L. E.
T o t a l
7 0 0 - -
257 800
41-360
112-200
117-920
18-400
30-360
61-200
1339-240
E x p e n d i t u r e
Total seed expenses
Tithe
Wahaif
ex p en ses
2
Harateen 263-288
less weeding
expenses
3- -
L. E.
1 4 4 - 4 8 0
1 6 7 - 1 3 2
1 1 8 - 5 4 7
2 6 0 - 2 8 8
Total
exp.
Owner s part
690-447
648-793
1339-240
Sources of dat a: Calculated according to average prices, quantity of crops as obtained
in Tabgha (Lake of Tiberias).
See P. J. C. "Landwirt schaft liches vom See Qenesar eth" , "Das Heilige Land", May
1922. p. SO
B .
Income
and
Expenditure
per
Feddan
1
.
= •
Crops
Wheat
Barley
Lentils
Karsena
Chickpeas
Faenum
Graec.
Horsebeans
Durra
Total
G/
c
s
41 §
< Q
52
14
• 9
15
14
7
2
7
120
•G
<u
<u
_n
530
150
90
150
112
42
42
14
1130
i
• o
>
i n
5300
2250
360
750
900
210
250
850
10870
o
K
i 1
663
281
45
94
113
26
31
106
I
r>
g r a
615
235
6
26
4
4
60
-
1
m
s
1325
562
90
188
225
52
62
212
i
•S)
C
en
"3 i>
, 3 5-
3133
1228
231
443
476
124
139
392
-
Owner s
Pan
in Klg|
2167
1022
129
307
424
86
111
458
4704
in
LP
21.670
8-176
1-419
3-684
4-664
688
1-221
2-352
43-874
In this dist rict one fedclan = 120 dunams.
Wahaif expenditures : Seed guard, Harvesting works, Threshing.
55
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9f)T]rmn.Tr| pm? S r r r n r m
jo
}HTT
At harv est time he hires day labou rers, giving them food
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n dwelling liouso
Bedouin tent; the wife ninkinjj hatter
and tobacco all the time they work and 120-150 P .T. in cash
per feddan.
Fo r weed ing 3-4 poun ds are spent in the course of the year.
This work is done by women for five to six Piastres a day.
Finally he has an addition al expen diture of 4-5 kels of
wheat for bringing the produce from the field, for ingathe ring
and for threshing.
All expenses are borne by the tenant, except that for
watching, in which the owner also shares. In lieu of this outlay
the Effendi tak es a meed (a twelfth part of a kel) for every
feddan watch ed. F or the food of the cattle at. threshin g time
also the tenant has to pay a meed for every head.
A 3 .
The Household of the Fellah.
The diet of the Fellah is poor and monotonou s. H is staple
food is the "pittah " which he bakes every day. A few "pittahs"
with onions or radishes form his morning and midday meals.
A cooked meal — called by him "tabiekh " — is only prep ared
for him in the evening. It consists of the herb "khubbeza" flavoured
with onions and pepper. When tomatoes are in season he eats
tomato sa lad flavou red with p eppe r. Pepp er and oil are his two
condiments. Most of his requirements are provided by his own
fields, and he buys but little outside.
Bread.
— In the diet of the Fellah the most important article
is bread. An average family of 7 souls u ses 7 - 8 kanta rs of
grain (two-thirds wheat, one third durra). This quantity is made
up from the produce of an average farm. The poorer Fellahs
do not obtain from their fields enough for their food and they
make up the deficiency partly by gleaning, partly by purc hase
rom outside.
Miik—In
many village s milk is obtain ed from she ep by
those who have their own shephe rds. The average number o*
57
head s is 15—20. Th e sheep pasture on the m ountain s, in th e
where there are no olive trees they use sesame oil which they
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cereal fields, and in the durra fields. The flocks are more nu -
merous in marshy places, which supply fresh herbage all the
year round . Milk is most plentiful as a rule at the seaso n of
the rainfall, for three or four months a year, when the herbage-
is plentiful. All the yea r round the shee p live on dry food. Th e
Arab cow yields abo ut six hun dred litres of milk a year, the-
whole of it in the course of a few m onth s. The ewe yie lds
50—60 litres of milk. Most of the milk is used for making curds
and cheese for household consumption. Occasionally the mistress
of the house sells a little cheese in the neighbouring market or
to a trader visiting the village, from whom she obtains a few
articles in exchange.
Eggs.
— Most of the Fellaheen have 30—40 fowls. Not one
of them kno ws how many eggs he collects nor do they pay any
attention
to
this bran ch. In the hom e they use this article of
food chiefly to entertain visitors. As a rule the woman sells the
eggs and ge ts in exc hang e feminine article s like needles, thread,
cheap ornaments and so forth.
Meat - The Fellah uses very little meat. For entertaining;
visitors he will kill a sick sheep or some sick fowls. They also
have meat when an ox or a camel falls ill beyond recovery.
They then kill the animal and treat the members of the village
with a portion of the flesh. Som etimes with the m oney which
the woman obta ins in the market from the sale of fowls, cheese-
and eggs, she purchases a pair of trotters, a head or so forth,,
with which she prepares a special treat on returning home.
Oil.
— The Fe llah uses a great deal of oil. A favourite dish
of his is "pittah " dippe d in oil. He consum es a jar of oil p er
person per year. In some villages the F ellah has his own olive-
trees. He presses the olives in the neighbouring oil-press, leaving
the refuse in payment, while he takes away the oil. In villages.
58
prepare themselves.
Vegetables.
— The Fellah does not grow enough vegetables
for his requirements. In many villages they are not grown at all.
In most villages there are only a few winter vegetables. Those
who want vegetables buy them in the neighbouring town. The
Fellah's favourie dish is the "tabiekh" made of "khubbeza." The
woman gathe rs this herb in the winter mon ths, dries it, and
uses it for cooking most of the year.
Clothing. — Expenditure on clothing falls under two h ea ds :
(1) Clothing boug ht once a ye ar; (2) Clothing bou ght every four
or five years. Every year the Fellah b uys a "fob." If a Fe llah
is asked how old he is he will an swe r: "I have bought so and
so many pairs of shoes and tob s." In times of scarcity he
buys a tob every two years. An "ab aiah " is bought every four
or five years, and a "tarboush" every five or six years. Expenditure
on clothing is made up a s follow s: "to bs" for a family £
2.5;
shoes £ 1; propo rtion of the cost of the tarbo ush and
abaiah £ 0.50; total £ 4.—
Soap.
— The Fellah uses soap only for washing clothes.
For washing the body and the hands he is satisfied with plain
water. For washing clothes also they use for the most part ash
of the stalks of sesam e a supply of which is prepare d for the
whole year. Of clothes washin g altogether there is very little.
As a rule the tob is wash ed once a month or once in two
months. Most families use two to for bars of soap a year, i. e.
2—4 okias, costing 6 PT. a year.
4. The Communal Organisation.
Communal Bodies.
— The ruling pow ers of the village a re :
(1) the Sheiks, (2) the Mukhtars, (3) the Elders (Ichtiaria). The
Sheiks are the heads of the family group s (the Ham uleh), and
59
their function is to settle disp utes which arise between the
Th e right of use of every Fe llah to the share m arked on
1
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mem bers of the H amu leh, and in conjunction with the Ichtiaria
to arrange those matters which concern all the members of the
village. The Mukhtars are elected by special law and approved
by the Government. They are the representatives of the village
with the Government.
Ownership,-
All the arable land in the village is "m ush a,"
and belong s to the com mun ity. Once every two years it is
divided up amon g the inha bitan ts of the village. The land itself
is divided into three or four main sections acco rding to the num-
ber of Ham ulehs in the village.
Every F ellah h as the right of use of a certain shar e of the
land of the village. Th is sha re is expressed in terms of vario us
measure; sometimes by Feddan (pair of cattle), sometimes by
Seeka (plough), similar to the F eddan of the Mishna, sometimes
by Kerat (every Kerat is V24) and sometim es by Sehem, a certain
fraction, the denominator of which is fixed by the nominator.
The Musha (undivided) land itself, is marked out in a
fixed numbe r of bloc ks. This numb er v aries .accordin g to the
kind of land and its situation. For example-,.-the land of a village
whose area is 15,000 dunams may be divided into 30 blocks.
Each b lock (Muka) has a different name which is derived from
som e incident that occurred in the village or from the person
to whom the land belongs.
For ins tance:
Jazirat el Takh una = Station on island,
Bez Iyoun el Assavur = Swamp "Ain el Assavour"
Kalat el Beader
•El Belita
Malab el Jazlan
El Majir
Kur Amar
= Platform of Threshing Floor
= Oak
= Place of Gazelles,
= Caves
= Valley of Amar.
60
the Musha land is not concentrated in one block, but scattered
amo ng the variou s blocks of the land of which the village is
compo sed, or in a number of single blocks, according to an
agreem ent with the village rs. The F ellah' s share is therefore
divided into plots. It may be that his plot or parcel in one
block is consolidated there, or it may be divided into separate
strips in the one blo ck. The strip is termed M aris.
Th e numb er of individual strips varies acco rding to the
kind of land. It is possible for a Seeka to be scattered amo ng
20—30 places,i even though the number of blocks be les s; for
some times the block cannot be definitely d ivided acco rding to
the kind of land, the good and the bad being mixed up and
confused. The width of a strip is sometim es 4—5 metres and
the length some hundre ds, and there are instances when the
width is 2 metres and the length 1,000. In one village for example,
such a field is called "Tu al" , after th e length of the stri ps;
in another it is called "Da nab H awa sheh ," i. e. the end of the
tail, as this field is considered so good, that every villager wishes
to have at leest a crum b. Each strip may contain even only one
dunam, and sometimes there are two partners sharing this dunam.
Som etimes the land is indicated as Musha theoretically,,
whereas it is actually, by agreement among the villagers, sub-
divided land. Jewish colonies have done much to influence the
neighb ouring villages to becom e "Mafruz" lan d, i. e. each indi-
vidual h as h is own separ ate land, but it is scattered in a
number of places.
The usual share of a fellah in the land amo unts to from
V2—1 fedda n. Between Gaza and Jaffa E gyptian fellaheen have
settled on small holdings of 30 -4 0 dunam s. S ometimes one of
the Sheiks or Effendis owns a half or a third of the whole
village. In some village s it is only the H amu iehs which differ in
61
f
it
j
li t
in
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the number of sehems they own, some h aving a larger portion,
some a smailer, wh ile within the H amulah
the
land is divided
according to the number of individuals and their share-rights.
Th e ac tual own ersh ip of the land of variou s villages usually
does not go back, according to the report of old Sheiks, even
two gen eration s. A hundred or hun dred and fifty years ago many
lands were empty of inhabitants. Their workers lived in neigh-
bourin g to wns or in larg e villages. In the same way the southern
Fellah at the prese nt day lives in Heb ron, in Gaza, or in Beth-
Gubrin, and his land is a day or two days journey away. Even
the capital cities of to-day , like Jaffa and Jerusalem, were in-
habited more by countrymen than by traders, just as Lydda,
Ramleh and Nablus are at the present day.
In those good old days the land was not assigned to its
tiller by the ox-goad measure (masafim), but each one took as
much as his heart desired and his h ands could work. But as
time went on, the "land of God " becam e less and less, and
men of might seized it and would not give it to others. Spac e
was limited and quarrels were frequent. The weak banded to -
gether into families, and took up their fixed abo de on the land
which they tilled. In som e cases the wo rkers could not live in
the village owing to the shortage of water. The y managed,
however, to find som e old stopped-up wells, by opening which
they obtained water; and so the last obstacles were removed.
Ploughing plots.
— After the first rain s the Sheik s and the
Mu khta rs go out to mea sure the fields and to assign eac h to
his part. Measurement is made with an ox-goad about two and
a half meters long , and with this the plots are marked out.
The plot ex tends the who le len gth of the block with a width of
from one ox-goad to six ox-goads. The length is known from
long prescription , and there is no need to delimit the fields
assigned to each "hamu leh" every year, as their boundaries are
62
fixed by tradition a nd are well known. Th ey are also recognised
by ancient landma rks, which are often "living landm arks," wild
plants of great age like Hazab (Uriginea Maritima). After they have
marked out the main blocks, they cast lots between the hamulehs,
and then between the individual mem bers of the hamule hs. The
casting of lots is done with the "lep eh" under the tarboush with
rags of different co lours , each colou r representin g a plot.
Parcellation.
— Since 1928, the Survey Departm ent of the
Government carry out the parcellation in accordance with a list
of share s in each of the cultivation block s, which is supplied
to them by the Land Settlemen t Department, after consultation
with the village authorities.
The communal affairs.
— Th e com munal affairs of the village
are few. As a rule they are confined to the watchin g of the
fields and the go vernm ent taxes , and in a few villages they
include the water supply. The re is a special charge for water
only in villages where the water is deep down and has to be
drawn up with a long rope with the help of a pair of oxen or
a camel. In such villages it is usual for one man to und ertake
a co ntract for the draw ing of the water, especially in the period
when the drau ght a nima ls are occupied in the field, that is, for
six months in the year. The dau ghte rs of the village carry the
water on their he ads in pitc hers, exactly as in the days of
Rebecca. T hey may be seen morning and evening by the side of
the well, each one waiting for her turn to receive her share of water.
The whole communal expenditure comes practically under
the heads of drawing water and watching the fields. The expense
of watching is distributed according to area, each sehem
contributing one mesh a (5 rottles of whea t). The charge for
water is made according to the number of heads and pitchers,
as a rule five P iastres per month, and one Piastre for 4 pitchers
of water.
63
i
11
t
Thus the communal charges on each individual are made
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up as follows:
for watchin g 2 mes has of wheat 40 piastres
for wate r 120 ,,
For defraying the expense s of the Muk htaria, of journeys
and of entertaining soldiers the Governm ent retu rns 2—2
l
/2°/o
of the taxes to the Mukhtar.
