.

' 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 Agricultural Experiment Station.
Tel-Aviv, September 1930.
r
\ \
i
. " 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 Agricultural Experiment Station.
Tel-Aviv, September 1930.
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 preceded it on "The Transition from Primitive
to Modern Agriculture," and as an introduction to a series of
studies of various types of farms in the grain belt of Palestine.
Some of these studies have already been published in Hebrew,
while others are now ready for the press.
The chief types of farms in question are: the grain farm,
the dairy farm, the farm in transition, and the monocultural
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 emphasized,
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 Palestinian agriculture is to change from old
forms to new. The function of the transformation process is the
uprooting of what is bad in the old methods and the absorbing
what is good from the new ones. But the reality is not always
so exact. Uprooting what is bad in the old is apt to involve
the uprooting of the good at the same time. Not everything
new that supersedes the old is beneficial, and often it happens
that discrimination ^is not exercised. We find at times within
III
the old methods, which are based on ancient traditions, worth-
while elements meriting use in the accepted new systems. The
ideal practice is to seek out the good elements in both tradition
and modern practice, and to amalgamate them.
When agriculture is found in a transitional phase, two
factors are at work, namely, mechanics 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 requires a considerable investment of capital, but
the second can be. introduced gradually, at a small cost, and
withoutsudden and radical changes. 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, and which do not suddenly 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 regarded as a field of investigation and research. Within
its borders, the oldest of the old and the newest of the new
cross each other's paths: traditions going back thousands of
years operate side by side with the latest technical achieve-
ments. Therefore, Palestine can play the same part in agricul-
tural economics as an experiment field does in agricultural
technique, the results being intended not only for its own
benefit, but for application to agriculture on a large scale.
. This monograph deals with economic and technical pro-
blems only. Problems 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 suspicious of everyone who tries to pump information
out of him. His crops will increase or- diminish according to
the supposed identity of his questioner. If the latter is suspec-
ted of being a Government tax collector, the yield will shrink to
less than nothing. But if he is imagined to be a prospective
purchaser of land or a bank agent, the crops will exceed any-
thing to be expected from the most fertile regions. The facts
change in the twinkling of an eye. In a certain instance, one
questioning a fellah in this regard replied to him, "If the
crops are so small, we cannot allow you the credits we had
intended." Whereupon a second fellah promptly appeared upon
the scene, and pushing the first aside as a "dunce," assevera-
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 worked by
tenant farmers until transferred to the new colonists. The thresh-
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 records of ten years (19141923)
for an area.of 10,000 dunams which were cultivated by 50 or
QO tenant farmers, have here been summarized. Mr. Yochevedson-
Pevsner, chief superviser of this district, handed these records
to the author each year, together with notes of his observa-
tions of the habits and customs of the tenant farmers.
2. The farms of Ben-Shemen and Huldah, which were
administered by the author from 1909 to 1919, were like small
IV
islands of modernity among the fellah farms. The fellahs'
threshing floors were close beside our boundaries, and it was
possible to determine the yield of their threshing floors exactly.
Records of observations were made each year. Experiments-
were also made with the methods of fellah cultivation. During
the War, because the farm animals had been requisitioned, Ben
Shemen was obliged to lease part of its land in the Jiills to fel-
lahs. These fields continued to be supervised by the farm, and
exact records were kept of their crops. A similar source of
information was the settlement of Beer-Tuviah, where a group
of labourers worked "under the direction of the writer.
3. Good relations with the Arab neighbours at the places-
mentioned facilitated the gathering of data. The fellahs under-
stood that the questioners had no motive but to study conditions-
and to devise methods of increasing the yield. For the first
time they saw the marvel of how the "sowing of salt increases
the crops." For many years the writer's assistants gathered data-
in various parts of the country.
4. At the Experiment Station atGevath, the Division of Rural
Economics co-operated with the Division of Agronomy on an.
area of 250 dunams, which was divided into economic units. One
of these, comprising 60 dunams, was turned over for cultivation
to a fellah from a nearby village, and special records were kept
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 observations. The references to-
ancient Jewish folklore are drawn from the Talmud and other
primary sources, while those bearing on fellah folklore are all
based on Prof. Gustav Dalmann's latest book, entitled "Arbeit
und Sitten in Palastina."
VI
The author wishes to express his thanks to Mr. Yoche-
vedson-Pevsner, and to Mr. Klivaner, assistant in the Division
of Agronomy, for their constant aid in the assembling of ma-
terial ; to Mr. Kostrinsky
r
assistant in the Division of Agronomy
at Gevath, for keeping the records; 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
11
CONTENTS
Page-
Chapter One: Waiting for the rain 1
The rainy season , . > 2'
Ancient customs surviving at the present day . . 10-
Chapt er Two : S ea s on s of agri cul t ural work, 16
Season of sowing 18
;
The harvest seasou 23
Chapt er Three : Croppi ng s ys t em 29
Shelef and kerab 29'
The kerabs according to their importance . . . . 31
Chapt er F ou r : The ha rmoni ous st ruct ure . . . . . . 39'
External appearance and structure 40
Investment capital 43
Income and expenditure 49
Chapt er F i ve: The way of life of t he fellah 51
1. The fellah's working day . 51
2. Size of farms 54
3 The household of the fellah 57
4. Th'e communal organisation 59
Chapt er Six : The F el l ah' s farm under experi ment . . . 05
Plan of experiments 70
Types of farms under experiment 74
Eesults of experiments in fields of the feilah . . 83
Results of experiments in modern farming . . . 90-
Chapt er Seven : /Modernising t he fel l ah' s farm . . . . 97
F irst transitory stages in modernisation, of a
primitive farm 97
Improving the fellah's farm with his present
instruments of production 107
Modernising the fellah's farm in accord with
geographical distribution of fanning systems . 116-
The sums required for the improvement of
the fellah's farm 123-
IX
4
TABLES.
Page
1. Seasonal rainfall. Monthly means in millimetres . . . . 11
2. Mean temperature 12
3. Calendar of operation on a fellah's farm (80-100 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 returns of selected
Arab tenants 34
8. System of farming and classified crop returns of Arab tenants 41
9. System of farming and specified crop returns of selected
Arab tenants 42
10. Eeturns of Arab tenant farmer in Yalley of Jezreel . . 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 Experiment Station 71
16. Calendar of operation in Arab farming experiments, Agr.
Exp. Station Gevath 85
17. "Working days. A. "Wheat experimental field at Gevatli
(Arab farming) . -.
B. Durra experimental field at Gevath
(Arab fanning) . S6-87
18. Income and expenditure of Arab farm under experiment
in Gevath 88
19. Returns per dunam on experimental 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 spring . . . frontispiece
Arab village in the hilly country XI I
Arab village in the plain XI I
"Water wheel ("Sakia") . 1
Watering goats . 1
Palestine rainfall map 8
Map of Palestine soils 9
Mending the plough 16
F irst ploughing 16
Preparing t he seed bed and sowing 17
Harvest of wheat 24
Loading 24
Feeding stubbles 25
F irst threshing with animals 28
Threshing with the threshing board 28
Final threshing with animals 29
Yiew of the threshing floor 29
Bamia field 32
Durra field 32
Sesame field . 3 3
"Water melon field 33
Making sun-dried bricks 40
Bin for chopped straw 40
Making mud oven for native bread 41
"Winnowing the grain crop . . . . . . . . 48
"Winnowing and sacking 49
Fellah adobe hut 56
Bedouin hut of matting aad branches . . . . 56
F ellaheen dwelling house . . . . . . . . . 57
Bedouin tent, the wife making butter 57
Arab plough . . . . '. 64
Ancient Hebrew plough 65
Modified H ebrew plough 65
Hoeing sesame . . 72
Sesame threshing floor 72
XI
Heap.-of durra . . . ; . . 75
Sioving grain 1'i
The f el l a h c omi n g t o wor k 8'2
Sowi n g s es a me wi t h a f u n n el 8 2
Wh e a t fi el d wi t hou t f er t i l i zer . . . ' . . . . 8 5
Wh e a t fi el d f er t i l i zed 8 3
F el l a h, whe a t fi el d, a t Ge v a t h . . . ; . ; . . . . 8 8
Wh e a t fi el d f ol l owi ng g r e e n ma n u r e . . . . . 8 8 -
Sowi n g i n s t r i p s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Cu l t i v a t ed fal l ow . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . -: 89-.
Moder n i s i n g , a g r i c u l t u r e- . . . . - . , . . - . . . . 96-
H a r v e s t i n g wi t h b i n der . .. . : . , . -: . ' . . . -97
Thr e s hi n g wi t h ma c hi n e . . . . . . -. . . . 97
Ga u l a n b r eed c ow . . . . 104
Cr os s b r ed c ow, Ar a b a n d D u t c h . . . . . .. . 104
Grossbred cow, Arab and Dutch . , . . , . . .
Crossbred cow, Beyrouth aud Friesian ..
Crossbred cow, Beyrouth and Friesian . . .
Crossbred cow, Beyrouth and F ri esi 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 Palestine. . . . . . . .
Comparative values of principal crop
(1^ returns in Palestine . . . . . . . .
Old carob tree on rocky ground . -. . , -
104
. 105-
1Q5-
105-
112 -
-113-.-
-.
120
-121
124
Garob. planted on rocky ground . . 124
Rock}: ground before planting . . 125
Xoung orchard on terraced rocky ground ;.:.-. ,. 12j>
XII
V-
I ' . -
Water wheel ("Sakia")
Watering goats
THE FELLAH'S FARM
For the land whither thou goe'st in to possess,
it'is not as the land: of- Egypt from whence;y,e' came
:
out; where thou sdwedst thy- seed' and: wateredst
it'with thy foot, as. a; garden of herbs..-; - > .'; ,
:
V But:the land whither: ye go topossess it is'
a,land,.of,hills and valley, and. 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 the beginning of the< year ;.everi unto-the-end
". o L t h e y e a r . . : ".;;;;;-. \; ... r " ' : . : . ; ; ; : . ' >
[Deut, XI, 10-12] - .....
Cha p t er 0 ne. '
WAITING FOR THE RAIN.
The ancient Hebrews used to divide the year into two de-
finite periods the season of the rain and the season 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. From the.middle';of: Gh.eshvan
(October)
:
to-.the middle of
1