[
\
64
C h a p t e r Si x.
THE FELLAH'S FARM UNDER EXPERIMENT.
An area of 250 duna ms is divided into seven different
types of farm units at the branch station at Gevath (Valley
of Esdrae lon). The pu rpose of the investigation is to com pare
the typical farms establish ed in Palestine from the point of
view of the cost of crop -prod uctio n and ret urn s; and like-
wise to ascertain the possibility of develo ping ho ldings on mo -
dern lines.
The pla n of experime nts wa s laid out by the Divisions of
Rural Econ omics and of Agronomy. The work is carried out
by the Division of Agronomy.
The area set aside for the primitive type of farm is culti-
vated strictly in accord ance with the prevailing system. To
ensure greater certainty, this portion has been handed over to
an Arab fellah, who cu ltivates it at his own expen se, ac cordin g
to his own meth ods without any influence on our part, the
Division simply taking exact notes on his methods of cultiva-
tion, hours of work, the cost of maintaining his working teams
and of providing his essential food requirements.
This arrangem ent will provid e a clear picture from an eco -
nomic point of view oUhe advantages and disadvantages of each
type of farm under consideration over a long experimental period.
The Aim of the Experiments.
In general the plan follows two main lines: that adopted
in existing farms in accordance with their essential characters, and
the new line marked out by the Division of Agronomy and the
65
Division of P lant-B reedin g. In regard to the first, the system
Economy. — The economic value of some meth ods,
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of farming is carried out on set lines without any alteration;
while in the second, the farm is worked according to those positive
results which have been obtain ed by the various Divisions of
the Experimental Station, which show any relevance to the sub-
ject under review. The best meth ods of cultivation, combination
of manures, quantities of seeds and sowing dates are adopted.
The best selected seeds from the Division of Plant-B reedin g
are used. C ontrol of disease s and insect pests is practis ed
according to the instructions of the Divisions of Plant Pathology
and Entomology.
The aim of the experim ents is also to verify and to com-
pare the results of those m ethod s which in the experime ntal
plo ts have prove d to be the best, for the following reaso ns :
Absolute yield.
— Experiment plots are small. The largest
are 5 ares. While this size is quite sufficient to furnish com -
parative data of a relative value between the various m etho ds
tried,
it
is too small to give their absolu te yields, the
managing of small experimental plots being of a special
character.
Combination of many factors.
— In experimental plots we
genera lly deal w ith a single factor. Thu s, for instance, in green
manuring experiments the investigation is limited to green
manuring versus non-m anuring. Other treatments, like tillage etc. ,
are done in the customa ry manne r of the country. In the eco-
nomic fields all the treatments will be carried out according
to
the results obtained in the corresponding experimental fields.
Technical po ssibilities.
— Certain meth ods are to be tested
as to wheth er they are rea lisable under field cond itions on
acco unt of technical difficulties involve d, for exam ple, the metho d
of sowing in strips and cultivating during the growing season
between the rows.
cost of production, etc. , can hardly be established in expe-
rimental plo ts, and larger fields appro ach ing to the size of
farms are required for this purpose.
Types of Farms Exi s t ing in the G ra in Region .
The following are the three princip al typ es of existing
farms in the grain reg ion: —(1) The fellah's primitive farm;
(2) The consolidated mixed farm ; (3) The mono -culture
Europ ean farm. At oppo site pole s are the entirely prim itive farm
of the fellah and the cons olidate d mixed farm, while betwee n
them, the remaining types constitute gradual steps in develop-
ment. These include transition farms which gradually approach
the mixed farm acco rding to a definite plan in advan ce, a nd
farms in which the main reven ue com es from grain while the
other branches are subsidiary.
1. The fellah's farm. — This farm is minutely desc ribed in
previous chapters. Its characteristics are : —bi-annual r otat ion ;
mono -culture; depen dence upon grain ; the rotation crops are
the only mean s of main taining fertility; m anure is not an item to
be ca lculated ; the stan dard of life is low, in many cases below
poverty level.
2. The consolidated mixed farm.
—
This farm is described
in a separate essay. Its cha racteristics are : — the chief item is
fodder crops rotation ; increase and maintenance of fertility is
secured by manures and fertilisers regulated in alternation for each
field; the system of cultivation and form of orga nisatio n are
mo dern ; the standard of life is com parable to that prevailing in
all civilised countries.
3.
The mono-culture European farm. — In its crop rotation
this farm resem bles that of the fellah except that in stead of
primitive implements, modern ones are wholly or partly e mploy ed.
66 67
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The mixed farm is the only one which can serve as an
example in respect of the standard of life which it assures its
owner, and it is this which is the chief point of departure for
all the reforms which it is propose d to introduce in the other
types of farms.
Living Area.
— As the consta nt factor we take a given
stand ard of life in a certain period of years. The factors se-
curing it are subject to variatio n. We expres s the former in
money when we assume that provision of the essential needs
of a working family in farm produce and cash requires a sum
of £160 per annum net. The factors securing th(s amount vary
as to size of area, form of organising the farm, extent of inten-
sification, etc. -""
Size of unit in the intensive farm. - T h e unit establ ished for
an intensive farm is, for non-irrigated land 100—130 dunams;.
for heavy irrigated soil, 30 dunams; for plantation soil according
to the quality 1 0-1 5 dunams . All these units are intentionally
adjusted to the form of farm base d upon the family's own
labour without requiring hired labour at all or only in except-
ional cases in seasons of stress.
The extensive farm. —
The size of this farm will require an
area three or more times greater than that in the above examples
in order to secu re the given stand ard of life, because in a farm
of this type the revenue is comp osed of the surplus inc ome deri-
ved from the difference between the standards of life of the owner
and the workm an, in con trast to the intensive farm which really
dep ends upon family labour o nly. In the grain region it can be
maintained only on the cultivated fallow system, that is, half of the
area remains idle. The various customary rotation-crops in the
prevailing cropping system require excessive m anual labour and
these crops cannot, in virtue of their yields, produce a surplus
for the owne r abov e the cost of labour. A farm of this type is
68
satisfactory as a transition in colonisation but not as a perm anen t
condition . Its system enables the prepara tion of large area s
with few labour forces and also the increase of fertility of the
soil. Th e machine is, in such transitio n farm, impe ratively
necessary; primitive tools cannot in this case take its place.
The size of the fellah's farm.
—The improvement of the fel-
lah' s farm is possib le only in such units a s a re esta blished for
types of intensive farms dependent on the family's labour, for the
following re aso ns: —(1) the extensive transition farm can be c ons i-
dered only for unsettled areas of land and not for land distrib uted
between close sett lers; and (2) this farm req uires a very heavy
equipm ent costing large sums, requires qualified labour, and
suppo rts a thin population. On the other hand it is possible to
raise a sm allholding to the degree of the describe d m ixed farm
over a long transition period, even with the fellah's tools, without
any appreciable change.
Sources of revenue in the mixed farm. —
The dairy is the
chief source of revenue in the mixed farm. Its structure and
form of o rganisation are entirely adap ted for growin g fodder
and maintaining cows. Th e first dairy farms were founded on
non-irriga ble land or with slight auxiliary irrigation. Th is is
the position also to-day . The path to growing of fodder and
improvem ent of cattle is for the most pa rt beaten out. Not so
the p ath to the market which has not yet even been found.
For by market we must mean foreign markets, seeing that in
Palestine the urban pop ulation is sma ll and their purc hasin g
power low.
In other countries intensification in agriculture proce eded
by way of conversion of grain to meat and milk. It is po s-
sible that in Palestine redemp tion will come to heavy agri -
culture by "the milky way." Milk products will stand com pet-
ition in eastern markets. All the factors of production available
69
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in the country are absolutely favourable, as the writer has shown
in special studies. But a national economy cannot be dependent
on solitary branches even when they exist and certainly when
they are only a matter of specu lation. Poss ibly the dairy
farm will produce competitive prod ucts from heavy irrigated
soil alone. It is, therefore, necessa ry, for greater protection, to
seek also syst ems of intensification which are no t depen dent
upon cattle breeding.
Plan of
E x p e r i m e n t s .
Area. —
Th e area of 250 dun ams w as divided into 25 fields
of one hectare each. This size may be considered as sufficient
for the purpose pursued, as it represents the average size of
field in a small holding.
Soil. —
The soil of this block is similar to the rest of the
experimental fields of the Station, analyses of which are given
elsewhere.
The fields lay bare for many years covered with weeds,
especially the wild c arot and the wild Canary gra ss. To g et rid
of the latter espec ially, the field w as p lough ed 25 cm s. deep in
the summer of 1926, except, of course, the field devoted to Arab
farming, where no other implement but the Arab plough wa s
ever used.
The era dicatio n of wee ds in the Arab farming fields wa s
done by han d little by little, in the course of successive years
of cultivation. Th e so il was in a very exh austed state, and crops
grown in the first year were low in yield. Owing to the relative-
ly large size of field, only a single co mpon ent of the rotation
occupies the field at a time, and, consequently, results will only
be obtain ed at the end of the variou s periods . In this respect
the farm differs from the experimental fields, where all the com-
ponents are simultan eously grown, and results are continuously
70
in evidence. In the Arab farming, however, all the components
occupy the soil simultaneously.
The rotation of Arab farming should consist of the main
rotations of the country, namely: wheat-sesame , wheat-durra,
wheat-chick peas. However, as the summer crops depend upon
yearly rainfall, it is left to the farmer to withdraw a given crop
if conditions of the year are unfavourable.
r e c i p i t a t i o n
: — T a b l e 1 5 .
Rainfall at Gevath Experiment Station.
Month
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
1925—1926
5
9
14
9
4
5
O \
19-7
78.0
196-7
94.4
43-3
20-0
1926—1927
•2 a
B |
& .E
13-5
277-5
112-5
167-0
38-5
52-0
1927—1928
4
3
6
10
20
5
— in
'c 5
o \
23-5
44-8
21-5
119-7
201-7
10*3
192»—1929
II
1929—1930
12-5
74-0
155-2
231-3
192-5
28-3
37-2
6-0
6-0
O-.S
0-5
, 123-5
11 131-7
15
I
162-3
10
3
3
77-2
8-7
40-5
To tal 46 j 452-1 65 661-0 48 421-5
66
743-0 49 544-4
The Cultivator. — The fellah and his family have their
residence no t in the Experime ntal Station but in a village in the
vicinity where he is working other land in tenancy. H e comes
to work the 60 dunam s at the Station at the proper time of
operation. H is family consists of six pe rs on s: the fellah and
his wife, two s ons , 3 and 17 years old, a nd 2 daug hters,
6 months and 15 years old.
In addition to the fields of the S tation the fellah work s
about 200 dunams. The w orking anima ls which he u ses for the
71
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whole area, the fields of the Station included, are 4 oxen and
2 asses. Half of his own area is sown with winter crops, viz.
wheat, barley and beans, the other half being sown with sum-
mer crops, viz. durra and sesame. Additionally every year one
dunam of lentils is sown.
In the following table the field returns which the fellah in
question receives from his 200 dunams and the use he makes
of them , is give n :
Kind of crop
Wheat
Barley
Beans
Sesame
Durra
Yield
in kels
50
28
20
19
14
10
6
10
4
3
15
4
Seeds
kels
15
3
1
1
Surplus for sale
Quan tity j Value
kels
10
15
10
14
5
7*500
6- -
7-500
18-200
2-500
Total 41-700
Every worker receives 4—6 pittahs during the day, weighing
about 1 kg., and v egetable s. When a cooked m eal is prepared ,
as burghul, lentils or rice, he takes a portion of it to the field,
besides the evening meal. Then he receives during the day,
according to the season : eggs or olives or tomatoes, or figs,
or saba r (cac tus fruits), and some times leben (sour milk) or
olive oil.
The home and farm expend iture of the fellah is c omposed
of the following items:
1
Taxe s, viz. Osher and Verko and communal expenses are not taken into account.
» Seeds wh ich the fellah receives from the landow ner are included under "Tenancy
fees." Prices calculate d as average of the years 1927-1929.
72
lloehu,' sesame
Sesame H iresliing floor
A.
Food.
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of
12 Kels Wh eat at 75 kgs. eac h, for
flour, regular price per ton £ 10
1 kel w heat — 75 kg s. for burgul
30 rotl meat for Sabb aths and Fe asts
at 150 mils (each time y
2
r 0
^ )
30 rotl onions per year
24 rotl olive oil at 140 mils
Rice, soa p, salt, pepp er etc. during
the year, 30 mils daily
1 tin petrol per year
Semneh (cooked butter)
>/
2
kel lentils (37.5 kgs) at £ l per kel
Vegetables, muskmelons etc. during
the year
In additio n, the eggs of four laying hens
are used. Milk is bought only in the event of
sickness and thus costs but very little.
B.
Clothing.
2 suits for each member of the family
during the year, at 300 mils each
1 pair of shoes for each member of the
family during the year, at 300 mils each
1 "Abaiah" (cloak), bought every 8—10
years for each member of the family,
at 600 mils _
C. Feed for Working Animals.
4 Oxen, 2 asses, fed during the year, ex-
cept in the sea son of green fodder and the
season of pasture.
4 kels karsena at 750 mils
4 „ durrha „ 400 „
3 „ barley „ 450 „ _
Total Home and Farm Expenditure during the year
73
9.
—,
4.
—.
3.
10.
—.
—,
—.
5.
,—
,750
500
200
260
950
180
600
500
—
1.600
1.400
34.940
3.600
1.800
—.400
5.800
6.—
£46.740
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Types of Farms under Experiment.
/.
Arab fanning.
- Thes e are the fields leased to the fellah
of the neighbouring village of Medjdel, who was described in
the foregoing pages.
The field is divided into three sub-fields of 20 dunanis
each and based upon three types of two-year rotation :—(1) chick-
peas and whea t; (2) durrha and whea t; (3) sesame and wheat.
The total area of the field is 60 dunams.
2.
Parallel farm to the Fellah's farm.
— This field is
divided into two sub-fields of 10 dunams each and based upon
two types of two-year rotation : (1) durrha and wheat; (2) sesame
and wheat. This farm is cultivated by the Division itself with.
European implements. The total area is 20 dunams.
3.
Grain farming without cultivator.
— This field is divided
into three sub-fields of 10 dunams each. Tw o-, three-, and
four-year rotatio n. The total area is 30 dunam s. C rops of the
four-year rotat ion: leguminous, wheat, summ er-crops, flax.
Three-year rotation: leguminous, wheat, summer-crops. Two-year
rotation: leguminous, wheat.
4. Grain farming with cultivator. —
Partition, size and rota -
tion are the same as in No. 3, but the cr ops are gro wn in strips-
between which the soil is cultivated.
5.
Farming based on green m anuring. — 30 dunams. divided
into three sub-fields. Green m anuring every two, three and
four years.
6. Cultivated fallow. — 30 dunam s, divided into three sub -
fields
;
the same as in No. 5, but dry-farming takes the place
of green manuring.
7. Dairy farming. — 40 dunams, divided into two sub -
fields, one of them being sown with leguminous and hoed crops-
(vetch for hay, clover, stock beets, pumpkins, maize for fodder
and grain) and the other with grain crops (wheat and barley),
74
The rotation crops as well as the cereals alternate with one-
another . Organic manure is applied every four years, at the
ratio of 40 tons per hectare.
Three m ethods are being investigated : (1) Fallow, (2) Green
manuring , (3) S owing in strips, with or with out the help of
fertilizers. The frequency of repeating the first two meth ods are-
also investigated in these fields.
Dry Farming. *)
"F allow practice is credited with being able to increase
yields because of the following beneficial pro per ties :
It assures an adequate amount of moisture in the soil for
high yields even in dry years, it resto res the fertility of the
soil, and increases the bacterial activities, it perm its to get rid
of weeds and pests, etc."
Conservation of Moisture.
— The net amou nt of water left
at the disposition of the crops is considerably lower than that
of the total rainfall. Even the more humid region s take on
a less favourable asp ect in regard to the s upply of water
to the crops than it would have been supposed at first thought.
Thus,
dry-farming methods, even with the sole purpose
of increasing the water supply, can be justified for a larg er
area than the strictly dry regions of the country."
Fallow as Restorer of Fertility.
-The depletion of soil
fertility is becomin g more and m ore cons picuo us, ow ing to
the continuous c ropping for grain . As dry-farming is to be-
come finally synonymous with dairyless farming, farm manure
will sooner or later go out of use. The only way of returning
to the soil the elements drawn from it by crops will be by
*) The paragraphs dealing with "Dry Farming," "Green Manure" and
"Sowing in Strips" are extracts of a study by M. Elazari, Division of Ag-
ronomy, Agr. Exp. Station. The study in full com prehenses results of ex-
periments made in 1921—1930, and will be soon published.
75
add ing chemica l fertilizers. The pra ctice of green m anuring
presents a problem by
itself.
It may be that this way of farm-
estimated to be abo ut 80%. We eds also serious ly interfere with
the growth of the crop and may co nsiderably reduce the y ields.
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ing will continue to proceed , but if not, it may prove very
beneficial to allow the soil to rest from time to time."
B acterial Activities. — The optimum temperature for soil
bacterial activities prevails during the summ er m onths, from
April to October or November. But those months happen to be
at the same time qu ite dry and the moistu re co ntent of the soil
is too low to stimulate intensive bacterial activities.
Th us, it seem s that the intercala tion of a fallow year in
the rotation would be a great improvement. By maintaining the
soil moist during the whole summer, maximum bacterial activity
would be obtained and soil fertility would be increased."
Fallow as an issue of particular local farming condi-
tions.
—
As is pointed out above, the non-irrigable land is to be
confined to exclusive grain farming. Until the last few years,
cereals, particularly wheat, were the only remunerative crops,
and the othe rs, which alternate in rotation with whea t, either
were deficitary or required much hand labour. Under such con-
dition s, better results might be obta ined by substituting fallow
for these crops. In recent years, maize gave quite good results
and has proved to be equal to wheat, as regards income, in
the humid parts of the country. Yet it is not known what the
average income would be if wheat and maize were to alternate
continuo usly; a reduction of yields of both crops is to be ex-
pected . In some re gion s, maize is not quite successful, so that
the question of the rotation has not lost its acuteness."
Rotation and pests.
— The winter cro ps in this country
are subjected to many pests, the most injurious of them being mice
and weeds. The extent of damage caused by mice may amount in
some years to 25% and m ore. For the year of 1930, the damage is
76
Both pests can b e got rid of by alternating winter and
summe r crop s, the latter being quite free of those pests, on
condition that large areas of land are sown. But this rotation
is feasible only in such regions where summer c rops succeed.
For the other regions, fallowing seem s to be the only effica-
cious solution."
Fallow as transitory practice.
—
From time to time,
areas of land, which has been idle for several years are brough t
under cultivation. Such land is for the most pait in a poo r
state of fertility, covered with weed s, and c onstitute s a refuge
for pests.
Under such conditions the yields are at the beginning quite
low and it generally takes several years to bring the land into an
improved state.
Fallowing practice, even when superfluous under normal
conditions or as a permanent practice, may be useful in this
particular case, during the tran sitory stage. By this method
better results may be obtained than by continuous crop ping."
Green Manure.
"The main object of green m anuring is to provide the
soil with orga nic ma tter, and in conn ection with this the gree n
manuring is much superior to the dry farming method which
not only does not increase the orga nic matter of the soil but
is supposed to impoverish it.
The importance of organic matter as a primary factor in
maintaining the fertility and physical state of the soil is un -
animously recognis ed. Most of the soil of Palestine does not
make any exception to the rule. Its susceptibility and ready
responsiveness to the effect of organic matter has been established..
77
However, farm manure as a supply of organic matter can
hardly be taken into consid eration . Beside s its very limited
productio n, actual and pro spectiv e, it will be confined to dairy
adve rse conditions of rainfall. For the succes s of the winter
crops depends not as much upon the total rainfall as upon its
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farming. For the non- irrigab le and cons equently strictly grain
farming the green man uring may be the only resource of or-
ganic matter supply.
The green manuring realises
to
full extent many of the
advan tages of the dry farming method. If well prepared , the
green manure will allow to
ge t
rid of weeds and pests. It
will keep moisture in soil and hence encourage bacterial activities
all the year rou nd. It may even supply the next crop with an
additional amount of moisture saved during the year when the
green manure was used.
Thus, even with regard to assuring adequate moisture supply
to the crop the green m anuring may advantageously substitute
the dry farming met hod, any way in regions with mode rate
rainfall.
The same as dry-farming the green manuring may be con-
sidered as a transitor y or pe rman ent pra ctice. It may constantly
alternate w ith the cereal or only be intercalated from time to time.
All these effects and variations are bein g dealt with in
those fields."
Sowing in Strips.
"Sowing of cereals in spaced strips and cultivating between
them is not custom ary in this country. In some parts of the
drier region of the south ern bo rder, rows are spaced to about
30—35 cms., but are left uncultivated during the growth of the
crop.
This way of sowing may be sufficient for the kind of
soil of that particula r re gion but for the heavier soil it is quite
worthless and cannot be taken in consideration.
Sowing in strips with repeated hoeings between them is
seemingly the most efficacious way of securing the yield under
78
distribution.
In the case of wheat whose growth extends , under the
best distribution of rains, to at least six weeks after the last
rains, the grain always matures under unfavourable conditio ns.
The explanation of this is easily grasped. Whatever the state
of hu midity of the soil may be, fissures are bou nd to form
sooner or later after a certain period of dry weather persis ts.
The first action of the cracks is that they cause rupture
of the roots and consequently reduce the supply of moisture
and food. Then, the surface exp osed to the air gets larger on
account of the cracks, and the dryness of the soil increases
rapidly, both in intensity and in depth.
To prevent this state of things there seem s to be only
one efficacious solution and that is to make poss ible the forma-
tion and maintenance of a mulch during the growth of the
crop.
This can be done if sowing is practised in strips sufficiently
spaced to allow intervention of cultivating imp leme nts.
The system of spacing enjoys some of the special proper-
ties of both the cultivating fallow system and green m anuring,
and moreover leaves no area unsown, as in these two system s.
The spacing system can therefore become a permanent intensive
one wherever the dairy farm is unsuitable for lack of markets
or other reason s, and it may suit also grain crop s in the rotation
•of dairy farming even when manure or fertilizers are used ."
79
Plan
of
Experiments (Explanations
to
biagram),
fl. Ciry Farming.
K Four-year rotation : fallow, wheat, summer or leguminous, cereal.
M a p of E x p e r i m e n t a l F i e l d s .
P.Z.E.AGRIC.EXPER.STAT-IOM
m m >U7
j row
r r n n
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1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
II. Three-year rota tion: fallow, wheat, flax. 1 with fertilizer, 2 with-
out fertilizer.
UJ. Bi-annual rotat.: fallow, wheat. 1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
B. Green /Manuring.
I. Four-year rotation: cover crop, wheat, summer crop, flax, or
cereal. 1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
II.
Three-year rotation: cover crop, wheat, flax. 1 with fertilizer,
2 without fertilizer.
III. Two-year rota tion: cover crop, wheat. 1 with fertilizer, 2 with-
out fertilizer.
C. Grain Farming, Cultivated.
I. Four-year rotation: leguminous, wheat, summer crop, flax or
cereal. 1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
II. Three-year rotation: leguminous, summer crop, wheat. 1 with
fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
III. Two-year rota tion: leguminous, (summer crop?), wheat. I with j
fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
f
b . Grain Farming, not Cultivated.
i. Four-year rotation: leguminous, wheat, summer crop, flax or
cereal. 1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
II. Three-year rotation: leguminous, summer crop, wheat. 1 with
fertilizer, 2 without ferti lizer.
III. Two-year rotat ion: leguminous, (summer crop?), wheat. 1 with'
fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
IV. Two-year rota tion: durra, wheat. 1 with fertil., 2 without fertil.
V. Two-year rot at. : sesame, wheat. 1 with fertil., 2 without fertil.
E. dairy Farming.
Four-year rot ation: wheat and barley; maize for grain and forage;
barley and wheat; pumpkins, beets, clover and vetch.
F . Fellaheen Farming.
I. Two-year rotation: wheat and leguminous.
II.
Two-year rotation: wheat and durra.
III. Two-year rotation: wheat and sesame.
IV. Two-year rotation: leguminous, wheat. 1 with fertilizer, 2 without
fertilizer.
V. Two-year rotation: durra, wheat. I with fertil., 2 without fertilizer.
VI. Two-year rotation: sesame, wheat. 1 with fertil., 2 without fertilizer*
80
0M
or
FARM ECONOMICS
OVATH
r c n
-D-
j
,„__
H I
••
v
-~i
;
IV-
1 v—-
For explanations see pp. 80 and 82.
81
I - •
Explanations to map
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Fallow
Wheat
Fallow
Or. manure
Wheat
Gr. manure
Fenugrec
Wheat
Maize
Fenugrec
Wheat
Maize
Durra
esame
afs
Dry farm.
Barley
Oats
Green man
Wheat
Flax
Fenugrec
Wheat
Flax
Fenugrec
Wheat
Wheat
Wheat
Vetch
Clover
Beets
Pumpkins
Maize
Maize
vetch
Clover
Beets
Pumpkins
Maize
\ Wheat
Bariey
Durra
Sesame
Wheat
Wheat
Wheat
82
Th e fellah rnmiiii; to
work,
Oevath Exj>. SK
Sowing sesame with a funnel, Gevatli Exp. St.
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The size of a family farm . — Th e size of a farm w ithin the
capa city of one family (without hired labour) is determined
T a b l e 16.
Calendar of Operation in Arab Farming Experiments
Agr. Exp. Station Gvath.
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3.600
3.600
0.500
1.500
chiefly by the duration of the p loughing seaso n (see Table 4,
p . 20). One yoke of cattle needs one adult wu rker —the harath:
he ca nnot be procured as a daily labourer, but has to be
enga ged by the year. H is wage s are paid in kind and amount
to abo ut £ 18 — £2 2 per year. Details of the am ount of grain
pai d to the hired la boure r in Galilee are given in table 12, p,
55 .
The w age of the harath in Judea is as follows :
6 sacks of wheat 930 kgs. £ 9.000
3 „ „ barley 450 „
3 „ „ durra 450 „
One abayah
Cash
Total £18.200
It is of course not worth while keeping cattle to be used for a
limited number of days; they must be used for a complete season.
Na tura l p asture alone doe s not suffice for their susten ance, and
the additiona l concentrated food, amoun-ting to some £ 7 per
yea r, constitu tes a very consid erable item in the fellah's budget.
The keeping of the harath and yoke of cattle costs him about £30
pe r year. On the farm for w hich detailed figures of revenue
and yield are given in Tabl e 12, p. 55, from one feddan (120
dun am s) a bout 11 ton of grains are obta ined, and this on land
of g ood quality. £4 4 goes to the owner of the land, £2 2 to
the hara th. Th e surplus income of the owner is only made
pos sibl e by a ruthless exploitation of the hara th w ho is in con-
seq uen ce living below the poverty line. The lowest limit of
exp ens es of the harath must be £ 50 which is the sum spent by
a. not entirely dest itute fellah's family. De tails of the expen-
ditur e of the fellah are given in separate ta bles on pp. 49
and 73.