Nisan (April),-, rain: .fall's: at intervals-
for .about- forty-or 1ifty
;
days, and
1
to ;'an"> amount-., of;.from five
v hundred- to- six-hundred" millimetres. For- seven months-the-.country
s
is <
:
dry-without-a' drop; ofrain,'.and"the:Isun-- reigns Isuplreme.'.In
1
- the 'Jordan- -Valley' the- rainy- days'.are; fewer,:the: rainfall less,: and
the
:
days"of/hot sunshine^-more; numerous.'. In the.Negeb the rain-
fall only amounts.to. from two;to three;hundred millimetres', and-
even this- is not regular every year. Years of drought in that
district are- nothing unusual.".!' : :
Summer winds. The summer heat is tempered by winds
that blow regularly from the sea from morning to evening. 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 process is reversed. The
earth cools more rapidly than the surface of the sea, and air
currents are borne from it in the direction of the sea. Thus
nature makes provision for alleviating the toil of the day and
1or assuring the repose of the night. In the mountain 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 places" (Jer., IV, 11). In the valley and in the clefts in
the mountains, and especially in the valleys of the Jordan, these
winds 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 oppressive in the winter, but is
exceedingly oppressive in the spring and summer, raising the
temperature to 35-46C.
The rainy season. The rainy season is the time of water
storage for animals and plants. The inhabitants of the moun-
tain region dig cisterns in the rock for reservoirs, and the wa-
ters collected during the few rainy days in a deep hole, protec-
ted by the cover of a thick stone, supply man and beast du-
ring the whole long summer period. The Fellah stores up the
rain in the layers of the soil itself all over his fields for the
nourishing of his summer crops by breaking up its surface with
his light plough and laying it open t ol he rain, by preparing a
good tilth before sowing, and by breaking up all the hard sur-
face which forms after the later rains. Summer plants do not
see a single drop of rain during the whole four months of their
growth. Only the heavy dew which falls at nignt
them. On an average, dew falls on 64 out of 92 summer days
(about
2
/s). In the Jordan valley there is no dew either, and its
products, such as sesame, do not thrive in unirrigated fields. Thus
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, which is
light and easy to till, forms a comparatively short and quite
narrow stretch extending parallel to the coast from Caesarea in
the North to the village of Khan Yunnis in the South, its other
side being formed by a zigzag line following the chain of the
mountains. The soil of the Negeb which borders with the south-
ern desert is also not heavy. On the other hand the whole of
the plain and all the valleys are composed of heavy soil. The
Shephelah, most of Sharon, the plain of Acre, the Valley of
Jezreel, Upper and Lower Galilee, and the Valley of the Jordan
the soil of all these contains from thirty-five to forty percent
of clay. When this soil is very moist it becomes highly com-
pact; it sticks to the plough, dulling its edge, and the clods
turned up by the plough hang on to one another and become
solid blocks. Trying to walk over this heavy ground after rain
is like putting on boots of clay which grow thicker at every
step until by their weight they chain the wayfarer to the spot.
On the other hand, when this ground is dried by the summer
heat, it becomes as hard as brick*).
During the last four months of the summer the ground
has a gloomy and. morose appearance. The blazing sun extracts
from it the last remnants of moisture which are stored in it
from the rainy season. The surface of the ground yawns and
splits into clefts, like a tree split by the heat after it has lost
) See table 5 p. 20.
its moisture. It looks like a chess-board the lines of which are
crooked and so deep that the traveller may have a nasty fall in
them. Even the soil which has been loosened and broken up-
by sesame ploughing is under the apparently unbroken surface
full of clefts and ruptures, which, however, are not so deep-
and broad as those in the unploughed fields. The whole land
looks as if it were prostrate and fainting from thirst, with ten
thousand mouths open to catch a drop of water the very
emblem of thirst.
The first signs of rain. From the beginning of Cheshvan
(November) the tiller of the soil begins to scan the clouds and
to wait for the rain. Animals and plants are exhausted by the
summer drought. The heat begins to abate. The nights become
cool. The sky which was of an unbroken blue throughout the
summer begins to be covered with fleecy clouds. The twilight
displays gorgeous colours. Expectations, however, are not always
realised. Sometimes it is a case of "winds and vapour and no-
rain." The land is blessed or cursed according as the rain falls
or does not fall at the proper time. The "reward and punish-
ment" of the chosen people in the promised land were not re-
served for the future world, but were dispensed in this world.
"And I shall give the rain of your land in'its season, the former
rain and the latter rain, and thou shalt gather in thy corn, thy
new wine and thine oil. And I shall give grass in thy field to-
thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to
yourselves lest your heart be deceived and ye go astray and
serve other gods... And thy heavens upon thy head shall be as
copper and the ground which is under thee as iron... The Lord
shall make the rain of the land ashes and dust, from the heaven
it shall come down upon thee until thou art destroyed." Accord-
ing to the Rabbis, God waters the Land of Israel himself and
the rest of the world through a deputy. And the keys which.
God keeps in his own hand and does not entrust to a deputy
are those of the rain and the resurrection of the dead.
The rain in Us time. The fertilising rains are those which
begin in Marcheshvan (November). The first day of rain, say
the Rabbis, is like the day on which were created heaven- and
earth. On that day he who has a field of his own says the
blessing "Shehechayonu", he who has fields belonging both to
himself and to others says "He who is good and doeth good",
and he who has no field says "We give thanks to thee, 0 Lord
our God, for every drop that thou hast sent down to us." The
blessing is said from the time that there is a good quantity of
water on the ground, and bubbles rise from the rain on the
surface of the water, and travel to meet one another. The first
rain is called "yoreh" because it tells (moreh) people to plaster
their roofs, to bring in their produce, and to make preparations;
also because it comes down (yored) gently, and does not sweep
away the fruit or wash away the seeds or break the trees.
With rain in its season the earth is neither drunk nor thirsty
but it absorbs in moderation. When the rain is excessive it
washes off the surface of the earth, which does not then yield
its fruit. The benefit of the rain in the winter season depends
upon its distribution. It was an accepted maxim in rabbinical
times that the earth can only absorb the rainwater according to
the degree- of its hardness. Torrential rains at the outset simply
run off the surface of the baked, parched and thirsty ground;
they do not penetrate right into it, and do not fertilise it. Only the
surface is moistened, and the lower layer is left with its clefts
as it was. When the rain is delayed, those plants which are
commencing to take root in a hard and dry layer surfer, and
they are in danger of dying or becoming stunted. When the
ground has been thoroughly, moistened in its upper layers, the
torrential rains run off from it, since it is too parched to absorb
them, not merely is all this water lost, but it lays the plants
flat, it carries away the superficial layer which has been tilled
and fertilised, and spoils whole portions of the fields. Parti-
cularly severe damage is done by the torrential rains in a low
country when they sweep down from the mountains. Neither
the ground hardened by the heat of summer nor the ground
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 mms. distributed over a long period than from six
hundred coming in heavy falls and at short intervals.
The "Malkosh" 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. Sometimes the large drops catch the rays of
the sun and assume a peculiar colour. The 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 observed even in one district and in places distant only a
few miles from one another. Sometimes the clouds will pass
over the fields of one village 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 seasonal distri-
bution to such an extent as to decide the character of the farm
and of crop rotations, whether there is to be cereal farming,
dairying, summer kerab- or black fallow. On a tract totalling
30,000 dunams, for instance, within the Nuris Block, it has
seemed necessary, at any rate for the present, to introduce three
systems of crop rotations. At one spot, indeed, just before
Beit Shan, summer crops are scanty, while they are medium in
another and above medium in a third. On a ou,uuu
tract in. central Esdraelon, between Nahalal and Afuleh, the
harvests vary not only because of the difference in the holding
capacity of the soil but because of the difference in precipitation.
In" one place clover will give three crops, in another one or
perhaps two, and not too abundant at that. Nor must it be
forgotten that the keeping of cows for dairying depends to a
considerable degree on the success of the clover crop.
The withholding of rain is one of the worst plagues of
the country. The period of growth is thereby shortened. The
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 managed to strike root and can therefore resist the
cold, or whether it attacks them when they are still tender.
Sowing at the end of Cheshvan (November) allows the plants
time for development before the cold nights of Tebeth (January)
come. Late sowing falls just in the cold time. The lack of latter
rain as a rule bodes 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 those 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 consequence 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
Prayers for rain. The rains themselves are divided
into falls first, second and third. The Hebrew word for this
"rebiah" itself symbolises the fructification of the earth when
it comes into contact with the rain. In the days of Herod so
we are told rain used to come down in the night, then in the
morning the wind blew, the clouds scattered, the sun came out
and the earth dried. In the good days, according to the Talmud,
the rain used to come on Wednesday 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 came out, and
everyone arose to his work, thus showing that they were doing
the work of Heaven. The Rabbis say that since the day of the
destruction of the Temple the rains have not come down from
the "good storehouse." In ancient times fasts were decreeded
on account of the delay of the rainfall. If the seventeenth of
Marcheshvan (November) arrived and rain had not yet fallen,
the students of the Beth-Hamidrash 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, Thursday and
Monday. 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 necessary, to build or to plant, and to give greetings