84
Operat ions
Opening furrows for wintercrops
Ploughing and sowing „ „
Weeding and hoeing „
Ploughing on the chick peas field
„ » ,. durra „
,. „ sesame
„ and sowing chick peas
1 926-2 7 1 927-28
1928-29
Second plough, on sesam e field
Hoeing of chick peas
Hoeing of sesame
Hoeing of durra
Ploughing and sowing sesame
Harvest of wheat
Transport of wheat
H arvest of chick peas
Threshing of chick peas
Harvest ing and t ransport
of sesame
Threshing of wheat
Winnow ing and cleaning of
wheat
Threshing of sesame
H arvesting and t ransport
of durra
Threshing of durra
Winnowing and cleaning
of wheat
28-29-111
28-29-111
30-3MII
1-2-IV
14'15-IV
28-V
28-V
20-VI
10-15-VH
16'18-VlI
18-19-V1I
20-29« VJ1
29-31« VII
4-7'IX
8'10-X
8'11'X
85
10-28.XI 1-2.XII
11-23-
22-25111
21-28-111
17 '231V
6-13-V1
9-13-VII
4-29-V1II
30-VIII
14-15'VIII
5-14.XI
2-15-XII
30.111, 3.IV, 22.
30-111' 1'4-IV
30-111 1'4-lV
25-26-1V
27-28-IV
28-1V
11-17'V
12" 18-VI
'24-27- vi
24-31.V1II, 1-6.IX
9-20-1X
29-30.IX, 1-8.X
6-7-X
8-11-1X
17-IX
T a b
W O R K I N G
A. Wheat Experimental Field
l e 17 .
D A Y S ,
at Gevath (Arab Farming).
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Y e a r s
Area of the plot
Kinds of Work
1. Opening furrows
2,
Ploughing
&
Sowing
3. Weeding
4.
Ha rve s t
5. T ra nspor t
6. Threshing
7.
Winnowing
T ot a l
1925 - 26
23
W orke r s
M
e
10
17
9
18
2
5977
W
o
m
e
-
5
-
—
-
5
C
d
277
10
-
-
6
- '
1877
Dunams
Animals
H
o
—
-
3
87s
-
O
x
377
12
-
-
—
—
1577
Ol
377
1273
-
6
7
—
29 —
1926 - 27
30 Dunarns
W orke r s
M
e
18-5
2
3
14
32
10-5
8 0 0
W
o
m
e
5
2
7
6
-
20
C
d
-
3
-
5
15-5
-
23-5
Animals
in
a
X
—
O
x
49-75
A
s
6-25
4l - 1
-
16
-
20
-1«
7
-
-
49-75 26-25
Y e a r s
A re a of the plot
K inds of W o r k
1. Openin g furr ows
2. P lough ing & Sow ing
3.
H o e i n g
4.
H a r v e s t
&
T r a n s p o r t
5. T h re s h ing <S W i n n o w i n g
T o ta l
B.
1925
20
Dur-ra 1
- 2 6
D una rns
W o r k e r s
M
e
37 3
4
5
6
0
18
2
/a
W
o
m
e
—
2
2
4
0
8
C
d
3
2
-
-
0
5
Animals
H
o
4
a
3
4
-
—
-
8
a
/a
O
x
—
2
-
-
-
2
A
s
3
4
-
2
-
9
experimental Field
1926
- 27
15 U una ms
W o r k e r s
M
e
8
6
—
9-5
7
30-5
W
o
m
e
—
—
2
7
1
10
C
d
—
2
-
—
-
2
A nima l s
H
o
—
-
—
-
-
—
O
x
n
16
16
--
-
12-5
44-5
<
6
4
-
6
2-5
18-5
8 6
1927
- 2 8
30 D una ms
W o r k e r s
M
e
17-25
14-50
4
22
-
25-50
3-50
86-75
W
o
m
e
—
-
3
1
-
1
-
5
C
d
—
-
4
9-5
5-5
11
0-5
30-5
A nima l s
H
o
—
-
-
-
-
5
-
5
O
x
29
29
-
-
-
48
-
106
A
s
14-5
14-5
-
5-5
12-5
11
-
58-0
-
1928 - 29
30 D una ms
W o r k e r s
M
e
8-8
16-4
2
16
5-5
19-5
8
76-2
W
o
m
e
—
-
10
—
-
0-5
-
10-5
C
h
d
2-4
-
1-5
10-5
5-5
6-5
2
28-4
A nima l s
H
o
—
-
-
-
-
10-5
-
10-5
O
x
21-6
32-8
-
-
-
—
-
54-4
A
s
14
17
-
15
9
14-5
8
77-5
4 years
for 30
W o r k e r s
M
e
7-6
15-6
2
15-7
7-8
25-1
6-2
80-0
W
o
m
e
—
-
4-5
2-4
1-8
1-9
-
10-6
C
d
1-4
3-3
2-1
5-0
4-0
10 2
0 6
26-6
a v e r a g e
D u n a m s
A nima l s
H
o
—
-
-
1-0
1-0
10-6
-
12-6
O
x
13-9
31-8
—
-
-
12
-
57-7
A
s
8-2
13-7
-
5-4
10-3
10-4
2
50-0
)
x/ -
- - - lit nJ
W
if
at Gevath
1927
(Arab
- 2 8
Farming]
30 D una ms
W o r k e r s
M
e
9-75
12-5
—
2
1
25-25
W
o
m
e
-
-
—
—
—
-
C
d
—
6-25
—
1-5
-
7-75
A nima l s
H
o
—
-
—
—
-
-
O
x
28-75
25 —
-
-
1-5
55-25
A
s
13-75
12-50
-
1
—
27-25
1 9 2 8 -
-2 9
15 D una ms
W o r k e r s
M
e
6-5
6
-
8-5
1
22-0
W
o
m
e
—
-
—
8-5
0-5
9-0
C
d
—
2
—
-
-
2
A nima l s
oi
X
—
-
—
-
-
—
O
x
13
10
—
-
—
23
A
s
7-5
6
9-5
-
—
23
4 years
fo r 30 1
W o r k e r s
M
e
11-1
10-6
1-9
11-8
5-7
41-1
W
o
m
e
-
0-8
1-8
9-2
1-0
12-8
C
d
1-1
4-3
-
0-4
-
5-8
a v e r a g e
D una ms
A nima l s
H
o
1-8
1-5
—
-
-
3-3
O
x
21-7
17-5
—
—
8-5
47-7
A
s
11-3
9-6
-
8-8
1-7
31-4
< c
I
Y" /
•/*-/
87
1.0
T a b l e IS .
Income and Expenditure of Arab Farm under Experiment in Gevath.
(60 dunams)
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1926-1927
1927-1928
1928-1929
Average
Average per
dunam
I N C O M E
21-280 12-136
5-250
15-300
5-288
19-150) 10-952
18-5771 9-459 -
O Q.
38-666
20-588
J
0-734 {40-836
0-619
0-631
33-363
0-556
EXPENDITURE
3-293
2 - -
2-786.2--
i
2-994 2 - -
3-023
2- -
0-050i0-034 0-056
3-866
2-058
4-083
3-33S
9-159
6-844
9-077
8 * 3 6 0
0 « 1 4 0
o
2 9 - 5 0 7
1 3 - 7 4 4
3 1 - 7 5 9
2 5 - 0 0 3
0 - 4 1 6
1. Calcula ted according to the fol lowing pric es: Wheat £ 10, Durra
£8 , Chickpeas £ 10, Sesame £26.
2 Manuring expenses, amount ing to
£
3 on the average, which were
incurred for experim ental pur pos es, are not included in the items of ex-
penditure.
T a b l e 19.
Returns per Dunam on Experimental Plots,
Arab Farming.
Year
1925-26
1926-27
1927-28
1928-29
Average
Wheat
s l
<s
25-2
30-0
30-0
30-0
—
—
10-4
8-9
8-9
Return kgs
o
u
t
n
u
r
e
» £
87-8
61-7
51-9
77-2
69-6
n
u
r
e
B
80-2
-
82-1
81-1
Chick peas
- =
si
14
15
-
-
-
5?
T3
L
CO
— •
8-1
-
-
-
:
u
n
k
OS
24-3
35-0
-
-
29-6
a g
-
15
30
15
-
Durra
e
d
k
40
-
0-4
0-4
0-8
—
:
u
n
k
-
101-1
22-0
47-0
56-7
Barley
e
m
m
5.6
-
-
-
-
e
k
C/)
-
-
-
-
-
•
u
n
k
as
95-0
-
-
-
-
Sesame
e
n
m
a
m
< T 3
-
-
-
15
—
e
k
-
-
-
0-6
-
k
t
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r
n
ai
—
-
-
27*5
-
1")
88
ko
Follnli wlicnf- fiolil at Oov;
iovnrli
r
"Wlieat field fnllowing ^r ceu m.-inui-e.
HOVJIHI
Exp . S t .
The catchword of modern capitalistic economy is "live
and let live." If this motto be a pplied in this instance the farm
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"Wheat sown in strips, flevath Kxp. .St.
above considered would have to grant the harath the wage of
£5 0 per year at the very least. This would mean the lowering
-of the revenue of the farmer from £ 4 4 to £ 1 6 per feddan .
According to the low level of wage standard of the harath, the
landlord of an area of 12 feddan obtains an income of £6 49 .
If he were to satisfy the most e lementary perso nal need s of the
harath, the farmer's own profit would drop to £ 31 2; and if
the hara th were to receive a y early wa ge of £ 60, which is
the desira ble sta nda rd, the farmer's p rofit would sink to
only £ 190.
The land under experiment does not give such yields, and
according to its properties it is of the type most common in
the country. Instead of a yield of 11 ton per feddan, o btained
in the richly fertile land referred to in Tab le 12, the average
yield is here 6.5 ton; the revenue from one feddan is thus not
£66 , as in the former case, but only £5 0. The latter is the
minimum sum required for the maintenance of the harath, on
which it is absolutely impossible to make any reduction. The
owner of the land has thus nothing left over for himself, and
can only live by harsh exploitation of the hara th. The con-
clusion to be drawn therefore is that any addition to the area
over and above the unaided working capacity of the family cannot
•raise the standard o f one man without lowering that of another.
The only solution lies in raising the fertility of the soil and the
-efficiency of the work of the family.
For in the whole grain-
growing region of the coun try agriculture can o nly yield a bare
living, and not furnish interest on capital.
"Wheat following' cultivated fallow, «Vvath Ex p. St.
89
R e s u l t s of E x p e r i m e n t s i n M o d e r n F a r m i n g
1
) .
The experimental period of three years (dairy farming three
years ,
farms of other types one year) is hardly sufficient for
of returns since all the factors of produ ction in mod ern farms
have been specially studied on hund reds of actual farms (not
experimental on es), the results of which have been published in
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con clusio ns to be drawn, even when the fields were normally-
good and the years were average. This is still more the case-
in years of drought and of mice plague. The period under con -
sidera tion suffices, howe ver, to indica te in a genera l w ay the
difficulties inherent in the transition from grain to fodder growing
and the methods best suited to overcome them.
In the year 1928/29 new metho ds were first introdu ced on
fields assigned for this purpose . The conclusions which can
be draw n at the present stage refer only to the results of the
use of vario us fertilisers, bu t not to the efficacy or otherw ise of
the new methods of cultivation employed.
All the land used for experiments was, till the year 1926/27,
"bur " (uncultivated). In this year, a portion w as sown with
barley, and yielded up to 500 kgs. per hec tare. The rest of the
land was sown with w heat, with a yield of 560 kgs. per hectare.
In 1927 /28, the w hole area was sown with maize, the yield being
830 kgs. per hectare.
In this account of the experimentation done by the Division,
it is thus not intended to offer any definite conclusions, but only
to summ arise data for future investigation, and also to show
that the use of mo dern implem ents does not in itself provide
a solution of all outstanding problems, and that additional
factors must be brought to the field.
Only the fellah farm re prese nts an econ om ic unit in
every respect, beca use his fields are worked acc ordin g to his
independent individual experience. The work on the other farms is
done by m eans of hired labour. Th e aim is a mere com parison
») The detailed descriptio n will be published by the Division of
Agronom y.
90
a separate treatise.
Fields A. & B.: D ry Farming and Green Manuring.
These experiments were started in the years 1928/1929 and
1929/30, i. e. that in those years only prepar atory work was
done . Wh eat follows in the next yea rs, 1929/30 and 1930/31.
Rotation. Each of those method s comprises three various
rotations. See explanations, p. 80.
The following Ta ble give s the yield of cereal (in kgs. per
hectare) preceding the fallow and green manuring, as obtained
in 1928/29.
Details of experiment
W h
Grain
1-205
1-317
777
e a t
Straw
2-169
-
1459
' B a r
Grain
1
1-894
2'577
1-238
1 e y
Straw
2-273
2-835
1-330
°
1 t S
Grain Straw
1-162
1-697
869
2-324
4-260
2-429
1. Pho spha te and N itrate
(in one application)
Nitrate in two applications
2.
No fertilizer
The comparative experiments with fertilisers in the above-
mentioned fields were m ade not for their own sake, bu t only to
discover the influence of fertilisers on different system s of cul-
tivation.
The land under oats was twice attacked by h ot desert
winds (H ams in): the first time immediately after flowering, and
the second time just before the ripening of the grain. In con-
sequence the yield suffered from sun-b urnin g and the grain itself
shrank.
The crops of wheat after green manure and dry farming
for the year 1930 were annihilated by mice.
91
The res ults of the Division of Agronomy give the
following yield of wheat, after green manure and after
Details of exper iments
W h
e a t F l
a x F en u g r ec
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legum inous cro ps for grain, on an averag e for three yea rs, in
kilogrammes per hectare :
Fer til izer
None
P h o sp h a te
P h o sp h a te
&
Nitrogen
AHer green
manure
l '030
1'862
l'84O
After grain
crops
852
1'218
1-222
The maximum yield of wheat was
—
2,256 —
1,450.
The maximum yield of wheat in the dry farming experiments
was for the same period of years as following:
after cultiva ted fallow . . . 1,750 kg s.
after ses am e with fertilizer . 1,425 „
Fields
C.
& D.: Sowing in Strips Versus Ordinary Sowing.
An are a of 6 hectares is dev oted to the study of these
methods.
The method of sowing in strips is charac terised by the
fact that all the crops which enter into the rotation are sown
in spaced strips allowing cultivation between them.
Rotation . Thre e different rotations are included. See ex -
plantations, p. 80.
The experiments were started in the year 1928/29.
F ertilizers. Half the area of each field was fertilized that
year with Phosphate and Nitrate of Soda for comparative pur-
pos es. In future the entire field will be fertilized, as results of
previous years show few p rospects to increase yields without
fertilizer. Th e following Ta ble gives the yields obtained in
1928/29 (in kgs. per hectare).
92
Grain
1'591
691
1'282
706
Straw
3-661
1-612
-
Grain
540
377
601
403
Straw
6-543
1-773
2-765 j
2059 j
Grain
766
181
1-184
341
Slraw
1-609
1-196
2-487
888
Field C. Strips : —
1. Phos phat e and
Nitrate
2. No fertilizer
Field D. Ordinary sowing : —
1. Phosphate and
Nitrate
2.
No fertilizer
The area worked by "cultivators" w as sown in strips,
each c ons isting of four rows with spac es of 14 cms. in between,
and each strip being 65 cms. apart from the next. The amou nt
of seed was 60 kgs. per hectare.
Four cultivations were made during the period of growth,
on 28/12/1928, 25/3/29, 7/4/29 and 3/5/29, immediately after each
fail of rain, especially to destroy the weeds. The Arab "cultiva tor"
is of a small type and reaches to a depth of 5-6 cm.
Fie d E.: Dairy Farming.
Area. An area of 2 hectares is devoted to this purpos e.
The features of this type of farming are its special rotation and
the use of organic manure.
Rotation . The rotation is compo sed of fodder c rops and
of cereals in almo st equal parts . The following fodder cro ps
are sown :
Clover, vetch hay, stock beets, pumpkins, maize
for forage, maize for grain 1 hecta re.
Wheat and barley 1 hectare.
Th e cere als and the fodder crops also alternate amon g
them, s o that each crop appea rs in the rotation on the same
field once in four years only.
93
The area devoted to each of the various rotation crops is
in proportion to the total area, admitting that 2 hectares are
Yields of Fodder Crops (Green Fodder),
( in Tons per H ectare) .
Yield
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able to sustain 2 cows. Some changes in regard to area are,
however, made from time to time.
Manure. Manure at the amount of 40 -4 5 tons per hectare
is app lied every four yea rs. Until now only old manu re was
used. The manure is applied before the fodder cro ps: clover,
vetch, stock beets, pumpkins.
In addition, fertilizers may be used every two years.
In regard to methods of ploughing and sowing, this type
of farming show s little or no difference against the other type s
of farming described.
The main characteristic is the summer ploughing. Immedia-
tely after the ha rvest of the crop, the soil is ploughed at a
depth of 18 -2 0 cm. In these experim ental fields, ploug hing is
more shallow, as earlier experiments proved deep ploughing to
be quite superfluous.
Other treatments, like discing, rolling, harrowing are
necessary for complete preparation of the seed bed.
Sowing is as a rule performed before the rains. Th e
forage crops are sown first, then follow barley and wheat.
This order is sometimes necessary, as sudden rains may
interfere with the sowin g. It is of more importance for the
forage crops to be sown early than for the cereals.
Th e expe rimen ts starte d in the y ear 1926/27, when one
fourth of the field, Va hec tare, was manured, and the various
rotation cr ops were sown . It was disco ntinued for the year
1928/29, and retaken again in the following years.
The following yields were recorded:
94
Kinds of fodder
obtained in
an avernge
dairy farm
30
25
25
10
1-2
40
41-4
19-5
7-7
16-7
1-26
23-6
1928/29
12 0
16
6-4
5-2
1-27
8-6
2
)
1929
;
30
40
16
3-9
8-1
8-2
Remar k s
Clover
Vetch
Pumpkins
Maize
Maize for grain
Beets
i) Due to delay
in sowing
•)
After sapling
Yields of Cereals on Various Crops,
(in Kgs. per H ectare ).
Rotation Crops
(Kerab)
B a r
1928/29
l'200
1070
780
l '050
975
775
1 e y
1929/30
1-377
-
752
652
701
507
W h
1928/29
935
797
422
914
990
719
e a t
1929/30
6«6
436
639
556
645
539
Vetch
Clover
Beets
Pumpkins
Maize
Maize for grain
Crop yields in dairy farming do not themselves determine
the amou nt of direct income but only d etermine it indirectly by
fixing the yield in milk and offspring. The capac ity of a unit
area for sup porting cows is directly dependent upon the amount
of the crop . The yields indica ted in the first table on this
page, first column, a re avera ge figures ob tained in dairy farms;
where yields are as high as these, it is poss ible to keep one
cow per hect are. The balan ce of revenue and expen diture from
this type of farm is given in Chapter VII, table on page 99,
and table 20, p. 109.
95
The lasting effect of the application of chemical and
organic fertilisers extends over a consid erable period of time,
according to the findings of the Division of Agronom y. The
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results given here are not intended to be conclusive but to serve
as a record of observations made.
96
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H arvesting with binder
with machine
C h a p t e r S e v e n .
MODERNISING THE FELLAH'S FARM.
In the following chapter we shall set down only in general
outline those grad uated improvem ents which are feasible
in
the
farm of the fellah. A detailed programme, together with precise
demonstrative evidence, both economic and technical, will be
the subject of a sepa rate study based on an analysis of the
various types of existing farms in the grain region of the country.
The following schem e of improveme nts rests axiomatically upon
two preliminary su ppositio ns :
A. That the fellah's farm remain s during a specific tran s-
itory period in its prevailing form without im portant chan ges
in his draught anima ls, im plemen ts, crop rotation, or his way
of life. Its objective is increase of revenue without app recia ble
increase of the items of expenditure.
B.
The improvements proposed are principally of a bio-
logical and not technical nature, in origin domestic, rather than
acquired by import. A farm still in the transitory stage cannot
be burdened with massive machinery and buildings since they
are then not a means of productio n but of luxury. The existing
instruments of production must advan ce the farm to the desired
standard by increasing the fertility of the soil, augmentation of
yields, and increase of revenue, with the consequent raising of
ihe standard of life.
First Transitory Stag es in. Mod ernisation
of a Primitive Farm.
The Heavy Crane. — Up-to-date instruments of product-
ion introduced in the mo dernisation of primitive farms in
97
the first transitory stage may be compared, in many instances,
to the use of the heavy and cos tly crane to lift light and in-
significant loads. The "crane" is the capital invested in the
The capital investm ent in a diversified farm based on
own labour am ounts to £1,200 excluding land, when completely
equipped with all instruments of production. The value of the
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form of building s, machinery and too ls ; the "loa d" is the net
profit remainin g for the supp ort of the work ing family. In the ab-
sence of exact cor respo ndenc e be tween crane and load, the
balan ce of the farm is lost and it is doomed to constant
failure.
The capital investment in a consolidated diverse farm (of
the German type) in Palestine amounts to £3,500. Its area is
from 250— 300 dunam s. Its chief source of revenue is from its
milk prod uction . In 1927, the time of inve stigation, when the
farmer's price of milk was 2PT., the gross income was £410.
Expenditure reached £310 including £110 cash for maintenance
of the family, so that the profit was about£100. Interest on capital
and ground rent is not calculated. These are all cash figures. £47
are spent on hired labour, low paid because of the low standard
of life of the labou rer. A plough man receives £ 28 per yea r; a
stable boy £ 10 per year. The daily wage is 8P T. If hired
labo ur is to be paid at a rate affording a human stand ard of
living — £ 7 per monthly field labour er, £ 5 per monthly stable
man and 17PT. for a daily labourer
—
expenditure on this item
will rise to £164 instea d of £ 47 with the result that the net
profit will disapp ear and the farmer -ow ner's standard of life be
lowe red. Incr eased intensification cannot bring about the desired
salva tion, b ecaus e increased produ ction by intensification is re-
quired to m aintain the b alance of profit of the dairy. The farm
servin g as illustration obtaine d £2 50 from dairy produce when
milk was 2P T. per litre. When it drops to 1 PT., double the
quantity must be produce d with the same expenditure, with a
cor resp ond ing increase when the price fluctuates from 1.3 to
1.5 PT.
98
land, from 100 to 130 dunams, reaches £500. The average cash
revenue from such farm is £ 260. Expenditure in cash £ 190,
including about £80 on purchased commodities for the family.
Depreciation swallows £21 — total expenditure is £2 11 . The
family also consume s about £7 0 worth of the farm's prod ucts .
The net profit therefore is £49.
In a transitory stage, equipped with only some of the
instruments of production, the farm's capital investment will be
£ 700 without land or £ 1,200 with land. The worker will have
£ 40 in cash for his supp ort, and a
ne t
profit of £ 9. Interes t
on capital and grourtd-rent is not calculated. The following table
illustrates the turnover of the three farm types discussed:
o
?
c re
A
B
C
D
E
Area
in dunam
250
100
120
250
80-100
Invested
Capital
Land
Equip-
ment
£
l ' 2 5 O
500
500
l'OOO
300
2-250
l2OO
700
420
80
C
a
I
m
e
•
T
a
C
a
E
j
d
S
y
o
h
j
h
d
i
n
C
j
N
e
:
P
|
F
m
p
o
d
e
1
q
e
t
h
s
y
o
f
h
i
h
d
=8
410
250
150
195
70
310
211
141
135
35
110
80
40
60
15
100
49
9
-
-
70
70
5 0 - 6 0
17
35
Total
benefit
derived
from
the farm
.€
280
199
99-109
77
50
Two working members of the family are occupied in each
of the abov e selected farms. If they w ere to hire themselv es out
at £ 7 per m onth they w ould earn £ 168 per annum under n or-
mal workin g hour s, with no over-time , none of the worr ies of
*) A •=- German farm, B = Small holding farm (full equipm ent),
C = Sm all holding farm (transitional stage), D = Grain farm working with
modern implements according to Arab crop rotation, E=*Arab farm.
99
maintaining a farm, and without having to invest any capital.
In farm A the farmer receives a su rplus of £11 2 (£ 42 in cash
and £7 0 in produce) above the family's remuneration for labour.
for labour performed when all other expenses ate paid and 5
per cent interest on the capital. On the average for all farms
the labo ur earnings of the family amount to 69 kroner per hectare
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This difference is secured only because of the discrepancy be-
tween the two stan dard s of life of the owner and his workers.
In type B the farm brings in £ 199, that is, the farmer re-
ceives a surplu s of £31 abov e the family's remunera tion. In
order, therefore, to obtain a surplus profit of £11 2 as in farm
A, a capital investm ent of £3,50 0 is needed, and in order to
secure only £ 31 above ordinary wages of hired labour £ 1,700 are
required . This is the "ex pensiv e cra ne" w hich from a pure
econom ic standpoi nt ho ists but a small profit, chiefly providing
the farmer with his independence.
This is also the agricultural situation in developed countries
as Switzerland, Holland and Denmark, for example. Prof. Larsen
describing the farms of Denmark reports:
"On the avera ge for all farms w ith less than 10 hectares,
more than 80 per cent of all work is done by the farmer himself
and his family, and what he ought to know is, therefore, how his
labour income corresponds with the income he could have had
by working for others." •
"The average size for farms with less than 10 hectares is
about 6 hectar es. T he total lab our incom e per farm will then be
479X 6=2,8 74 Danis h kroner or 69 ore per calculated working
hour. By com parin g these figures with the normal wages for
hired men in the same year it is found that the labour income
on the average has been 10 per cent higher, and amon g the
10 years there were only two, namely 1921-22 and 1925-26,
where the labour income was lower than the normal wages."*)
..."the farms have been ab le to pay the family rem uneration
or about half the calculated normal remuneration . Th e labour
earnings have been highest in the group of less than 10 hecta res,
amo unting here to 1,436 kroner per farm and for farm s of 50
hectares or more there have been no labour earning s but even
a deficiency of 2,025 kroner per farm when 5 per cent interest
is to be paid on the capital. In 1926—27 the labour earning s
amounted to 1,634 kroner per farm for the small-holdings, 639
kroner for the medium -sized farms, and the deficiency for the
large farms was 4,288 kroner. A comp arison of the figures for
the two years s how s a considerable pro gress both for the large
and the medium -sized farms w hile in the smal l-holding s th e
labour earnings have declined by about 200 kroner per farm.
In 1927—28 the labour earnings for this gro up are 30 per cent
below normal remuneration, corresponding to the amount which
the family could have earned during the year if w orking for the
same number of hou rs in other farms at the going wag e. In
1926—27 the labour earnings were 25 per cent below normal
remuneration for the same group of farms."*)
The instrum ents of production themselv es employed in each
of the abov e typ es of farms are as links of a chain , each of
which must be firmly welded, as otherwise the chain will break
at
its weakest point. Pedigree cows and poultry not gradually
home grown but imported are susceptible to ills unless kept in
airy and costly build ings. H eavy ploughs can only be drawn by
strong animals who require plenty of good food. One draught
animal's food requires 20 dunam or one-fifth of the farm's estate.
•) O. H. Larsen, Organisat ion and Developmen t of Invest igat ions in
Agricul tura l Economics and Farm Management in Denmark, 1927.
*) Results of Danish Farm Accounts in the Accounting Year 1927—28.
Bureau of Farm Managem ent and Agricul tura l Economics, 21st R eport ,
4th October 1928.
100
101
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by when he is press ed for time. He is obliged to use it even
for a sma ll are a, e xploiting it to the full, but also leaving it idle
for long. In this case two motives are mixed
—
the machine as
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a means of production is an economic necessity, and as a means
•of luxury is a psychological necessity.