to one another; they were to be like men who were in disgrace
with the Almighty. If Nisan (April) came and the sun reached
the. beginning of the constellation 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 observed. The Ark was brought out into the
30'
JO
Palestine SoiLs
pieludino tljp mountains
bu f.
Act. xp. JiA. TeL-Avi*. p,ifstine.
Red Ijtauu Loa mu sail
tfed Loamu sanclu joic
'///\ CaLcafiaui-ioamu mil o^itjt Platn
f DoUan
j"aMj Loamy s oi l
?3 -public square, and all the people collected there, wearing sack-
cloth. They put ashes on the Ark and on the Sefer Torah in
order to increase their sorrow and to humble their hearts. One
of the people took some of the ashes 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 shame and repent, and each
one took and placed 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" nor Chacham" they called on one with a
good presence. He addressed to them words of reproof as fol-
lows: My brethren, it is not sackcloth and 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 deeds.' " After this one had finished his admonition, 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 Prophets 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 bad name in his early days;
a man of humility and well liked by the public, and one who
had a good voice and could sing tunes. If with all these quali-
ties he was a Zaken" as well, he suited perfectly; if he
was not a Zaken", since he had these qualities, he was
fitted to pray. After prayers all the people went out to the ce-
metery and prayed there. If rain began to fall while they were
fasting, it depended on the state of the ground how long they
should wait before breaking their fast. If the ground was very
dry they waited till the rain had penetrated in a handbreadth; if it
was in a medium state, two handbreaths and if it was tilled,,
three handbreadths.
Ancient customs surviving at the present day. Like in
ancient times, most parts of the country are dependent
rather ;on the rain from heaven that on the chasm that
yawns beneath. The thought of the cultivator is fixed as in a
vice within the eternal contradiction between the two Titans
that alternately rule the land sun and rain. It is according to
them that he divides the seasons and lays out his fields, it is
they that form the centre of his prayers. The notions of "Shitta"
and "Saiff" that are prevalent among the fellaheen correspond
exactly to the notions of sunny days, rainy days and drought.
The notion of "days of fullness" has been preserved intact.
(Jemot ha-hamma, jemot hag-geshamim, /erne garid, jeme rebia).
Though the worship of Baal has come to naught, his name
has not dropped away with the passage of centuries and beliefs.
"Ard baal" and "Ard Shaki" are current expressions with the
Fellah of to-day, just as in the Mishnaic period. "Beit-ha-Baal"
and "Beit-ha-Shalhin" served to distinguish between the land
belonging to heaven and that belonging to the pit. The prophets
of Baal were put to the sword. The Lord of Hosts was avenged
by Elijah on the brook Kishon, when they had proved them-
selves unable to bring down the rain either with their cries or
by cutting themselves with knives and lancets till the blood
gushed out upon them. Up to this very day the soil bears the
name of Baal. "Rain is the Lord of the soil", says the Talmud.
And even now the rain of heaven is regarded as a bridegroom
coming forth to fructify the earth, his bride.
"The rain in its time" is the greatest of heaven's blessings
10
11
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N
even to-day. The signs of the times may have changed, but not
the times themselves, nor yet the notions of the times. "El
Vusmi", nothingelse than a translation of the idea of Yore (early
rain) as it stands in Saadya the Sage, exists in the every-day
speech of the Fellah. They distinguish between the first early
rain beginning five days 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 corresponding 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. There may be a
procession of girls in the twilight after the evening meal, beating
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
and 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 through 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
fastened to a beam. A white kerchief marks the place of the
head.
All these customs, as Dalmann relates, conform with the
prevailing religious belief. They are an outgrowth of ancient
customs dating from the times of the Baalim, of self-lacerations
and sacrifices and limping at the hip. The processions, the
noise, the cries, all are of the essence of the ceremonial. The
turning of the mill is expected to produce a change in the
weather. The pouring out of the water is not a mere gesture,
but is meant to set the higher powers in motion, to draw the
compassion of God to all his creatures, man and beast, woman,
children, the crowing cock, the mewing cat, the bleating sheep.
The ancient Jews, monotheistic as they were, rejected the idea
of any intermediary between them and their God, for the Lord
of the World alone causes the wind to blow and brings down
the rain and the dew himself, having dominion over the fruit
of the soil neither through an angel nor an emissary. Their
needs were symbolised by the ceremonial incidental to worship
in the Temple: the joy of the drawing of water, the libation of
water, and circuits about the altar. After the destruction of the
Temple these ceremonies were transferred to the Synagogues in
the prayers for rain and dew, the harvest festival or the Feast
of Tabernacles, and the festival of freedom, or Passover, the
knocking with sheaves, and the going round in a ring. These
ancient customs are the basis of the Fellah's prayers for rain.
The ceremonial part of worship has dwindled. If rain is not
forthcoming they content themselves with holding prayers in
Mosques and schools. In the Jerusalem Mosque there are spe-
cial prayers for rain. After the prayer the cantor turns his robe
to produce a change in the weather. Occasionally they carry
out a public ploughing ceremony in the presence of a priest or
layman. The gathering wears its clothes on the wrong side.
14
Now as of old the land still depends on the bounty of
heaven in most of its districts. Now as of old the greatest wis-
dom in the tilling of the ground lies in the knowledge of the tiller
how to improve it. The secret of this improvement is the skilful
storing of the water in the layers of the earth, and the economic
use of it Then with, proper ploughing and with a good cropping
system the husbandman can establish his dominion over the
earth and compel it to respond to his demands.
15
Cha p t er Two.
SEASONS OF AGRICULTURAL WORK.
The festivals of Israel are fixed for the most part accord-
ing to the seasons of agricultural labour: the counting of the
Omer from the feast of Passover, the feast of first fruits, and
the feast of in-gathering. Now as 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-floor under the open sky. That is then where life
throbs both by day and night. The harvest passes, the summer
ends, the threshing finishes, and the threshing floor is emptied
of living creatures and the last remnants of produce. Then
commences the great work of household renovation, the women
taking command. It is they who gather dry grass in the fields
and bring it home on their shoulders, who mix mud for mortar
and crush to powder the animal dung when it has been dried..
A mixture of these materials with stubble serves for plastering
the roofs and the walls. Under the diligent hands of the women
the walls are clothed with new coats of plaster. The low cone-
shaped straw-stacks are renovated with a new coat of moist
plaster. The men after the hard work of the threshing-floor
now sit with their hands folded and chat idly, raising the while
their eyes to heaven- appeaiingly; for without the early rain the-
husbandman cannot go out to his work in the field.
The first rain. The first early rain which deserves the
name moistens the soil to a depth of about 20 mms. It is oniy
16
' / :
Meudiug the plough
First ploughing
then that the Fellah can begin to open up the field. The work
commences with a procession of the. elders 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 Fellah is assig-
ned with a breadth of one to three ox-goads. When the mea-
surement has been finished, the time of ploughing begins. The
plough of the Fellah is light, corresponding to his beast. The
combined strength of the two of them cannot make so much
as a deep scratch in the dry soil left by the harvest, much less
peel off the crust of the ground. Consequently as a rule the
Fellah does not plough the ground as it is left after the harvest,
but only after the rain has fallen. He is practically compelled
to do this by the nature of his implements 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 Fellah does not
wait for the rain to open his field. In such places there are
some who even sow before the early rain (Afir). Many, however,
wait with their sowing till the rain comes not only because be-
fore then it is impossible to sow, but also to allow time for
the sprouting of the weeds, 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 ploughing. The furrows are open and are usually
distant 20 centimetres from one another. The object of this is to
open up the tight ground to the penetration of the rain, which
will be retained in the open furrow and so water the smooth
surface. Ground which is ploughed finely with narrow and close
furrows is not so receptive of the rain as when it is ploughed
with open furrows.
17
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 broadcasting 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 Hebrews
distinguished between rough ploughing and fine ploughing, be-
tween the furrows for opening and furrows for sowing, between
ploughing after the harvest and ploughing after the rains. These
ancient terms are preserved in the language 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
complicated. Its distinguishing characteristic is that it cuts the
surface soil and does not turn it up. It performs, very slowly it is
true, but very thoroughly, all the functions for which a combi-
nation of modern machines is required a plough, a roller and
a harrow. Its great virtues are that it does not bring up.clods,
that it does not press or crush the moist earth, .but flits as it
were over the ground with its coulter which resembles a duck's
foot in its base, and that it penetrates the ground with its point
which is sharp and long like the head of a spear. It produces
the requisite loose and broken crust by itself without 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. His field,
prepared for sowing, is never inferior to that prepared by the
most perfect implements, and sometimes it even surpasses all
others. The defect lies only in the slowness which calls for
modification in .order to adapt the working process to the rate
of speed in our time.
18
Ta b l e 3.
Calendar of Operation on a Fellah's Farm.
(80100 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
Harvest of barley
Transport
Pulling of beans
Transport
Harvest of Faenum
Graecum
Transport of
Harvest of wheat
Transport of