Means of Production and Means of Luxury. —
To those who
believe implicitly th at the mac hine in itself alway s incre ases
the fertility of the soil, it is obviously always a means of pro-
duction by its very nature. But those who regard the machine
in most of its functions only as an aid to biology, find it also
an imp edime nt wh en it is a prem ature luxury, prior to the farm
being able to bear it. It is this conflict which is espe cially
revealed in the transitory stage from primitive to modern agri-
culture, bringing complications into the entire farm.
The same implem ent may be a means of production and
a mea ns of luxury acc ordin g to the extent of its use. The fast
mo tor is a means of produc tion if there is enough wo rk to run
it for econom ic pur pos es every day in the week. The ass , for
examp le, cannot at its rate of speed execute the same am ount
of work. But if there is only e nough w ork to run the motor a
few ho urs and for the rest of the w eek it stan ds idle, its greate r
speed has only a luxury and not an econom ic value. Under
such conditions there is nothing better than the ass w ith its
natural slown ess. The m otor has ceased to be a factor of pro-
duction and has become luxury.
In a land of small farmers only the working family and
not the hired hand s determine the system of work. The size
of the "living are a" determ ines the essential rate of speed in order
to com plete all the labour, with its rational distribution, accord-
ing to the calendar of operation for each season throughout
the year. That instrument which correspon ds to such rate of
speed and guarantees the p roper standard of life is an instrument
104
tnhiii hr enl . yieldi ng 800 lif.n.-s IK.I" vesU
1
Crossbreo l , Arab :uv\ Du M i, 1 st jjonomfcion, yicM inj;. over -iOdO
lifiMs (:ivor;ige for three veal's)
of production; that which works at exceptional speed during a
few days in the seaso n and rema ins idle the rest of the time
for lack of work, owing to the limits of the "living area," is a luxury.
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Crossbreed, Beyrouth
fun I Friesinn ("A F riesiaa
l.ilootl), nvpni^c yield for
thren years 2,935 liters.
( J r os>11r eed . B e yr ou th ; iml
Krii-s i i i i i . averayi
1
yield Im-
il ii-ci> ve in s 2.71 1 l if f is . .
j a g g j g g E
1
m
I
I
i
r
i
M
1
Crossi)reed, Be.yrouth
find Friesian (
3
/« I'Yiesiau
blood), average yield for
throe years 3,517 liters.
Psychological causes may make the latter instrument essential
even when it is possi ble to perform the w ork it does with
slower and simpler too ls. It is poss ible, for exam ple, that the
Danish farmer cannot ada pt himself to the tempo of the pre -
vious generation and has adopted modern speed even though
it is not economic, because of its convenience alone. It is thus
but an additional expense required by his standard of life such
as other items —fine cloth es and boo ts, a roomy hom e, fine
furniture, etc. In Denmark there is an expansive exhibition field
on which there has been erected a veritable ancient village in
all aspects—homes, farm buildings, yards, house utensils, tools
and water suppiy. The primitive simplicity of an earlier age hovers
around the visitor as he strolls through its pat hs. It is con-
ceivable that with these ancient instruments of production, ex-
hibited merely as a mem ory of early days , preva iling returns
could be obtaine d by the fanner, if it were not for his desire
for presen t day comfort. Noi the need s of prod uctio n but the
refinement of the habits of the producer caused the substitution
for simp le and plain too ls of expensiv e, intrica te a nd heavy
mach inery. Possibly this refinement has also affected the cows
and pigs who, if not now maintained according to modern stan-
dards, would deteriorate. Possibly quality cro ps, those which
withstand competition require special arrangem ents, involving
additiona l investm ents and a large turnover. It is difficult to
distinguish fundamentally in modern ag riculture between what
is vital and what is luxurio us or convenien t. At all events the
"leverage" to o btain profits in all these cases is ponde rous
and intricate.
In many developed countries agriculture has during the last
105
decade suffered more or less from se rious crises. Under stres s
the Government assists the agriculturists in various ways, direct
and indirect, by gran ts, long term loans at low interest, by
maintaining scientific and economic institutions at its expense,
takes the benefits he enjoys as a guide for the primitive .man.
If you adorn the hut of the fellah with a Rembrandt painting you
not only mar the picture but fail to give enjoyment to the fel-
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the opening up of market s, protective tariffs, etc., thus relieving
the individual farmer burdened with an excessive investment,
and so balancin g his deficits which have a purely economic
origin. These deficits are partially the result of the disc rep-
ancies arising from the excess of investments for the conveni-
ence and comfort of the worker as com pared with those essential
for producing revenue. Th e purely econom ic law is decisive but
in its place there come reasons of social policy which require the
protection of agriculture as par t of the life blood of the general
social organ ism. The Swiss farmer burdened with a heavy
capital investment but subsidised by the Government in various
ways affords an illustration of these statements.
The agricultural community absorbing from childhood the
habits of its generation, its defects and virtues, cannot return to
the slow primitive plough, for it is mon otono us, discouraging
initiative, and is oui of accord with the rhythm of modern times
and of modern thou ght. Driving a tractor is more harmonio us
and pleasant and even in cases w here it does not increase the
returns c omp ared with the expense, it can serve as a means of
encouragement and stimulus, and is a factor in production just
as hours of rest, without which work would be impo ssible. It
is not so in the case of the primitive cultivator who is oblivious
to the rhythm of the time. If we endow him with various
modern mach ines we comm it a double erro r — we do not increase
his revenue nor do we bring him satisfaction from the new
inventions. On the contrary we add mill-stones to his neck.
—
The standards of the higher civilisation do not correspond to
primitive wants . The man of culture misse s his goal when he
106
lah, who derives pleasure from mere coloured advertism ents.
It is necessary first to advance him gradually to such a state
of culture that his aesthetic sense will appreciate the beauty
and glory of fine art. In the same way do modern instruments
introduced before their time operate. They are a burden to the
farm and do not benefit the ow ner even as a means of comfort.
The art of reforming the primitive farm is to determ ine
exactly when the farm has graduate d to the point when it can.
use modern machinery, and not to introduce it before then. It
is the e ssence of the art to transfer the farm by gradu al de-
velopm ent from the easy to the difficult sta ge.
The crane of
which we have spoken must be an organic product of the land
itself, growing naturally like the crops. It must be prep ared for
during the transition stage w hen the fellah's nature is still
charact erised by satisfaction with little for this charac teristic is
also suscep tible of chang e. Until the needs of the fellah increase in
accord with a cultured standar d of life he will find the natu ral,
domestic " cran e" in the home -grown and not acquired sto ck, for
its cost is but nominal, not having absorbed much expenditu re.
Tho se vehicles of labour produced gradually on the farm
itself will never become excessive even when, as the farm devel-
ops,
they serve not purely for production but also for convenience.
The farm will in course of time exchange its primitive implemen ts
for modern ones and so chang e its form free of the above men-
tioned causes of conflict.
Improving the Fellah's Farm with his Present
Instruments of Production.
Transition stages in Palestine's modern farm.
—The modern
farm w as from a certain point of view born with a defect—its
107
numerous requiremen ts. It begins with large expenditures prior
to its receipt of even small returns. Every mode rn farm in the
country is handicap ped at the start by an expense of £8 0 per
T a b l e 2 0.
Compara tive Expenditure on Different Types of Farm s ( in £).
Smallholder's
Smallholder's
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annum. Half of this sum comprises communal expenses for se-
curity, education , orga nisatio n, and for such needs as conc en-
trated foods, maintenance of machinery, chemical fertilizer.
In every modern farm, in civilised countries, a large pro-
portion of the farmer's instruments of production represent
"accumulated capital," gathered during gen erations and trans-
mitted from father to son just as the treasures of the home. Jewish
colonisation in Pales tine also do es not prov ide the settler with
a complete equipment, w hich costs about £1,20 0, but only
with a partial equipment, costing £70 0. During a prolonged
perio d of year s the se ttler ca n, by his thrift and self-dep rivation,
acquire the complete equipm ent. His instruments of production
will, therefore, be almost half composed of virtual accumulated
capital. F or the fellah the tran sition will be lightened, in partic -
ular if he continue s for a certain time to utilise (he common
draught-animal and implements and not tractors or motors.
The stages of prog ress in the development of a modern
farm in this country from its foundation to the desired standard
are expressed in tables 20 and 21 (pp. 109, 110).
'transition stages in the fellah's farm.
— The fellah's farm will
be clear of most of the expend iture items enum erated above for
a fairly long perio d. H e can utilise the cro ps of his farm for his
family's sustena nce, such as wheat, milk, eggs, vegetab les, to
the same extent as the above mentioned modern farms without
any necessity
to
resort to the "heavy" rather than the "light crane."
H is present implements will enable him to increase his cash
proceeds by from £ 2 0 to £ 30 during the transition period.
Th is is all it is ne ces sar y to find at first, for with it the fellah
beg ins to app roac h a cultured standa rd of life, and the farm
108
H e m s
German Farm
Farm
(self-working)
Farm (trans-
itory stage)
Fellah 's Farm
S eed s
Labour
Feeding
Manure
Maintenance of
Buildings
Tax es
Sundry
Depreciation
Colony Expenditure:
Education
Guard
of Colony and
Fields
Administration
General Exp.
Sick Fund
Pasture
Bulls
F ire Insurance
Dues
o f W o r k er s '
Organisation
Sundry
Home Expenditure:
Food and Sundry
Clothes and Shoes
Farm p r o d u c ts
used for household
Total
Expenditure
12 —
3-200
5 1 5 0
1-650
80 —
30 —
70 —
47—
59 —
6—
10 —
20—
12—
")46—
10-250
—500
10-250
3-400
1-250
4-000
—550
1-800
22 —
180—
60 —
20 —
70 —
402—
50 —
10—
10—
21 —
10—
—500
7-250
3-4001
1—
4-500
—550
1-800
32 —
150—
3 0 —
o
s s —
281—
50 —
4—
6—
2—
10—
29—
95 —
196—
11
—
4—
35 —
7—
7—
4-500
0-300
1-600
5 0—
*) Usually old cows are replaced in this farm by part of (he young
other part being sold — and thus depreciation is reduced by
£
23.
70-400
offspring— the
109
T a b l e 2 1.
Standard of Living on Farms in Transitory Stage in Different
Settlements ( in £).
Prise
of unit
will of itself increase its receipts until it reaches the maximum
development possible.
This additional income does not call for any revolution in the
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I tems of Expenditure
weight
mils
Farm A
F ar m B
F ar m C
/. Food and Necessaries
a, bought from outside
S u g ar
Oi l
Cracked grains
l e g u m e s
P o ta to es
Fru it and vegetables
Sugar for jam
Toilet soap
P e t r o l
Total for the month
Total for ihe year
Meat
Cloth ing
Nevvspaperi
Miscellaneous
Total bought from
outside
b. Derived from the Farm
W h eat
Milk
Eggs
Chicken
Vegetables
G r ap es
Jam
Total according to
market pr ice
Total food and
n eces sa r ie s
/ / . Communal
Expend.
Sick fund
Education
Organisation taxes
Miscellaneous
Total Colony Exp.
Totai Expenditure
65
180
70
80
30
70
25
150
10
30
4
100
10
1000
- • 2 6 0
- • 3 6 0
- • 2 1 0
- 0 8 0
- • 1 2 0
- • 1 5 0
- • 0 7 0
- • 1 0 0
- • 1 5 0
1-500
1 8 - -
2 —
10 —
1-200
2 —
6-750
1 5 —
4—
2—
3- —
2-400
6 —
1-200
1 —
33-200
43-750
76-950
10-600
87-550
•-•260
- •4 5 0
- •2 * 0
-•160
- •1 2 0
- •2 5 0
- •0 70
- •1 0 0
- •1 5 0
1-840
4-500
21 —
6—
3-500
3 -
2—
2—
2 400
Q,
1-200
34-780
42 —
76-780
12-600
89-380
- •1 0 0
—250
- •1 70
-•050
-•120
-•100
-•030
-•060
-•120
1-000
12 000
6—
7—
1-500
2—
4-500
21 —
6 - -
5 - -
3—
2-400
9 —
1-200
28-500
41-500
70 —
12 6 00
82600
Number of family members: two adults and two children .
Source of data: Special survey arranged by the au thor in about
200 farms.
110
farm. In various parts of the country there are certain fellah farms
which produce greater returns, as is seen from type 2 table 14
page 56, and even in the Plain of Esdraelon with its exhausted soil
greater returns can be obtained if the farm receives the neces-
sary attention. The few selected farms from the lengthy list
tables 9 and I I, page 42, 46 serve as striking examples. The
question is how shall we make all the farms cap able of earning
the same income?
The fellah's farm can be enhanced by the following reforms:
1.
The increa se of the fertility of the soil ; 2. The increase of
its presen t crop s; and 3. Diversification. The se factors can be
brought into operation with small me ans without shaking the
foundation s of the farm in its present form, and without the
growing complication of unmarketable fresh crops.
/ .
Increase of the soil's fertility.
—For lack of organic manure
the land has become poor in humus which is what increases
fertility as well as water holding capacity, the decisive limiting
factor as describe d in our introduction with special em phas is.
Green manure can supply what is lacking if one fifth or one
sixth of the farm's area is allocated for it. Partly it can be
used for fod der; the green m anure can be turned under by hand
-without changing the plough or by easily affixing to it a share.
"Wages cannot be calculated here for in a ny case there is no
dema nd for hired lab our, and hand s in a village for whom
there is no demand must inevitably remain idle. The Experi-
mental Station will publish the results of its research es in the
use of green manure together with the required instructions.
2. Increase of yields. — There is no remedy in changing
ihe existing system or substituting summer crops by new species
il l
or changing the prevailing time of sowing. The reasons are
as follows :-
A chan ge of rotation calls for fundam ental chan ges in the
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whole structure of the farm, different draught animals and con-
sequently the allocation of a special area for their feed instead
of cheap pasture and utilisation of the weeds around the field.