J3
H
Wheat
Barley
Beans
Chick peas
Faenum Graecum
Harvesting of durra
Transport
Threshing
Harvest of sesame
Threshing
Total
Season
Nov.-Dec.
Dec-Jan.
Jan.-Feb.
February
March
April
1
May

June

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
0
0
.
( 8
2
1
4
2

5
1
_
1
2, 12
1
20
4
35
10
3
(3)
2
&
V-. .
(J
^4
147
Women

12
4
5
2
~"
3

1 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

2
262
Camels

_
_
3

1
1

1
-
11
19
T a b 1 e 4.
Calendar of operations on an Arab farm in different Seasons.
Seasons
V Nov.January
Feb.March
AprilV May
Va May
:
A Nov.
Total
N
o

o
f

d
a
y
s
78
59
45
183
365
Rain and Idie days
R
a
i
n
24
24
4
-
52
S
a
b
b
a
t
h
s
a
n
d

H
o
l
i
-
d
a
y
s

-
-
-
-
S
i
c
k
n
e
s
s
a
n
d

i
d
l
e
d
a
y
s
10
15
1
13
39
O
p
e
n
i
n
g
f
u
r
r
o
w
s
7
1

8
S
o
w
i
n
g
12
2
3
-
17
P
l
o
u
g
h
i
n
g

16
4

20
H
a
r
v
e
s
t

a
n
d
T
h
r
e
s
h
i
n
g

101
101
N
o

o
f

w
o
r
k
d
a
y
s
19
19
7
101
146
N
o

o
f

l
e
i
s
u
r
e
d
a
y
s
*
)
25
1
33
69
128
Ta 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
H2O
7-00
11-17
10-35
P2 O5
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 days, derived from outside 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 which grow among 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 ploughing a second is made. Just before
sowing durra there is another ploughing and before sowing
sesame two.
The sowing of summer plants differs from that of winter
crops. It is not done like the latter by broadcasting. 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 which holds the handle of the plough
as full as he can with seeds, and lets them drop one by one
into the funnel from which they fall on to the surface of the
moist layer in the midst of the open furrow. The dust of the
21
dry crust then covers over the seeds and the germination is
assured. Sesame is sown in two ways. One is like that of
sowing durra, only to the side of the ploughshare is attached
a board like a wing about twenty centimetres. broad which
sweeps aside the loose dry dust and so clears a way for the
sesame seeds to fall on to the moist layer which has been
opened. The object is twofold. On the one hand the germi-
nation is assured, and on the other it becomes 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 dust The second kind of sowing is called: "she-
gag parhah", i. e. sowing with two ploughs. One plough opens
a furrow with wings on each side. Behind it comes the sower-
a young lad who with his hand throws the grains through
the funnel into the furrow which has been opened on moist
soil. The second plough then passes after the sower through the
open furrow, and takes the moist dust from the side for cover-
ing. Thus, 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 sesame whether it comes down
on it before the germination or after. Before germination it
closes the dust of mulch and prevents the sprouting of the seeds.
After germination it causes a splitting of the ground, because
with the closing of the crust there is an increase of evaporation
. due to capillarity. It is therefore a strict rule that sesame should
be sown only after the later rains, when it is quite certain
that the dust of the upper crust will be left loose. Care is ta-
ken to protect the fields from the inroads of noxious plants,,
and the "junbut" (Prosopis Stephaniana Willd.) is cut down
22
and the "helfeh" uprooted. The clearing and the weeding are
done in the months of Sivan and Tammuz (June and July).
The harvest season. The harvest 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 sesame 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,- because the sesame pods, when
they ripen, split, and the seeds fall out on the ground.
All the members of the family take part in the harvest.
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 place 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 purpose is always 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 human 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
of the heap, and eat during the periods of rest. During the
first and last threshing a muzzle is put on their mouths. The pre-
cept "thou shalt not muzzle an ox in his threshing" is not observed.
In the days of the Turks it was customary to divide the
produce into eight heaps in the shape of bricklings, at the
threshing place, and occasionally in the field. One of the eight
heaps was for the taxgatherer of the Osher Tax. The Govern-
ment took its portion in kind, and farmed out the Osher by
public auction. The taxgatherer used to pitch his tent, which
was ornamented with bright-coloured curtains by the side of
the threshing 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 threshing-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
shape and revealed the offence. The present Government had
arranged after the occupation to receive the Osher tax in money.
It sent assessors to value the crops, and the owner of the
produce paid according to the valuation, in instalments. If the
village could not come to an agreement with the assessors,
they divided the harvest on some threshing-floors into ten
heaps, from which the assessor choosed one. They then threshed
"this one and used this as a standard for fixing the amount of
produce. According to some, the valuation was usually too high
in the case of leguminous plants and too low for cereals,
sesame and durra.
Recently the estimation of the Osher was rectified and it
is now based on the average yield of the four preceding years.
One tenth of the entire yield is taken and imposed on the village
as a whole; in the village a special committee is formed levying
40 to 70 mils per dunam, according to the types of the soil.
24
Loading
Feeding stubbles
The threshing. The first operation in connection with the
threshing-floor is the scattering and breaking up of the com-
pact "suriboth." This is done as a rule by men working in pairs
to the accompaniment of the song "El Allah", and it is over
by the beginning of the hot time of the day, the time for thresh-
ing. All the draught animals, the ox, the ass and the cow,
go up to tread the produce which is heaped up on the thresh-
ing-floor. When the produce has been sufficiently trodden
the camel is added to the "choir". The threshing-board is a
wooden board in which are fixed spikes of stone or iron. To it
are yoked pairs of oxen, or mixed spans of an ox, an ass and
a camel together. A little boy looks after the threshing-board,
and in the heat of the day goes round and round with his ani-
mals. The dry.stubble is crushed under the threshing-board and
the produce is separated into straw, short crushed stubble and
grain. The father Fellah stands by, turning and clearing the
threshing-floor until the day cools and the shadows of evening
lengthen. Then the animals also are liberated. The child takes
them to the well to water them, brings them back to the thresh-
ing-floor, and ties them to mangers full of tibn which have
been prepared for them. Meanwhile the Fellah makes his pre-
paration for the next day, turning over the threshed produce from
top to bottom, and arranging it afresh for threshing. This work
goes on for some days until the "ksaria" (first threshing) is
finished and there are no stalks left in the threshed produce
("tarcha", in Hebrew "medusha"). The Fellah then lifts up the
"tarcha" and arranges it in a close heap facing east and west, and
prepares to separate the straw from the wheat. He winnows when
there is a wind blowing and commences with the first morning
breezes. When he has finished winnowing the heap he scatters it
again over the "tarcha", and commences to thresh "tnai." In the
"tnai" threshing the Fellah does not use the threshing-board, as it
25
is a maxim with him that for threshing there is nothing better
than the iron hoofs of the oxen. He goes threshing in this way
for a few days. Now and then he examines to see if there are
still any grains in the clumps. When no more are found, the
"tnai" is finished. He then lifts up the "tarcha" 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 arranges it into a special heap which is called,
the heap of the "terabiah". He winnows the "tnai" in the
morning and evening winds to separate the straw, and in the
midday winds to separate the grain from the stubble. When the
wind slackens a little between midday and evening, from about
five to seven, he passes the grain through 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 "sabaliah" for a new threshing-floor
("tarcha"), threshes it, lifts it up and winnows it. Finally he
winnows the heap of the "tarabiah" from dust, and clods of earth,
with grains are left in the heap. The wives of the Fellaheen
beat this heap with sticks, break up the clods of earth, and .
strain the grains. Whatever is left after the beating and the-
straining they wash in water, softening the earth and picking
out the grains. The threshing is done in the heat of the day
when the sun beats down on the head, after the dew which,
came down on the produce has evaporated, and the produce
has become 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 threshing system common in Judea. In Galilee-
the fellah prepares a little heap every day, the threshing of
which may be finished during the day. The second day he adds-
2 6
a fresh heap and threshes it during the day, and so on. When the
first threshing of the whole heap called the "ksaria" is
. finished, the little threshed heaps lie around in a wide circle the
centre of which the place where the heap of produce lay-
before is empty. In the space left in the centre the fellah
arranges new threshing heaps (in Galilee called "na'am"), and
every evening when its threshing is finished, he adds it to the
big heap. Thus, the threshing of the "na'am" is carried on till
the whole "ksaria" is finished, and only then does the fellah
start winnowing.
The threshing of the sesame is done in a special way.
The sesame stalks are arranged in a closed circle, from which
they are taken out in bundles. These are then beaten with a
stick on the ends of the pods. This makes the seeds fall out,
and the empty stalks are then put back into the middle of the
circle. Thus the sesame threshing-floor is composed of three
circles an outer one containing the stalks brought 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 centimetres. This forms the storehouse of tibn. These
storehouses are always erected by the side of the threshing-
floors. Dung for burning is stuck on the walls of these store-
houses to dry.
The period of the threshing-floor, with all its various ma-
nifestations, goes on from Iyar to Tishri (May to October), dur-
ing which time it is a scene of varying colours. The heaps
of wheat are golden yellow, those of durra are white like milk,
while those of sesame shine with a pale gold. The mixed spans
of ox, ass, and camel yoJced to the threshing-board go round
and round, led by a little boy. The men winnow to the wind
27
the produce that has been threshed, the corn falling by its
weight in columns while the chaff flies away. The women beat
with sticks and small hammers the remnants of the stalks which
have escaped the threshing-board and the hoofs of the animals,
and shake the sieves. From the time of Ruth up to this day
there has scarcely been any change, neither in the methods of
operation nor in its notions.
28
First tliveshiiia: with animals
Threshing .with, the threshing board
Final tliresliiuK with auimals
Yiew of the 'threshing floor
C h a p t e r Th 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 season,
except wheat, which continues to grow for about six weeks
a(ter the later rains. Summer plants grow in the sunny period,
being nurtured by the deposits of rain which are stored in the
ground, and by the dew, and rain itself reaches them either in
very small quantities or not at all.
Shelef and Kerab.Winter plants are divided into cereals, viz.
wheat and barley, called "shelef" (stubble); and leguminous plants,
viz. beans, lentils, "karsena", "jilbana", "hilba" and lupines.
Summer plants are peas, durra and sesame. Leguminous plants
and summer plants are called "kerab" (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 summer crops are durra
and sesame. Barley is the best crop in light soil and wheat in
heavy soil, which is the more important in the sphere of crop-
growing. Durra is best in poor soil and sesame in rich soil
and in a rainy year. In Galilee chick-peas do well, in Judea
and in Samaria not. Karsena, jilbana, and lentils are not of
much importance, and are only for domestic use. In the rota-
tion of crops they take the place of durra or sesame on the
29
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 barley are sown outside the
field on garden land manured with old dung from the village.
In the South, in districts where the rainfall is small and
droughts are frequent, a rotation of three years is usual: (1) durra,
(2) sesame or fallow, (3) wheat. In the same way a rotation of
three years is observed on soil the products of which suffer
from the ravages of insect pests (Arad, meduad, Syringopais
temperatella): two years of kerab and one year of wheat.
Division of the field according to the kinds of crops. In
regard to area the major portion is taken up by wheat and
durra. As a rule the Fellah sows half of his fields set aside for
winter plants with two thirds wheat and less than one-third
barley. The same applies to durra and sesame, durra taking up
the greater part of the area. In a rainy year the area devoted
to sesame is increased. Hence one may say that the rotation of
crops as a rule i s: one year wheat and one year durra, or one
year wheat and one year sesame.
In the valley of Jezreel and in Galilee leguminous plants
are sown more than in Judea and Sharon, the districts where
durra and sesame thrive best. The fields from Petah Tikvah
to Tulkarem have a particularly good appearance. Handsome
fields of durra and sesame 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. Sowing is finished by the
middle of Shebat (February). Of summer plants the first to be
30
sown is chick peas, then comes durra and last of all after the
later rains sesame.
The distribution of plants in the fields of the Emek is in
the following proportion:
From 810 kels*) of wheat 60 dunams
2.5 kels barley 10 dunams
1 1.5 kels karsena 5 dunams
0.5 kels lentils 5 dunams
l
l$ kel durra 50 dunams
78 kel sesame 10 dunams
2 kels chickpeas- 10 dunams
150 dunams = 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 crops. The storing of moisture in
the ground and the destruction of weeds are more important
than the storing of nitrogen for increasing the yields. When
there is not sufficient moisture in the ground the materials
of nutriment found in abundance 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 conditions for its development, as it does not
meet with any competitors which encroach 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
cases, if it is properly prepared, be a better kerab than chick-
peas, for instance, which gather nitrogen.
As already stated, wheat and barley are the principal,
sources of the income of the farm. In the choice of kerabs
preference has al.vays to be given to those which create the
best conditions for the development of these plants. 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 stands sesame, which
practically has no equal. Its time of sowing is late; it should
not be sown till the rainy period has entirely passed 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 particular 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 layers. The mulch of the broken,
and loosened crust protects the rain water which is stored in
the ground from evaporation. The nitrification is powerful and
intensive. The roots are strong and .piercing like a spit; thef
draw their sustenance from the lower layers, they do not ex
haust the surface layer, and they prepare a path for the wheal
which is to come after them. The constant hoeing required fa-
sesame loosens the ground still more and preserves its moist
ure. The constant weeding also destroys the weed which ar
left after the winter ploughings. The destruction of weeds, 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
weeding is not done properly. The fertile soil which produce
the wheat produces also plants which press it close and try *
squeeze it out, and when these obtain a foothold in the mids ^
of the wheat it is impossible to exterminate them by weeding;
alone. Not. only is the wheat injured through being trodden on]
32
>*-
*" * *
EHSIS
S il
B K B e s sff^mrniTn dim
IBS
1
i
i
m
^ ^
^ ^
m
1^
1
yyES^MPMi
s
I
I
S K
?s
a
Bamia field [Ladies' fingers, Hibiscus]
Durra field
T a b l e 6."
Year
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1921
1922
1923
1921
1922
System
F
e
d
d
a
n
s
48<5
62
46
515
54
57
57
61
55
37
39-5
33
16-5
46-5
-
o! Farming and Specified
Number of F*imi
according to tlz
in Peddns
<M
11
15
11
12
19
19
20
17
13
10
-

-
-
7
7
7
5
6
9
8
11
9
7

cc
3
3
4
7
5
5
4
1
5
3
-

-
i d
2
2
1
2
2

1
1
1
1
-

-
o
1
2
1

1
1

-
-
Wheat
3122-1
4370-8-5
2907-7
3779-5
2694-11-5
3688-95
3503-5-2
1835-3-5
2306-7-5
1956-6 .
910-6-2*
1400-10-5
906-5
1063-1
534-6
Barley
873-9
778-6-5
901-3
781-3-5
924-8
1221-6
1088-3<5
1031-7
570-6-5
535
671-11
523-4
150-11
513-3
66 ~
Crop
Horse
beans

290-5
361-4

129-9
-
Returns (in Kcls and Meeds]
Lentils
48-6
24-1
44-1
5-7-5
3-7-5
56-10
138-25
85-8
52 -
19-10'5
12-0-8
10-7

28-68
12-3-5
Karsena
79-7<5
58-9
50-7
19-3

251-8
204-1
120-9-2
94-7-5
43-7
74-4-5
30-2

12-6-8
-
Chick
peas
497-3-5
-r *
310 - .
872-10
1132-2
1622-9
1600-6-5
767-48
818-9
170-2-5
399-11
209-11

102-2-5
-
Durrha
603-9
286 -
1217-3
3744-9
2770-10-5
238 -
1315-3
239-10
712-8-5
336 -
256-7-5
348-11

402-7
92-6
of Arab Tenants.
Sesame
137-5
-
951-1
.
108-4-5
322-2-8

225-5-8
130-7-5
9-11-8
105-0-5

30-4
31-8
Remarks
1 F eddan=-
150 dunams=15ha.
Tenure-Tel -Adas
Djendjure
Nahalal
Tel-Alfire
Sources of data: Material arranged and condensed by the author from yearly accounts between the Palestine Land Develop-
ment Company and tenants on an are of about 10,000 dunams, before its transference for colonisation purposes.
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 I 1 I
00 VO O\ ts)
I I I
O CTi
I 4
00 CO
VO Ul
O T.
34
<
n
03
Number
ofFeddan
rr
03
-3 O
CO
CO
a
. r
by the weeders, but their efforts to destroy all the weeds are
unavailing. War must be joined with the weeds while the fields
are under kerabs, and the wheat must find a field properly
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 crop is likely to be considerable. Very often all the
trouble and care bestowed on it are only for the sake of the
wheat that is to come after it. Such wheat always yields a lar-
ger crop than would be the case if it were sown in a field of
any other kerab. The wheat is sown after it without any further
preparation of the soil, because after the plucking of the sesame
the surface soil is left loose, broken up, leaving excellent mulch
and free from all remnants of stalks. The seeds are merely buried
by one ploughing over close furrows. The drawback of sesame
is that its success depends too much 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. Further, the same
crop does not all ripen at one time, and this makes the in-
gathering more difficult.
B. Bamia. Of equal value with sesame is bamia. This
plant is not very common in Palestine. It is sown with a space
of 6080 cms. between the rows, and it is ploughed 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 wood, and form a covering for the
ground. The bamia leaves the ground free from weeds; but
if leaves behind strong stalks which have to be cleared away
from the field.
C. Durra. Durra is of inferior value, as it exhausts the
soil. It has, however, deep roots, and it loosens the ground and
35
throws a shade over all the ground. It is sown in poor soil
where sesame would not thrive. Good durra grows as high as
a man's head, and in exceptional 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 unquestionably a great influence on its
growth. As late as ten o'clock in the morning its leaves are
still wet with dew. Besides the fact already mentioned, that the
durra exhausts the soil, it has a further drawback, because the
field sown with 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 as waste), and the whole ground is broken into
crannies.
Half-summer kerabs. Karsena, late lentils and chick-
peas. In Galilee peas are important 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 advantages of
these kerabs is that throughout the winter the ground is open
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-
gatherers, 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-sickle. 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 leguminous plants. All of these are practically
of the same value, being deep-rooted and gatherers of nitrogen..
The roots of the bean are the strongest and strike deepest.
This plant requires a deep soil, and in thin soil it will not
36
prosper. These species as a rule do not produce large crops
and beans are worth the trouble they require only in first-class
soil. When it is grown repeatedly in the same field, its yield
falls off. Still, when there is no other kerab it has to be sown
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 machine; this saves expense and
improves the ground with the remnants 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 moisture still remains in the ground, and
later on it causes to spring up summer weeds which are in-
jurious to the wheat which is sown subsequently. 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 mountains 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 more
reliable.
Among winter kerabs 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. The
special preparation of the ground, the constant hoeing and
weeding, and the properties of the plants themselves with their
peculiar deep-growing, broad, strong and branching roots all
these things improve the mechanical character of the ground,
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. This kerab is possible, however, only in
37
; villages close to a town which provides a market for vege-
tables, and on limited areas, and* it is not merely a subsidiary
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 districts, especially in the neigh-
bourhood of the sea-ports in Sharon. These plants bring in
much more than wheat and barley; they are reckoned the prime
source of income 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 does not thrive, like
the Jordan 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
kerabs and a portion is left fallow, that is to say, it is ploughed
at the end of the winter, and then left fallow for a year.
The fellaheen call this tillage "kerab barad" i. e. rainy
tillage. In the North it is called "sunny crop-growing" and in
the South "sun fallow." This is the method of dry farming, but in
an imperfect form, because it lacks the operations performed in
the course of the summer with a cultivator and with harrows. In
rainy countries this tillage is called "black fallow." This system
is practised only in certain cases and under special conditions.
38
Cha p t e r F our.
THE HARMONIOUS STRUCTURE.
The whole farm of the Fellah forms an organic unity. Every-
thing is produced in it by his own powers; he is not depend-
ent on any external economic factors and he is not affected
by the changes and vicissitudes of the outer world. The sim-
plicity of his implements constitutes his strength in the struggle
of existence. His world is not governed by the principle of
"time is money", but by the principle of "preservation of matter."
He allows nothing to go to waste. Everything which appears
to be lost returns to him after various transformations. 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 house
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 thorough
regularity. The winter cereals alternate either with cultivated
crops or with nitrogen-gatherers. But the only product which
yields a good income without involving much expenditure 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 hands. These manual operations however
do not affect the profit of the Fellah. His work has no money
39
value for him. It is no commodity in the market and there is
no price for it. In a country where industry is not yet even in
its cradle and where agriculture is primitive to the last degree,
labour has no money value. Every little (herefore counts. In
a place where labour commands 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 implements and quick-working
cattle if the work can be done also with light implements which
he acquires for a few pounds 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 appearance and in its structure seems to
have risen out of the soil on which it stands. It is indeed for-
med from that soildust of its dust and stone of its stones. The
Arab village is a creature which takes its colour from its envi-
ronment. In the plain it is built of mud, all home manufacture
not costing a penny. The materials are composed of the dust
of the earth, of the straw which it produces 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 with cow
dung which has been dried in sun and breaks in their hands,
and bake bricks. On the slopes of the mountains the houses
are built of stones from the mountains. The members of the
Fellah's, family-collect the stones with their own hands and
raise the walls, and the village builder only completes the struc-
ture. The Fellah buys from outside nothing except the corner
stones and wood for the roof and the door. The stalks of tall
grass covered with dust are used to cover the roofs. This dust
produces grass and herbs. Only in villages near to town which have
been "spoilt by civilisation" have they begun lately to cover the
roof with imported tiles.
40
Making sun-dried bricks
Bin for chopped straw (teben)
pno.tq OApuu .ioj UOAO pmu
t a b 1 e 8.
System of Farming and Classified Crop Returns (in kilos) of Arab Tenants.
Year
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918'
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1921
1922
1923
1921
1922
W i nte r
ce re a l s
277-844-5
366-727-5
263-132-5
322-520
248-360
337-735
317-177-5
189-2275
201-520
173-495
100-387-5
131-234
75-530
105-395
43-387-5
Yield in
Le gume s
46901-250
27993750
67452-250
67331-250
85189-500
144843-750
145710000
73038-750
72401-250
17527-500
31980
18806-250
-
19893-750
922-500
k gs.
D urrl i a
43471
20592
87665-6
269622
199497 6
17143-2
94698
17272-8
51314-4
26136
18475-2
25128

28987-2
6667-2
Se s a me
6875-0
-
47555
-
-
5417-5
16112-5
-
11275
9030
500
5252-5

1516-5
1586
W i nte r
ce re a l s
3395
4340
2760
3605
3780
3990
3990
4270
3850
2590
12765
2310
1155
2790
933-25
Area
Le gu-
me s
970
1240
1380
1030
1080
1140
1140
1220
1100
740
790
660
-
1395
133-3
in Dunams
D n rr h a
2425
3720
2300
3090
3240
2850
2850
3660
2750
1850
1975
1650

2325
666-66
Se s a me
485
-
460
-
-
570
570
-
550
370
395
330

465
133-33
Total
Area
7275
9300
6600
7725
8100
8550
8550
9150
8250
5550
5925
4950
2475
6975
2000
Yield s per
W h e a t
67-337
68000
76-112
72-420
53-176
66-000
64-328
35-836
42-364
54-264
29-376
45-968
53-720
30-464
37-672
B a rl e y
96-343
101-000
114-548
106-520
78-224
101-280
94-652
52-784
62-356
79-696
43-224
67-652
79-060
45-076
55-308
Dunam in k gs.
Legu-
me s
48-35
22-57
41'63
65-37
78-88
127-05
127-80
59-87
65-82
23-68
40-48
22-64
-
14-26
6-92
D urrh a
17'93
5-53
38-11
85-27
61-57
6-01
33-23
4-72
18-66
14-13
9-35
15-23

12-47
10-01
Se s a me
14-18
-
103-38
-
-
9-50
28-27
-
20-50
24-40
1-265
15-92

3-26
11-90
Source of data : arranged by author, see table u.
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42
Buildings. - In the Shefelah the whole village is surrounded
with a mud wall. According to present ideas this wall affords
no protection and it is no wonder that the walls of Jericho fell
at the blast of the trumpet. They are, however, sufficient for
the needs of the Fellah. House adjoins house and every court
is surrounded with a high fence made of mud. This 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 serves at once as a dwelling for men, a resting place for
beasts and a storehouse for produce, i The house of the well-
to-do Fellah has a number of rooms: one large room for the
use of men and beasts, one for receiving visitors, and one for
storing. Besides the main house in the court there is also a
small building "tabbun" (the oven). Sometimes two families
live in one court. The low conical straw-stacks plastered with
stubble twigs and mud are scattered outside the court, by, the
side of the threshing floors, where they stand like sentries on
guard.
The cost of building the house are for an ordinary Fellah
as follows: In the mountain districts, stones 34; wood for
roof and door 2; builder's wages from 56; total

1012. In the Shefelah, stubble (Kash) 11.5; wood

2; total 3-3. 5.
Working Animals, The Fellah's implements are also home
made; they are not brought from a distance or from abroad.
The whole of his land, covering from 120 to^ 150 dunams, he
works with three oxen, or with a horse or a camel - "seeka" in
his own language. He gives the preference to oxen for the
following reasons: (1) they are cheaper to maintain than any
other draught animal; (2) the working day is longer with them,
as the oxen do not require to rest at midday. It is usual to go
out to the field with, three oxen and to work with two, chang-
43
[ *
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 whether 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 diet 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. Apart from
the sesame cake, therefore, all the food is home produce.
The Fellah keeps a camel for the following reasons:
(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 most of its food in the
44
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46
open field; coarse grasses which any other animal would dis-
dain are delightful to the palate of the camel. The "sabar"
(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 the former and the leaves with
-their prickly points for the latter. To this food which the camel
obtains free his master adds beans, straw, and a small quantity
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 product of the home, 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 provided for them. They rummage in the dung heaps and
live on the refuse and the insects creeping about there. Never-
theless they are good layers; in some cases they are equal in
this respect to birds of good stock and they have the advantage
over them of being immune against several diseases.
Implements. The Fellah's implements are few in number
and light in weight. He carries his plough on his shoulders
when he returns from work, and a young boy looks after the
threshing board and the mule attached to it. All his implements
are home-made, formed out of wood obtained on the spot
(mostly from Zizyphus Spina Christi), only the coulter being
made of iron. The plough cannot be beaten for simplicity,
lightness and suitability 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 clods, 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
15
ili?
11
V^ r
1' - ?
i l l
in his passage, and, of course, it does not make them grow or
increase their number. When rain comes down for a long time
continuously or with brief intervals, the Arab plough is the only
one with which work can be done. In such conditions the
European plough does not cut the ground, but packs the dust
together, makes bricks, rolls the earth into clods, and damages
the ground for years. Hence in rainy years the Arab plough
prolongs the working season.
Investment capital. The whole "capital" 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 plough ' 0.40
A threshing-board 0.60
Two wooden picks 0.15
One iron pick 0.20
7 sacks 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
-20
- 4
the total for all implements and sources
of food supply is 55. 20 61.20
48

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 expenditure:
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

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9
2
5
4
6
49.
69.
20
6
6
6.
3
12
5
12
70
50
,50
,40
.50
.50
'8
i ?
of the night being as of yore. And the same summoner, whose
intelligence, the gift of his maker, is blessed by all Jews in
matins, goes on fulfilling his task. Both the sacred and the
profane are under his way, from the worship 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
changes, even in the meanings of the summons. It is the third
crow of the cock that portends good fortune. Whoever takes
the road before cock crow does so at his own risk and peril,
the Talmud says. Do not fare forth till the rooster has crowed
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
and talit siaha by the Fellah to this very day. With the third crow
the sound of milling resounds from every hut throughout the
village. It is this voice which acclaims life and daily bread. All
the prophets of misfortune from Jeremiah to the heralds of
vision saw the wrath of God in the silencing of the voice of
the bridegroom and the bride, in the loss of the murmur 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 home. The infant that is bound to her gives her
no respite. Suckings and infants yet in the cradle are borne
out to the fields on their mother's heads and shoulders. In
the heat of the day they stay outdoors 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. The whole day is given up to work without any rest
period. He eats his frugal "pittah" while he is ploughing. He
returns home about an hour after sunset, when he feeds his
animal and eats his own evening meal. After a few hours sleep
he gets up and goes to feed his oxen till daylight. Then he
goes 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 draught animal his ass or camel , loads it
with the produce 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
winnowing. After that begins the threshing, which goes on till
after midday. From four o'clock he turns over the threshed
produce (tarh'a) or makes it into a heap again.
The seasons of work. The farm of the Fellah does not
demand the undivided attention of its owner in this way during
the whole of the year. It occupies 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 months he is idle on
account of the rain. In this way he has about five months
free for outside work (see table 4, p. 20).
The Fellah's farm in the plain is usually monocultural,
being devoted wholly to crops. Occasionally the Fellah has
also a few score of olive trees and a handful of fig trees. In
many villages there is not a sign of vegetables, 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
Fellah the whole of the year. He is free for other work for
52
53
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 towns find additional occu-
pation in the stone quarries, either actually working 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 "natch"
(Poterium spinosurn), a brushwood that grows on the mountains.
Wages are from 810 Piastres a day.
2. Size of F arms.
The normal unit. An ordinary Fellah has a portion in
the village land of from 70100 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 landowners 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 produce, 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 peas
which costs about 3 pounds.
54
T a b l e 12.
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.
To t a l
700--
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 expenses
2
Harateen 263-288
less weeding
expenses 3- -
L. E.
144-480
167-132
118-547
260-288
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. "Landwirtschaftliches vom See Q enesareth", "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/l
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
1 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 district one fedclan = 120 dunams.
Wahaif expenditures : Seed guard, Harvesting works, Threshing.
55
9f)T]rmn.Tr| pm? Srrrnrm jo }HTT
T a b l e 13.
System of Farming and Crop Returns on various Types of Arab farms.
No.
District
Types oi
w
45
45
160
45
A r
m
m
,
t
e
r
t
s
C3v a
5
5
40
10
fa
e a
m
e
r
a
l
s
B t_
COCJ
15
15
175
30
-ms
C3CU
35
35
124
15
No of
Workers
c
<
2
3
8
2
, w
c "
< E
0 2
4
11
3
No of
Product.
Animals
s
o
O