Chang e of times of sowin g mean s plo ughin g of brittle soil,,
which involves much expenditure which is not recoverable from
yields, as well as op pressive labour. It requires a heavy plough
which in turn needs a strong draught animal. Yet the light plough
is in the transition period the most successful weapon in the hands
of the fellah in his struggle for existence. It must not be substituted,
until the opportune moment arrives, because such an exchange
would upset the whole balance and harm ony of the ho lding.
Summ er ploug hing of heavy soil is justified in certain case s
only in a dairy farm which gives first place in the crop rota tion
to fodder c rops such as clover and vetches. Ploughin g of brittle
soil is som etime s obliga tory in order to adv anc e the clovi-r
harvest or because-of a regulated distribution of labour in or-
der to prolong the working season. In a small grain farm such
oppressive ploughing has no economic justification whatsoever. .
In overturning the stubble it deprives the cattle of their natural
past ure, an im portan t item in the econom y of the fellah. Only a.
dairy farm based on stable feeding and grown fodder can afford to-
dispense with the feed of the stubble and the remains of the harvest.
The yields of the fellah can be increase d without exce s-
sive manipulations simply by carefully preparing a goo d rotation
crop , by use.of fertilizers and selected seeds .
Preparation of good rotation crops. The fellah who pre-
pares a good rotation crop by additional ploughing and w eed -
ing increas es the yield of such crops as ses am e and durra,.
and in consequence also of the cereals which follow them in.
112
rotation. Th e additio nal plo ughing s preserve the moisture of the
soil, the determining factor in'the life of all plants in semi-arid
countries. The plough ings and w eedings destroy the harmful
weeds which cause a double evil, absorbing the moisture
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o
gathered with much effort in the soil and squeezing out the
productive plants. The defects in the prepara tion of a good
rotation crop are the result of a lack of good draught anima ls.
The fellah may not exchange his oxen for a mule which requires
for its feed an area of 15 to 20 dunams thus becoming in the
present are a unit a means of convenience perhaps , but not of
production. The fellah requires a pair of strong oxen living on
pasture.
He has no need to expend money on them but must
breed them at home by crossing the native cows with a bull of
pedigree
breed.
Use of fertilizers. Comm ercial fertilizer operat es succe ss-
fully only when the land is cultivated prop erly, aerated and
conserving moistu re. When the plant is thirsty it cannot well
benefit from the nourishment prepared for it in the ground.
Our experiments have shown satisfactory results in particu lar
with fodder and flax. By improving the rotation crop the moisture
is well preserved and the weeds destroyed so that the nourish-
ing elements are liberated to the benefit of the plants.
Selected seeds withstand drought, disease and various
pests. They increase the yield up to approximately 15% with-
out supplementary improvements. The Experimental Station
has obtained good results from its early experiments with seeds.
The Government should provide at a fixed price selected seeds
for each region in accordance with its climatic conditions.
3.
Diversification. — In most parts of the country the farm
of the fellah is depende nt on one culture and it is not surp ri-
sing therefore that its existence is not certain. The farm can be
diversified without burdenin g it with crops for which there is
113
no sure market. The add itional branch es should be native
plantations and home produce oi various kinds.
Native plantation s. A small area, 5 to 10 dunams, should
be given over for irrigated or dry p lantations according to local
in the usual shelters. A small sre a ne.xt to the farmyard is al l
that nz~d be sown for ioddzr which can Szrve as an zddi:ion.il
feed.
Greater comfort for man and beas t
will
come with
the
opening up of mark ets for the new crops and the forward
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conditions,—olives, figs, table grapes, or citrus where the soil
is suitable. The Government has begun to work along these
lines by laying out various nurseries.
Domestic produce . Each farm grows vegetables for its own
use and sells the surp lus. But it is also possible to grow cer-
tain vegetables as cash crops like onions. Egypt exports great
quan tities of onion s and there is no reason why the local fellah
should not compe te with it. Each fellah can a lso m aintain
two local cows and more poultry. Palestine im ports semneh,
and the fellah can find a market for his semneh and his sour
milk (lebben), besides improving his own diet therewith. This
also applies to poultry keeping. Egypt exp orts many eggs to
the United Kingdom and there is no reason why the fellah should
not compete with it.
Improving productive und draught-animals. It will be
necessa ry to introd uce into every village pure b red bulls for
crossing with local cows. The results of such c rossing in
the modern farms of the country are astonishing. The
offspring of a native cow and Dutch bull produ ces after its first
calf 2,500 litres of milk per annum in place of 700 litres, the
produ ction of its dam. The fellah require s for this farm a pure
bred bull able to pro duc e both a series of working oxen and
cows noted for milk and meat. The Agricultural Departmen t
of the Government at its Stud Farm at Acre has secured satis-
factory results from Devon bulls. The maintenance of the herds
can remain for the most part as at prese nt with the addition
of a few supplem enta ry improve men ts, for the herds will not
radically ch ange their mo de of life. The y will continue to live
114
move of the farm as it develops of its own accord.
Improving the poultry. This is possible in two wa ys: — by
crossing the local hens with Legho rns or R hode Island Reds
or by pure selection. Th e local hen withstands pests better
than the imp orted , and it is also a goo d layer. Its m ann er of
living need not be essentially chan ged either as reg ards feed
or barn. Such alterations immediately increase expenditure and
this branch is still too weak to bear the burde n of mod ern
investments.
There are two ty pes of farms wh ich both form an o rgan ic
unity being harmonious in their organisation and balancing their
income and expe nditure : the low-grade farm, like the fellah's,
and the high-grade farm, like the high-class dairy farm in this
country which is comp arable to that of the Danish farmer. Th e
first lives by its very limitations, the poorness of its income and
the absence of expenditu re; the second by the creative powe r
of the worker who com pels the soil to render high yields and
who bases his farm on diversified bran che s.
Looked at from a narrow econ omic point of view both
forms justify the mselv es in so far as b oth bala nce. Fro m a
humanitarian point of view the. first should be rejec ted, for it
compels the worker to live below the poverty level. From the point
of view of nation al econo my it may be said that the primitive
farm exists not on any positive qualities inherent in it, but upon
the negative aspect of the country's econ omy. With any d evel-
opment of industry, the fellah will leave his land and go
into the town, the village will be emptied and the land deserted.
With the opening of the ga tes to Am erica or to any other
115
1
country which prom ises better conditions of livelihood, there
will without doubt be a large emigration from the country.
The aban donm ent of primitive farming is imperative not
T a b l e 2 2 .
Areas, Seeds and Yields in Tel-Adass, 1916-1919.
1916-1917
1917-1918
1918-1919
Yields per Ha
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only for the new settler coming with a high standard of living
from Eu rope, but also for the fellah. The aim of b oth is the
sa me ; the difference is only in the rate of speed at wh.ch it is
to be attained, an d the difficulty is in finding a suitable path
of transition. Tran sition farms include both no n-rational and
rational types. The former are thos e which are burdene d with
the heavy machin ery of tne m odern farm w hile yet retaining the
usual cro pping system of the farm of the fellah. Th ese the
author calls "sem i-modern farms" - m odern in expenditure and
primitive in revenue, or spend ing like farmers and earning
like fellaheen. Goo d transition farms are those which cnange
the whole system of farming by converting grains into milk
and eggs. .
Illustrations are num erous and will be broug ht in a special
study The incom e and expenditure specified in Tab les 22 and 23,
(pp 117 -119 ) may serve as an example. On the border of the
fellah's farms described in Tables 8, 9 (pp. 41-42) and 10
(pp 45-46) there was a grain-growing farm of 800 -1,0 00
dunams using modern implements. In comparing the respective
figures of inc om e and of field retu rns it will be seen that the
latter farm is in neither respect superior to the former.
M o d e r n i s i n g t h e F e l l a h ' s F a r m i n a c c o r d w i t h
G e o g r a p h i c a l D i s t r i b u t i o n o f F a r m i n g S y s t e m s .
Village lands can be schematically divided into the following
div isio ns: - (1) the lands lying along the borders of the sands
and of the heavy so il; (2) the la nds lying in the plain, irrigable
and non-irrig able; (3) The lands in the plain bordering the
foot-hills; and (4) the valleys. (See map facing p. 120).
116
Grain crops
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Horse beans
Lenlils
Chick peas
Peas
Durra
Maize
Fodder (green) crops
Barley
Fenugrec
Oats
Vetches
Na'amni
Maize
Sesame
Fallow
To ta l
31-8 26746
23-4
6-9
2-5
10-3
12-6
1
0-0
3-0
93 8
29846
3075
1875
3388
562
85
418
325
24-1
14-0
2-7
6-9
2-1
10-9
9-7
0-5
0-9
14-4
19235
12604
3367
3627
560
7187
8593
647
30
waggon
89-6
117
34-2 22450
11-5
4-2
2-4
5-7
1-0
•3-0
3-0
2 ^
> 5
12827
2632
1324
2307
42 0
846
105
waggon
65-0
in Kilograms
841
1275
446
750
329
45
47
836
108
798
900
1247
526
267
659
886
1294
656
1115
626
551
404
420
33
wag.
| 282
I 3 5
wag.
T a b
Cash Income and Expenditure and Net
N
0 M
1 e 23.
Farm Income at Tel-Adass 1916—1919 in L.E.
E X
P E N D I
T U R E
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I t e m s
1916- 17
L.E.
1917 - 18
L.E.
1918 - 19
L.E.
1. Field cr ops
2.
Vegetables
3. Dairy: Milk
Ca l ve s
4.
Poul t ry : Eggs
Poul t ry
5.
Out s i de -W ork
6. Sundry
487-916
22-998
34-171
8-800
1-772
1*548
13-639
9-200
467-910
59-467
47-542
11-036
2-726
- • 7 6 2
78-088
Total
580-044
667-531
Area in hectares
No. of cows
No. of heifers
Young stock
Poul t ry
Net farm income per hectare
Net farm income per feddan
(150 dunams)
Price of wheat per ton
93-8
5
4
50
3-701
50-334
16- -
89 6
8
2
4
59
3830
52-088
16- -
676-898
99-804
5-390
3-288
3-507
25-911
814-798
65-0
75
3-440
46-784
23-542
Figures showing income from field crops after deduction of quantities for
the supply of working and dairy animals and poultry.
118
I t e m s
1. Fie ld cro ps :
Seed
Insurance
Threshing
Tithe
Sundry
2.
Ve ge t a b l e s :
Seed
Manure and Sundry
3, Da i ry :
Oil Cakes
Pasture
Bul l and Sundry
4.
Poultry
5. Working Animals
6. General Ex penses
T o t a l
Net Farm Income
Total
1916 - 17
L.E.
80-276
-
-
82-273
- 162-549
4-143
- 4-143
- • 1 0 2
7-120
2-342
9-564
—
3-918
48-804
228-978
351-066
580-044
1917 - 18
L.E.
113-800
6-242
-
60-484
11-960 192-486
11-663
3-210 14-873
- • 0 4 1
—
2-308 2-349
- • 3 3 4
12-623
93.687
316-352
351-179
667-531
1918 - 19
L.E.
153-596
4-505
80-198
77-220
36-040 352-359
9-772
16-858 26-630
—
—
—
- • 8 8 3
2-703
208-597
591-172
223-636
814-808
119
1.
S andy soil bordering heavy soil.
— In a parallel line with
the coast there stretches with alternations a strip of sandy soil
at the side of heavy soil from Caesarea to Gaza. On the road
from Ramleh to Jaffa the re are v isible to the eye the bou nda ries
/UGG EJTED GEOGRAPHICAL
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where the two types of land meet. The villages of Yazour and
Safriyeh can serve as illu strations . The passer by finds from year
to year the same meagre crops on this fine plain. All the land
is fit for irrigation but owing to a lack of safe markets for
crop s suitab le for heavy soil we mu st be satisfied, as a tem po-
rary measu re, with irrigatin g only the light soil. Every fellah
can plant 5 dunams orchard, using the heavy soil for the present
for un-irrigated crops. If our proposed reforms are carried out
he will extract from his 50 dunams more than he now obtains
from 100 dunams.
2.
The heavy soil in the coastal region. — This land can b e
divided into three typ es: —t ha t which is entirely irrigated, that
which is pa rtiall y. irrigated, and that which is not irrigated .
To the first type belongs the land belonging to the villages of
Beit-Da jan and Safriyeh on the eastern side of the railway, an
expansive plain, heavy soil, physically good but exhausted, and
producing poor crops. The fellaheen plant orange groves even on
this h eavy soil. While it is clear that the returns will not equal
those from a grove on its natural soil, the smaller results
will be much greater than from any other irrigated c ultures,
even thou gh the gro ve is not as long lived as that in its
natural soil, and requires additional wo rking days for its cul-
tivation . We are not referring to the capitalistic plantation which
thrives on the surplus remaining after wages have been paid.
Thi s will be a small farm which entirely dep ends on the nu mber
of working hands in the family and not the number of hours
they work, for the market for hired labour is very limited and
a workin g family will be able itself to devote the necessary
120
D1/TR1BOTION O F
THE
FA R TIING 5YSTEMS
I N
PALESTINE.
n\nn
|/
d fdrmmO ilono/idr thi
/onu ol lion) ind t\uvy /oil
yn?v
soil farmino
tntirrly irrioilrd.
o
attention for an orcha rd even in he avy so il. In this section
it is also possible to plant an orchard on 5 dunam s, vegetables
on 5 dunam s such as onions which have , a market, and a little
fodder. It must be emphasized that ov er-modernisation will also
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—. a
.S 3
a. >
P
L
5
T
5 °
M
n
H
Oo
o m
T J
n> m c
-i nt
A3
2
M 3
^ p
•
H
m
I • • • t | i i i t j i i i i j i . . 1
1
1 i i i j i 1 1 . i - f
com plicate this farm by the excessive investm ents. The re is no
need for costly water installations; there is no need to exchange
the method of drawing water by means of the blind mule's or
camel's circumambulations for that by electricity. Th e water
drawn by the m ule m oistens the soil ju st the same as that
drawn by electricity or oil pum ps, and e xtracts in quantity and
quality no less fruit from the tree. An orange grove of 50 dunams
needs the rate of speed of electricity, but such rate is superfluous
for irrigating a p lot of 5 dun ams . In such case the electric
force is not a mea ns of prod uction in the field of the fellah,
just as the su bstitution of his oil la mp in the home by an
electric lamp will not be considered productive. Manuring,
adequate irrigation, pruning the dry branches, selection of buds,
the c ontrol of pests and diseases, all these biological factors
are the sole means of production.
The comfort of
electricity
will
be enjoyed in the field and in the home only when the farm,
profitably supports itself.
. \
For the lan d in the plain which is not irrigated the re is
no other so lution than the increase of yields and of revenue
by means of the plan detailed abov e. The inc rease of the area
unit in com parison with irrigated soil will provide w hat is
lacking in the presen t stand ard of life. Th e unit for mod ern
farms has been fixed at 100 duna ms on unirrigated soil, an d
25-30 duna ms on heavy irrigated soil. Th e fellah's farm can secu re
the same
ne t
profit as the m odern farm, for not h aving the extra
expenditures with which the modern farm is burdened he has
no need to secure the same gross returns.
3.
Land in the Shephela near the hills.
— Alongside the foot-
121
hills the low-lying land and the valleys stretch in a parallel line
with the coast. The plantation s can be set on the hill side s. The
cool climate and the water holding capacity natural to moun tain
soil together with its percolati ng quality make the hilly region
T a b l e
24 .
Density of Population in Palestine a ccording to Districts ;
(Government Census of 1922).
a
E •?
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suitable for many kinds of plantations. Labour will be distributed
in a regular o rder accor ding to the seaso ns of the year, for
the season of work for heavy soil is shorter than for the hilly
lands, and the otherwise idle days in the rain season are fully
exploited. The hilly land s can be divided into plots of from
5 to 10 dunam s of olives, caro bs, figs and gra pes. Special
attention should be given to the culture of caro bs becau se of
the extraordinary value of their fruit as cattle feed for both the
dairy and draught animals, and because their bearing stage
begins much earlier than olives. The plain land w ill serve for
cereals in accord with our proposed reforms.
4. The valleys. — This type includes the valley of B eisan
and for this region a necessary transition stage must be fixed.
By means of research and experiment, cultures must be found
which flourish in irrigated heavy soil and are mark etable. In this
short transition period there is no need to exploit all the irri-
gation possibilities. It is better that the waters should flow into the
sea than that produce should flood the market and be thrown away
for lack of buyers. The present rotation of crops will also continue
here until experiments produce results which justify a change.
By means of partial irrigation we protect the usual field
crops of this region against drough t. Specific sections can be
allotted for bananas, table olives and mulberry for silk. The area
unit for soil of this type is fixed in a complete modern farm at
25 dunams. If we take into consideration that not all the water
will be exploited during the transition period for intensive cul-
tivation, we shall attain returns securing a desirab le standar d
of life with another similar area in reserve.
122
Districts
Acre — mountain
A cr e — plain
Haifa — mountain
Haifa
—
plain
N azar e lh
—
mountain
N azar e th
—
plain
Tu lk ar em — mo u n ta in
Tu ik ar em
—
plain
Jerusalem
—
mountain
Ramallah
Bethlehem
Jericho
Jaffa
Ramleh — mountain
Ramleh — plain
Ga z a
He bron
Nablus
Beersheba
Jenin
—
mountain
Jenin — plain
Beisan
Tiberias
Safed
T ot a l
T o w n s
Grand Total
b
l
E •>
3 _
2 o
43
7
54
24
26
8
39
13
65
59
9
3
30
52
20
63
35
91
-
67
6
30
37
41
822
18
-
Area
in dunams
544188
136412
652395
460522
316301
229629
340108
392657
352000
354000
4600001)
654000
412000
360000
377000
1280000
22350002)
15740003)
12500000
689400
144600
377000
428000
754000
26023212
410000
26433212")
Number
of souls
24867
4248
20787
11036
12419
2838
21837
9785
28694
26901
17955
890
17605
24148
17615
54615
36994
40748
72898
28963
1934
8738
13771
14029
514315
242867
757182
5
u
Q n.
46
31
32
24
39
12
64
25
81
76
39i)
1
43
67
47
43
17
2
)
26
3
)
6
42
13
23
32
19
20
1722
29 4)
a -a .
— <u
Z o o .
22.04
32.26
31.38
41.73
25.47
81.20
15.58
40.13
12.27
13.16
25.821)
734.90
23.40
14.91
21.40
23.44
60.42
2
)
38.63
3
>
171.50
23.79
74.77
43.14
31.08
53.75
50.60
0.58
34.55 J)
i) After deducting 2SO,000 dunam s dese rt lan d 180,000 dunan is, or 10.02 dunam per he ad
or 100 souls per km* remain.
i) After deducting 622,600 dunams desert land 1,612,400 dunams, or 43.50 dunam per head,
or 23 souls per km
?
remain.
3) After deducting 468,800 duna ms des ert land 1,105,200 duna ms , or 27.10 dunam per head»
or 37 souls per km
1
remain.
<) After deducting 1,371,400 dunams desert land 25,061,812 dunams, or 33.10 dunam per head,,
or 30 souls per km' remain.
Source of data: Dr. J. Thon , The Land Problem . "H apoel H azair", No. 30 (41) 1930.
123
The Sums Required for the Improvement of the
Fellah's Farm.
The improvement is of two k ind s: such-a s is apt to com e
due to inner growth and such as require special sums of money.
-
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Betterment due to
inner
growth.
The improvement of kerabs,
improvement of seeds and the arrangement of a plantation near
the village do not involve large sum s. All the fellaheen are to
partake in the raising of the money for purchase of bulls for
joint use. The sum to be paid by the individual will not be high.
There is no need of burdening anyone with any purchasing
exp ens es; for with the natural growth the fellah will get the
strong bulls and the. improved cows .
In like manner the fellah should not arrange any tree-nur-
series.
The Government is to provide him with saplings at low
cost, the payment thus being not burdensome.
Improvements involving investments.
Under this heading
come several th ings. First of all the irrigation is to be attended
to.
Small repairs are to be mad e in the buildings on the plot.
There is to be applied also arational green manure on one-
fifth of the field, so that within five yea rs there may be one
crop lost; but it is to be expected that this loss will be made
up wholly or partially by the increase of yields.
These technical, improvements cannot be • made possible
without credit facilities at a low interest-rate . The fellah, howev er,
deeply in deb t, will find this kind of credit of no avail, as long
as he is not freed from th is bu rde n; for the value of his farm
and all its income as abasis of credit will not allow an amount
to be lent to him high enoug h to bring abo ut the desired effect.
Only when the fellah will be clean of his debts will he be in
a position to m ake use of this credit for additiona l improv emen ts
and working capital.
124
iliiii
^
••• • •.•-. •
; - ^ r ^ j
• - « . . . • - " • - * ,
V —
S £
» - . >• ** • * . • , • . . . . . . w> • - »
' ;
\
• ---
4 i
" . •
-a*
Old caix>l» hvc on I 'ucky gro un d
(I-J;III-C'I-"\VIKI)
Carob planted on rocky ground, (Ben Rlieinen 1913)
A passing observer, seeing the soil with its scanty yields
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ground before plant-in»' (Kiryath. Auavim)
Young o rchard on terraced rooky ground (TCiiyni.li Ana vim)
and the w orker in his low estate, would be apt to judge harshly
of the natur e of both. But he would be m istaken , for grea t
pow ers a re latent in both , and merely a wait the touch of a
devoted hand to draw them forth.
The existing situation is a heritage of very old -standing,
whose destructive effects cannot be done away with in the
twinkling of an eye. For long generations everything was taken
from the tiller of the soil, and nothin g given him in return. And
he, havin g no alternative , paid out the soil in the same coin,
alway s tak ing from it and never giving. So, there was a twofold
robbery
—
of the cultivator and the soil both.
Almost the whole financial bu rden of his coun try was im -
posed upon the p easant for many a ges. The tithe and the other
taxes in themselves were enough to break his back; and
ye t
they were as nothing as compared with their concom itants, —
the tax-gathe rers and other agents of the rulers, who placed the
peasant at the mercy of the usurers and the speculators who
preten ded to be sav iors in his time of dist ress . In orde r to free
himself 'from these latter, he was com pelled to sell his pr odu ce
at-low prices and to buy it back again for his househo ld needs
and
:
for sow ing his fields at double and fourfold pric es; H e
descended lower than the beast of burden , who se instinct impels
if to rebe l when it is too poor ly .fed. But, bec ause he -being
-human, his reasoning powers impelled him to accept a yoke so
heavy- that h e could" not even attempt to-rebel. . Everything for
him was as a-heavenly decree: the iniquity of his-rulers and
the oppre ssion of their agents, even at third and fourth
•
hand .
L
Even when he looks up from his dep ths to the- heights,
125
the fellah sees only poverty. The ancient H ebrew, for exam ple,
called the Milky Way the "River of Fire ." But the fellah speak s
•of it as the "Tarik-el-te bben e" ("Way of Tib n"). Poverty-sym bols
dominate not only his daily live, but his imagination as well.
The fellah has been reduced to a bare crust not by his
side by the Department of Agriculture of the Palestine Governme nt.
It suffices
to
recall that the cattle plague has been wiped
out, and the locust inva sions of the last two y ears successfully
com batted ; that the Government has a well planned organ iza-
tion for the control of contagious animal diseases and pests and
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primitive mode of cultivation, but by the prevailing social system
and the m isrule of the Turkish government and its predec essors.
Th e fellah's p rimitive wisdom , which is enshrined in many folk-
sayi ngs about all sides of farming, would suffice him for ex-
tracting enoug h brea d from his soil (tho ugh with little to spa re),
even if he used only his present im plements. But he has lacked all
freedom of movem ent and freedom of choice. Th e law has not
protected him.
The first m easures for improving his Lot should be
taken through protective legislation and agricultural credits.
If this is
done, his standard of living will rise even if he retains his present
implements. But if not, there can be no betterment or moderni-
sation for him; all increases of income will slip through his fingers.
The modernisation of agriculture requires not only agrarian
reforms, as an undispensable requisite, but the creation of pre-
liminary cond itions for the introduction of technical improvements.
The creation of these preliminary conditions is necessarily a
Governme nt function, b eing beyond the powers of the individual
or even of priva te organiz ation s. If, for examp le, cattle plague
is a con stant visitor to a country (as in Pale stine under the
Turkish rule), there is no use in improving the bree ds; or a
locust invasion which, if it come only once in 15 years, destroys
all the fruits of th e farm er's labo urs in a few week s, the increase
of yields is of only lim ited benefit. W hen insects and plant
dise ases d estroy his fruits, no impro vem ent of varieties will be
of any avail. The preven tive m easures to be taken against these
evils lie in the two provinces of research and adm inistration.
Many valuable beginnings have been made from the administrative
126
for the inspec tion of fruit. In the c ourse of time it ha s provide d
good means of communication without which the mod ernisa-
tion of agriculture is unthinkable.
When introducing technical improvements, a clear distinc-
tion must be drawn between the transitional phase and the final
aim. During a transition p eriod, nothing more can be done than
to carry on farming in the grain belt within the limits of
self-
sufficiency, with a very slight surplu s for the ma rket ; but, at
the same time, we must keep in mind the ultimate aim, nam ely:
that there m ust be the sam e sta nda rd for the villager as for the
skilled wo rker of the city, and the former must not be expected
to be content with little. Unless their standa rds are equa lized,
noth ing w ill bar the rush from the village to the city. Th erefore ,
with the increase in the needs of the tiller of the soil, the raising
of cash crops becomes an imperative necessity.
The strengthening of the farm in the heavy soil zone de-
pends not only upon money crops, but also upon the diversity
of its crops. Only the ora nge can b ear the burden of the
national economy alone, because , owing to its monopo ly, its
supporting capacity is very great. In other zones, the farm is
apt to take on various forms: either single branches such as
dairying, poultry-raising and certain types of plantations, or a
"mo saic struct ure" p ut toge ther of a little bit of this and a little
bit of that. One district might specialize in vinegro wing, a
second in dairying, a third in almond plantations, and a fourth
in tobacco. The se products may be a n egligible quantity in the
market, and yet, taken all ' together, they form a respectable
127
source of liveliho od. The pre sent type of grain farm, with its
single crop, can by no means sup port close settlement with a
decent standard of living.
When we speak of cash crop s, we always have the world
mark ets in mind. It is in great in dustrial countries that agricul-
ture can maintain itself on the inner market, but even then needs
the help of the protective
tariff.
The prod ucts of backward
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countries cannot hold their own against competing superior goods.
Not even in their local markets can they maintain themselves
except upon the ir produ cer' s ca pacity for suffering. But the cul-
tivator 's needs increase w hether crops do or not, and even they
are not secure without a tariff wall.
The path of transition is lined with sharply conflicting
factors. The transition period may be compared with a bridge,
which must under all circumstances be shock-proof. Farming
can be p rotecte d from shoc ks by gua ranty -price s for field crops,
so that they will not be hit hard by th e fluctuating prices of
the foreign im port s. On the other ha nd, prote ctive tariffs are a
two-edged sw ord. There are in backward countries no strong
shou lders to be ar, the b urde n, — neither in the cities nor on the
land. And there can be no certainty th at the benefits will accrue
to the worker and not to the money-lender and the speculator.
Back ward countries are like a runner who comes to the
races just a little bit late, and so has no chance against rivals
with no gre ater sk ill than h is own . Because of that slight delay
a certain distance will always be maintained between them. And,
in order to overcome the handicap, he will need good additional
equipment. In agriculture, the means for overcoming handicaps
are in the nature of research and extension institutes, organiza-
tion, and financial agencies. In ten years science and organiza-
tion can attain results not secured during centuries of adhering
to old traditions.
128