1
2
-
D.
<u
J2
CO
5
-
-
-
Farm Proclucis in Kgs
111
Total
grains
Fodder
bought
from
outside
Remarks
per hectare
G
r
a
i
n
s
i
n

K
g
s
.
720
1-130
738
335
Workers
c
VD
:1
/l0
V25
Vr.
A
n
i
-

j
m
a
l
s

1
Vr,
2
/r>
1V50
ty'io
1-
2-
3-
4-
100
100
500
100
Jaffa
Lydda
5-600 600 l ' OOO 7'200
- 9-350 1-200 l'75O; 12-300
- 29890
- - 2-700
2100 5-000 36,900
500 140 3-360
2
) 600
600
2
) / l ' 800
I 600
(
3/5-000
( 2
l 600
Oxes
2
) Oil Cake
) Barley
/
J
,S W I- ^'U T a b 1 e 14.
Income and Expenditure in various Types of Arab farms (in ).
a.
I N C O M E
Grains
D a i r y
Milk| Calve
Vegetables Plantations
Poultry
Totiil
Income
E X P E N D I T U R E
Wages
Feed lor
working
:ui i ma Is
Taxes
etc.
Farm Expendi-
ture and
Miscellaneous
Total Ex-
penditure
Prolit )
83-20
142-20
423-20
36 - -
The supply of the fa-
mily's needs is not
taken Into account
1-5
1-5
12 - 12
8470
143-70
423-20
65
3
136
135
4
4
75
4
10
18
52
4-50
22
23-6
30
8-4
39
59-2.
292
16-9
45-70
84-50
13120
48-10
*) The profit in types 1, 2, 4 represent s the remuneration of (lie farm-owner for his work.
Source of dat a: collected by author 1913-1917 and arranged according to prices in 1928.
n dwelling liouso
Bedouin tent; the wife ninkinjj hatter
At harvest time he hires day labourers, giving them food
and tobacco all the time they work and 120-150 P.T. in cash
per feddan.
For weeding 3-4 pounds 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 additional expenditure of 4-5 kels of
wheat for bringing the produce from the field, for ingathering
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 takes a meed (a twelfth part of a kel) for every
feddan watched. For the food of the cattle at. threshing 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 monotonous. His 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 prepared
for him in the evening. It consists of the herb "khubbeza" flavoured
with onions and pepper. When tomatoes are in season he eats
tomato salad flavoured with pepper. Pepper 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 uses 7-8 kantars 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 purchase
rom outside.
MiikIn many villages milk is obtained from sheep by
those who have their own shepherds. The average number o*
57
heads is 1520. The sheep pasture on the mountains, in the
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 season of
the rainfall, for three or four months a year, when the herbage-
is plentiful. All the year round the sheep live on dry food. The
Arab cow yields about six hundred litres of milk a year, the-
whole of it in the course of a few months. The ewe yields
5060 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 3040 fowls. Not one
of them knows how many eggs he collects nor do they pay any
attention to this branch. In the home they use this article of
food chiefly to entertain visitors. As a rule the woman sells the
eggs and gets in exchange feminine articles 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. Sometimes with the money which
the woman obtains 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 Fellah uses a great deal of oil. A favourite dish
of his is "pittah" dipped in oil. He consumes a jar of oil per
person per year. In some villages the Fellah 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
where there are no olive trees they use sesame oil which they
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 gathers this herb in the winter months, dries it, and
uses it for cooking most of the year.
Clothing. Expenditure on clothing falls under two heads:
(1) Clothing bought once a year; (2) Clothing bought every four
or five years. Every year the Fellah buys a "fob." If a Fellah
is asked how old he is he will answer: "I have bought so and
so many pairs of shoes and tobs." In times of scarcity he
buys a tob every two years. An "abaiah" is bought every four
or five years, and a "tarboush" every five or six years. Expenditure
on clothing is made up as follows: "tobs" for a family
2.5; shoes 1; proportion of the cost of the tarboush 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 sesame a supply of which is prepared for the
whole year. Of clothes washing altogether there is very little.
As a rule the tob is washed once a month or once in two
months. Most families use two to for bars of soap a year, i. e.
24 okias, costing 6 PT. a year.
4. The Communal Organisation.
Communal Bodies. The ruling powers of the village are:
(1) the Sheiks, (2) the Mukhtars, (3) the Elders (Ichtiaria). The
Sheiks are the heads of the family groups (the Hamuleh), and
59
their function is to settle disputes which arise between the
members of the Hamuleh, 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 "musha,"
and belongs to the community. Once every two years it is
divided up among the inhabitants of the village. The land itself
is divided into three or four main sections according to the num-
ber of Hamulehs in the village.
Every Fellah has the right of use of a certain share of the
land of the village. This share is expressed in terms of various
measure; sometimes by Feddan (pair of cattle), sometimes by
Seeka (plough), similar to the Feddan of the Mishna, sometimes
by Kerat (every Kerat is V24) and sometimes 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 number of blocks. This number varies .according 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 block (Muka) has a different name which is derived from
some incident that occurred in the village or from the person
to whom the land belongs.
For instance:
Jazirat el Takhuna = 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 right of use of every Fellah to the share marked on
the Musha land is not concentrated in one block, but scattered
among the various blocks of the land of which the village is
composed, or in a number of single blocks, according to an
agreement with the villagers. The Fellah'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 block. The strip is termed Maris.
The number of individual strips varies according to the
kind of land. It is possible for a Seeka to be scattered among
2030 places,i even though the number of blocks be less; for
sometimes the block cannot be definitely divided according to
the kind of land, the good and the bad being mixed up and
confused. The width of a strip is sometimes 45 metres and
the length some hundreds, 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 "Tual", after the length of the strips;
in another it is called "Danab Hawasheh," i. e. the end of the
tail, as this field is considered so good, that every villager wishes
to have at leest a crumb. Each strip may contain even only one
dunam, and sometimes there are two partners sharing this dunam.
Sometimes 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
neighbouring villages to become "Mafruz" land, i. e. each indi-
vidual has his own separate land, but it is scattered in a
number of places.
The usual share of a fellah in the land amounts to from
V21 feddan. Between Gaza and Jaffa Egyptian fellaheen have
settled on small holdings of 30-40 dunams. Sometimes one of
the Sheiks or Effendis owns a half or a third of the whole
village. In some villages it is only the Hamuiehs which differ in
61
1
f
it
j
lit
in
the number of sehems they own, some having a larger portion,
some a smailer, while within the Hamulah the land is divided
according to the number of individuals and their share-rights.
The actual ownership of the land of various villages usually
does not go back, according to the report of old Sheiks, even
two generations. A hundred or hundred and fifty years ago many
lands were empty of inhabitants. Their workers lived in neigh-
bouring towns or in large villages. In the same way the southern
Fellah at the present day lives in Hebron, 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 hands could work. But as
time went on, the "land of God" became less and less, and
men of might seized it and would not give it to others. Space
was limited and quarrels were frequent. The weak banded to-
gether into families, and took up their fixed abode on the land
which they tilled. In some cases the workers could not live in
the village owing to the shortage of water. They managed,
however, to find some old stopped-up wells, by opening which
they obtained water; and so the last obstacles were removed.
Ploughing plots. After the first rains the Sheiks and the
Mukhtars go out to measure the fields and to assign each 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 extends the whole length 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 "hamuleh" every year, as their boundaries are
62
fixed by tradition and are well known. They are also recognised
by ancient landmarks, which are often "living landmarks," 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 members of the hamulehs. The
casting of lots is done with the "lepeh" under the tarboush with
rags of different colours, each colour representing a plot.
Parcellation. Since 1928, the Survey Department of the
Government carry out the parcellation in accordance with a list
of shares in each of the cultivation blocks, which is supplied
to them by the Land Settlement Department, after consultation
with the village authorities.
The communal affairs. The communal affairs of the village
are few. As a rule they are confined to the watching of the
fields and the government taxes, and in a few villages they
include the water supply. There 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 undertake
a contract for the drawing of the water, especially in the period
when the draught animals are occupied in the field, that is, for
six months in the year. The daughters of the village carry the
water on their heads in pitchers, exactly as in the days of
Rebecca. They 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 mesha (5 rottles of wheat). The charge for
water is made according to the number of heads and pitchers,
as a rule five Piastres per month, and one Piastre for 4 pitchers
of water.
63
i!
11
t
Thus the communal charges on each individual are made
up as follows:
for watching 2 meshas of wheat 40 piastres
for water 120 ,,
For defraying the expenses of the Mukhtaria, of journeys
and of entertaining soldiers the Government returns 22
l
/2/o
of the taxes to the Mukhtar.
[
\
I
64
Cha p t e r Si x.
THE FELLAH'S FARM UNDER EXPERIMENT.
An area of 250 dunams is divided into seven different
types of farm units at the branch station at Gevath (Valley
of Esdraelon). The purpose of the investigation is to compare
the typical farms established in Palestine from the point of
view of the cost of crop-production and returns; and like-
wise to ascertain the possibility of developing holdings on mo-
dern lines.
The plan of experiments was laid out by the Divisions of
Rural Economics 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 accordance with the prevailing system. To
ensure greater certainty, this portion has been handed over to
an Arab fellah, who cultivates it at his own expense, according
to his own methods 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 arrangement will provide 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 Plant-Breeding. In regard to the first, the system
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 obtained by the various Divisions of
the Experimental Station, which show any relevance to the sub-
ject under review. The best methods of cultivation, combination
of manures, quantities of seeds and sowing dates are adopted.
The best selected seeds from the Division of Plant-Breeding
are used. Control of diseases and insect pests is practised
according to the instructions of the Divisions of Plant Pathology
and Entomology.
The aim of the experiments is also to verify and to com-
pare the results of those methods which in the experimental
plots have proved to be the best, for the following reasons :
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 methods
tried, it is too small to give their absolute yields, the
managing of small experimental plots being of a special
character.
Combination of many factors. In experimental plots we
generally deal with a single factor. Thus, for instance, in green
manuring experiments the investigation is limited to green
manuring versus non-manuring. Other treatments, like tillage etc.,
are done in the customary manner 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 possibilities. Certain methods are to be tested
as to whether they are realisable under field conditions on
account of technical difficulties involved, for example, the method
of sowing in strips and cultivating during the growing season
between the rows.
Economy. The economic value of some methods,
cost of production, etc., can hardly be established in expe-
rimental plots, and larger fields approaching to the size of
farms are required for this purpose.
Types of F arms Existing in the Grain Region.
The following are the three principal types of existing
farms in the grain region: (1) The fellah's primitive farm;
(2) The consolidated mixed farm; (3) The mono-culture
European farm. At opposite poles are the entirely primitive farm
of the fellah and the consolidated mixed farm, while between
them, the remaining types constitute gradual steps in develop-
ment. These include transition farms which gradually approach
the mixed farm according to a definite plan in advance, and
farms in which the main revenue comes from grain while the
other branches are subsidiary.
1. The fellah's farm. This farm is minutely described in
previous chapters. Its characteristics are: bi-annual rotation;
mono-culture; dependence upon grain; the rotation crops are
the only means of maintaining fertility; manure is not an item to
be calculated; the standard of life is low, in many cases below
poverty level.
2. The consolidated mixed farm. This farm is described
in a separate essay. Its characteristics 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 organisation are
modern; the standard of life is comparable to that prevailing in
all civilised countries.
3. The mono-culture European farm. In its crop rotation
this farm resembles that of the fellah except that instead of
primitive implements, modern ones are wholly or partly employed.
66 67
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 proposed to introduce in the other
types of farms.
Living Area. As the constant factor we take a given
standard of life in a certain period of years. The factors se-
curing it are subject to variation. We express 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. - The unit established for
an intensive farm is, for non-irrigated land 100130 dunams;.
for heavy irrigated soil, 30 dunams; for plantation soil according
to the quality 10-15 dunams. All these units are intentionally
adjusted to the form of farm based 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 secure the given standard of life, because in a farm
of this type the revenue is composed of the surplus income deri-
ved from the difference between the standards of life of the owner
and the workman, in contrast to the intensive farm which really
depends upon family labour only. 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 manual labour and
these crops cannot, in virtue of their yields, produce a surplus
for the owner above the cost of labour. A farm of this type is
68
satisfactory as a transition in colonisation but not as a permanent
condition. Its system enables the preparation of large areas
with few labour forces and also the increase of fertility of the
soil. The machine is, in such transition farm, imperatively
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 possible only in such units as are established for
types of intensive farms dependent on the family's labour, for the
following reasons: (1) the extensive transition farm can be consi-
dered only for unsettled areas of land and not for land distributed
between close settlers; and (2) this farm requires a very heavy
equipment costing large sums, requires qualified labour, and
supports a thin population. On the other hand it is possible to
raise a smallholding to the degree of the described mixed 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 organisation are entirely adapted for growing fodder
and maintaining cows. The first dairy farms were founded on
non-irrigable land or with slight auxiliary irrigation. This is
the position also to-day. The path to growing of fodder and
improvement of cattle is for the most part beaten out. Not so
the path to the market which has not yet even been found.
For by market we must mean foreign markets, seeing that in
Palestine the urban population is small and their purchasing
power low.
In other countries intensification in agriculture proceeded
by way of conversion of grain to meat and milk. It is pos-
sible that in Palestine redemption will come to heavy agri-
culture by "the milky way." Milk products will stand compet-
ition in eastern markets. All the factors of production available
69
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 speculation. Possibly the dairy
farm will produce competitive products from heavy irrigated
soil alone. It is, therefore, necessary, for greater protection, to
seek also systems of intensification which are not dependent
upon cattle breeding.
Plan of Experi ment s.
Area. The area of 250 dunams was 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 carot and the wild Canary grass. To get rid
of the latter especially, the field was ploughed 25 cms. deep in
the summer of 1926, except, of course, the field devoted to Arab
farming, where no other implement but the Arab plough was
ever used.
The eradication of weeds in the Arab farming fields was
done by hand little by little, in the course of successive years
of cultivation. The soil was in a very exhausted state, and crops
grown in the first year were low in yield. Owing to the relative-
ly large size of field, only a single component of the rotation
occupies the field at a time, and, consequently, results will only
be obtained at the end of the various periods. In this respect
the farm differs from the experimental fields, where all the com-
ponents are simultaneously 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.
P r e c i p i t a t i o n : T a b l e 15.
Rainfall at Gevath Experiment Station.
Month
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
19251926
5
9
14
9
4
5
O \
19-7
78.0
196-7
94.4
43-3
20-0
19261927
2 a
B |
& .E
13-5
277-5
112-5
167-0
38-5
52-0
19271928
4
3
6
10
20
5
in
'c 5
o\
23-5
44-8
21-5
119-7
201-7
10*3
1921929
II
19291930
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
Total 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 not in the Experimental Station but in a village in the
vicinity where he is working other land in tenancy. He comes
to work the 60 dunams at the Station at the proper time of
operation. His family consists of six persons: the fellah and
his wife, two sons, 3 and 17 years old, and 2 daughters,
6 months and 15 years old.
In addition to the fields of the Station the fellah works
about 200 dunams. The working animals which he uses for the
71
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 given :
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
Quantity j Value
kels
10
15
10
14
5
7*500
6- -
7-500
18-200
2-500
Total 41-700
Every worker receives 46 pittahs during the day, weighing
about 1 kg., and vegetables. When a cooked meal 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 sabar (cactus fruits), and sometimes leben (sour milk) or
olive oil.
The home and farm expenditure of the fellah is composed
of the following items:
1
Taxes, viz. Osher and Verko and communal expenses are not taken into account.
Seeds which the fellah receives from the landowner are included under "Tenancy
fees." Prices calculated as average of the years 192 7-192 9.
72
lloehu,' sesame
Sesame Hiresliing floor
of
A. Food.
12 Kels Wheat at 75 kgs. each, for
flour, regular price per ton 10
1 kel wheat 75 kgs. for burgul
30 rotl meat for Sabbaths and Feasts
at 150 mils (each time y
2
r 0
^)
30 rotl onions per year
24 rotl olive oil at 140 mils
Rice, soap, salt, pepper 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 addition, 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 810
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 season 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
Types of Farms under Experiment.
/. Arab fanning. - These 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 wheat; (2) durrha and wheat; (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. Two-, three-, and
four-year rotation. The total area is 30 dunams. Crops of the
four-year rotation: leguminous, wheat, summer-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 crops are grown in strips-
between which the soil is cultivated.
5. Farming based on green manuring. 30 dunams. divided
into three sub-fields. Green manuring every two, three and
four years.
6. Cultivated fallow. 30 dunams, 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 methods are being investigated : (1) Fallow, (2) Green
manuring, (3) Sowing in strips, with or without the help of
fertilizers. The frequency of repeating the first two methods are-
also investigated in these fields.
Dry Farming. *)
"Fallow practice is credited with being able to increase
yields because of the following beneficial properties:
It assures an adequate amount of moisture in the soil for
high yields even in dry years, it restores the fertility of the
soil, and increases the bacterial activities, it permits to get rid
of weeds and pests, etc."
"Conservation of Moisture. The net amount of water left
at the disposition of the crops is considerably lower than that
of the total rainfall. Even the more humid regions take on
a less favourable aspect in regard to the supply 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 larger
area than the strictly dry regions of the country."
"Fallow as Restorer of Fertility.-The depletion of soil
fertility is becoming more and more conspicuous, owing to
the continuous cropping 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 comprehenses results of ex-
periments made in 19211930, and will be soon published.
75
adding chemical fertilizers. The practice of green manuring
presents a problem by itself. It may be that this way of farm-
ing will continue to proceed, but if not, it may prove very
beneficial to allow the soil to rest from time to time."
"Bacterial Activities. The optimum temperature for soil
bacterial activities prevails during the summer months, from
April to October or November. But those months happen to be
at the same time quite dry and the moisture content of the soil
is too low to stimulate intensive bacterial activities.
Thus, it seems that the intercalation 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 others, which alternate in rotation with wheat, either
were deficitary or required much hand labour. Under such con-
ditions, better results might be obtained 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
continuously; a reduction of yields of both crops is to be ex-
pected. In some regions, maize is not quite successful, so that
the question of the rotation has not lost its acuteness."
"Rotation and pests. The winter crops 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 more. For the year of 1930, the damage is
76
estimated to be about 80%. Weeds also seriously interfere with
the growth of the crop and may considerably reduce the yields.
Both pests can be got rid of by alternating winter and
summer crops, 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 crops succeed.
For the other regions, fallowing seems 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 brought
under cultivation. Such land is for the most pait in a poor
state of fertility, covered with weeds, and constitutes 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 transitory stage. By this method
better results may be obtained than by continuous cropping."
Green Manure.
"The main object of green manuring is to provide the
soil with organic matter, and in connection with this the green
manuring is much superior to the dry farming method which
not only does not increase the organic 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 recognised. 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 consideration. Besides its very limited
production, actual and prospective, it will be confined to dairy
farming. For the non-irrigable and consequently strictly grain
farming the green manuring may be the only resource of or-
ganic matter supply.
The green manuring realises to full extent many of the
advantages of the dry farming method. If well prepared, the
green manure will allow to get rid of weeds and pests. It
will keep moisture in soil and hence encourage bacterial activities
all the year round. 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 manuring may advantageously substitute
the dry farming method, any way in regions with moderate
rainfall.
The same as dry-farming the green manuring may be con-
sidered as a transitory or permanent practice. It may constantly
alternate with the cereal or only be intercalated from time to time.
All these effects and variations are being dealt with in
those fields."
Sowing in Strips.
"Sowing of cereals in spaced strips and cultivating between
them is not customary in this country. In some parts of the
drier region of the southern border, rows are spaced to about
3035 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 particular region 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
adverse conditions of rainfall. For the success of the winter
crops depends not as much upon the total rainfall as upon its
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 conditions.
The explanation of this is easily grasped. Whatever the state
of humidity of the soil may be, fissures are bound to form
sooner or later after a certain period of dry weather persists.
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 exposed 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 seems to be only
one efficacious solution and that is to make possible 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 implements.
The system of spacing enjoys some of the special proper-
ties of both the cultivating fallow system and green manuring,
and moreover leaves no area unsown, as in these two systems.
The spacing system can therefore become a permanent intensive
one wherever the dairy farm is unsuitable for lack of markets
or other reasons, and it may suit also grain crops 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.
1 with fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
II. Three-year rotation: 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 rotation: 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 rotation: 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 fertilizer.
III. Two-year rotation: leguminous, (summer crop?), wheat. 1 with'
fertilizer, 2 without fertilizer.
IV. Two-year rotation: durra, wheat. 1 with fertil., 2 without fertil.
V. Two-year rotat.: sesame, wheat. 1 with fertil., 2 without fertil.
E. dairy Farming.
Four-year rotation: 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
Map of Experi ment al F i el ds.
P.Z.E.AGRIC.EXPER.STAT-IOM m m >U7
!0M or FARM ECONOMICS
OVATH
jrow rrnn
rcn
-D-
j i ,__
HI
"
v
-~i
2 !;
IV- 1 v -
For explanations see pp. 80 and 82.
81
I -
Explanations to map
Fallow
Wheat
Fallow
Or. manure
Wheat
Gr. manure
Fenugrec
Wheat
Maize
Fenugrec
Wheat
Maize
Durra
Sesame
Oafs
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
The fellah rnmiiii; to work, Oevath Exj>. SK
Sowing sesame with a funnel, Gevatli Exp. St.
Wheat, field without fertilizer at. Oevath Experimental .Station
Wheat field fertilized with phosphate and Chilean nitrate,
OevnHi Experimental Station
Results of Experiments in Fields of the Fellah.
Calendar of operations. The fields of the experiment had
been badly neglected and were full of weeds, and this neces-
sitated two ploughings of the soil, instead of the usual one,
before sowing (see Table 17). These operations thus needed
almost the same number of workdays as were required for the
fine ploughing for preparation of seed-beds, this in contrast to
Tables 3 and 4 (Pp. 18, 21). All operations on land under
winter crops (an area of 30 dunams) required 80 days male
labour, 10 days female, 26 days child labour, 41 days yoke of
cattle (one horse = one pair of oxen) and 50 days work of ass.
Operations on land under summer crops (an equal area) required
41 days male labour, 13 days female, 6 days child labour, 26
days of the pair of oxen, and 31 days of ass. The time required
for operations on the whole area for winter and summer crops,
60 dunams, about half a feddan, necessitated 121 days male
labour, 23 days female, 32 days child labour, 67 days of the
cattle and 81 days of ass. A whole feddan thus requires 242
days male labour, 46 days female, 64 days child labour, 134
days of cattle, 162 days of ass, that is to say almost all the
available working days during the whole year (see Table 4,
p. 20).
Revenue and yields of fellah's land. -Tabl es 18 and 19 show
the revenue of the fellah's farm for the period of three years,
and yields for a period of four years. The year 1929/30 has
not been taken into account in view of the mice plague, as a
result of which the winter crop was heavily damaged and even
the summer crop did not escape. The average gross revenue
has reached 33 per 60 dunam, and the net income 25. The
gross revenue per feddan or 120 dunams is thus 66 and the
net income 50. The gross income of the feddan in the Emek
(150 dunams) is 82 and the net income 62.500.
83
3.600
3.600
0.500
1.500
The size of a family farm. The size of a farm within the
capacity of one family (without hired labour) is determined
chiefly by the duration of the ploughing season (see Table 4,
p. 20). One yoke of cattle needs one adult wurker the harath:
he cannot be procured as a daily labourer, but has to be
engaged by the year. His wages are paid in kind and amount
to about 18 22 per year. Details of the amount of grain
paid to the hired labourer in Galilee are given in table 12, p,
55. The wage 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.
Natural pasture alone does not suffice for their sustenance, and
the additional concentrated food, amoun-ting to some 7 per
year, constitutes a very considerable item in the fellah's budget.
The keeping of the harath and yoke of cattle costs him about 30
per year. On the farm for which detailed figures of revenue
and yield are given in Table 12, p. 55, from one feddan (120
dunams) about 11 ton of grains are obtained, and this on land
of good quality. 44 goes to the owner of the land, 22 to
the harath. The surplus income of the owner is only made
possible by a ruthless exploitation of the harath who is in con-
sequence living below the poverty line. The lowest limit of
expenses of the harath must be 50 which is the sum spent by
a. not entirely destitute fellah's family. Details of the expen-
diture of the fellah are given in separate tables on pp. 49
and 73.
84
T a b l e 16.
Calendar of Operation in Arab Farming Experiments
Agr. Exp. Station Gvath.
Operations
Opening furrows for wintercrops
Ploughing and sowing
Weeding and hoeing
Ploughing on the chick peas field
,. durra
,. sesame
and sowing chick peas
1926-27 1927-28 1928-29
Second plough, on sesame field
Hoeing of chick peas
Hoeing of sesame
Hoeing of durra
Ploughing and sowing sesame
Harvest of wheat
Transport of wheat
Harvest of chick peas
Threshing of chick peas
Harvesting and transport
of sesame
Threshing of wheat
Winnowing and cleaning of
wheat
Threshing of sesame
Harvesting and transport
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
10-2 8.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, 2 2 .
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
2 4 -31.V1II, 1-6.IX
9-20-1X
2 9-30.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
Y e a r s
Area of the plot
Kinds of Work
1. Opening furrows
2, Ploughing
& Sowing
3. Weeding
4. Harvest
5. Transport
6. Threshing
7. Winnowing
Total
1925 - 26
23
Workers
M
e
n
10
17
9
18
2
5977
W
o
m
e
n
-
5
-

-
5
C
h
i
l
d
.
277
10
-
-
6
- '
1877
Dunams
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
3
87s
-
O
x
e
n
377
12
-
-

1577
Ol
377
1273
-
6
7

29
1926 - 27
30 Dunarns
Workers
M
e
n
18-5
2
3
14
32
10-5
800
W
o
m
e
n
5
2
7
6
-
20
C
h
i
l
d
.
-
3
-
5
15-5
-
23-5
Animals
in
a
X

O
x
e
n
49-75
A
s
s
e
s
6-25
4l - 1
-
16
-
20
-1
7
- : -
49-75 26-25
Y e a r s
Area of the plot
Kinds of Work
1. Openi ng furrows
2. Pl oughi ng & Sowing
3. H oeing
4. H arvest & Transport
5. Threshi ng <S Wi nnowi ng
Tot al
B.
1925
20
Dur-ra 1
- 2 6
Dunarns
Workers
M
e
n
373
4
5
6
0
18
2
/a
W
o
m
e
n

2
2
4
0
8
C
h
i
l
d
.
3
2
-
-
0
5
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s
4
a
3
4
-

-
8
a
/a
O
x
e
n

2
-
-
-
2
A
s
s
e
s
3
4
-
2
-
9
experimental Field
1926 - 27
15 Uunams
Workers
M
e
n
8
6

9-5
7
30-5
W
o
m
e
n

2
7
1
10
C
h
i
l
d
.

2
-

-
2
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
-

O
x
t
n
16
16
--
-
12-5
44-5
<
6
4
-
6
2-5
18-5
86
l e 17.
D A Y S ,
at Gevath (Arab Farming).
1927 - 2 8
30 Dunams
Workers
M
e
n
17-25
14-50
4
22
-
25-50
3-50
86-75
W
o
m
e
n

-
3
1
-
1
-
5
C
h
i
l
d
.

-
4
9-5
5-5
11
0-5
30-5
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
-
-
-
5
-
5
O
x
e
n
29
29
-
-
-
48
-
106
A
s
s
e
s
14-5
14-5
-
5-5
12-5
11
-
58-0
- 1928 - 29
30 Dunams
Workers
M
e
n
8-8
16-4
2
16
5-5
19-5
8
76-2
W
o
m
e
n

-
10

-
0-5
-
10-5
C
h
i
l
d
.
2-4
-
1-5
10-5
5-5
6-5
2
28-4
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
-
-
-
10-5
-
10-5
O
x
e
n
21-6
32-8
-
-
-

-
54-4
A
s
s
e
s
14
17
-
15
9
14-5
8
77-5
4 years
for 30
Workers
M
e
n
7-6
15-6
2
15-7
7-8
25-1
6-2
80-0
W
o
m
e
n

-
4-5
2-4
1-8
1-9
-
10-6
C
h
i
l
d
.
1-4
3-3
2-1
5-0
4-0
10 2
06
26-6
average
Dunams
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
-
1-0
1-0
10-6
-
12-6
O
x
e
n
13-9
31-8

-
-
12
-
57-7
A
s
s
e
s
8-2
13-7
-
5-4
10-3
10-4
2
50-0
)
x/ -
- - - lit nJ
WI
if
at Gevath
1927
(Arab
- 2 8
Farming]
30 Dunams
Workers
M
e
n
9-75
12-5

2
1
25-25
W
o
m
e
n
-
-

-
C
h
i
l
d
.

6-25

1-5
-
7-75
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s

-
-
O
x
e
n
28-75
25
-
-
1-5
55-25
A
s
s
e
s
13-75
12-50
-
1

27-25
1928--29
15 Dunams
Workers
M
e
n
6-5
6
-
8-5
1
22-0
W
o
m
e
n

8-5
0-5
9-0
C
h
i
l
d
.

-
-
2
Animals
oi
X

-
-

O
x
e
n
13
10

23
A
s
s
e
s
7-5
6
9-5
-

23
4 years
for 30 1
Workers
M
e
n
11-1
10-6
1-9
11-8
5-7
41-1
W
o
m
e
n
-
0-8
1-8
9-2
1-0
12-8
C
h
i
l
d
.
1-1
4-3
-
0-4
-
5-8
average
Dunams
Animals
H
o
r
s
e
s
1-8
1-5

-
-
3-3
O
x
e
n
21-7
17-5

8-5
47-7
A
s
s
e
s
11-3
9-6
-
8-8
1-7
31-4
< c
/ I /
Y"/
/*-/
87
1.0
Ta b l e IS.
Income and Expenditure of Arab Farm under Experiment in Gevath.
(60 dunams)
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*360
0140
o
29-507
13-744
31-759
25-003
0-416
1. Calculated according to the following prices: Wheat 10, Durra
8, Chickpeas 10, Sesame 26.
2 Manuring expenses, amounting to 3 on the average, which were
incurred for experimental purposes, are not included in the items of ex-
penditure.
Ta b l e 19.
Returns per Dunam on Experimental Plots,
Arab Farming.
Year
1925-26
1926-27
1927-28
1928-29
Average
Wheat
sl
<s
25-2
30-0
30-0
30-0

10-4
8-9
8-9
Return kgs
b
o
u
t
n
u
r
e

87-8
61-7
51-9
77-2
69-6
n
u
r
e
d
B
80-2
-
82-1
81-1
Chick peas
- =
si
14
15
-
-
-
5?
T3
<L)
CO

8-1
-
-
-
:
t
u
r
n

k
g
s
OS
24-3
35-0
-
-
29-6
a g
-
15
30
15
-
Durra
e
d

k
g
s
4 0
-
0-4
0-4
0-8

:
t
u
r
n

k
g
s
-
101-1
22-0
47-0
56-7
Barley
e
a

I
n
m
a
m
5.6
-
-
-
-
e
d

k
g
s
C/)
-
-
-
-
-

t
u
r
n

k
g
s
as
95-0
-
-
-
-
Sesame
e
a

i
n
m
a
m
< T3
-
-
-
15

e
d

k
g
s
-
-
-
0-6
-
k
g
s
>
t
u
r
n
ai

-
-
27*5
-
1") 88
ko
Follnli wlicnf- fiolil at Oov; .iovnrli r
"Wlieat field fnllowing ^rceu m.-inui-e. HOVJIHI Exp. St.
"Wheat sown in strips, flevath Kxp. .St.
The catchword of modern capitalistic economy is "live
and let live." If this motto be applied in this instance the farm
above considered would have to grant the harath the wage of
50 per year at the very least. This would mean the lowering
-of the revenue of the farmer from 44 to 16 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 649.
If he were to satisfy the most elementary personal needs of the
harath, the farmer's own profit would drop to 312; and if
the harath were to receive a yearly wage of 60, which is
the desirable standard, the farmer's profit 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, obtained
in the richly fertile land referred to in Table 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 50. 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 harath. 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 of 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 country agriculture can only yield a bare
living, and not furnish interest on capital.
"Wheat following' cultivated fallow, Vvath Ex p. St.
89
Results of Experiments in Modern F armi ng
1
).
The experimental period of three years (dairy farming three
years, farms of other types one year) is hardly sufficient for
conclusions 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-
sideration suffices, however, to indicate in a general way 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 methods were first introduced on
fields assigned for this purpose. The conclusions which can
be drawn at the present stage refer only to the results of the
use of various fertilisers, but not to the efficacy or otherwise 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 was sown with
barley, and yielded up to 500 kgs. per hectare. The rest of the
land was sown with wheat, with a yield of 560 kgs. per hectare.
In 1927/28, the whole 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 summarise data for future investigation, and also to show
that the use of modern implements 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 represents an economic unit in
every respect, because his fields are worked according to his
independent individual experience. The work on the other farms is
done by means of hired labour. The aim is a mere comparison
) The detailed description will be published by the Division of
Agronomy.
90
of returns since all the factors of production in modern farms
have been specially studied on hundreds of actual farms (not
experimental ones), the results of which have been published in
a separate treatise.
Fields A. & B.: Dry Farming and Green Manuring.
These experiments were started in the years 1928/1929 and
1929/30, i. e. that in those years only preparatory work was
done. Wheat follows in the next years, 1929/30 and 1930/31.
Rotation. Each of those methods comprises three various
rotations. See explanations, p. 80.
The following Table gives 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
ea 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. Phosphate and Nitrate
(in one application)
Nitrate in two applications
2. No fertilizer
The comparative experiments with fertilisers in the above-
mentioned fields were made not for their own sake, but only to
discover the influence of fertilisers on different systems of cul-
tivation.
The land under oats was twice attacked by hot desert
winds (Hamsin): 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-burning 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 results of the Division of Agronomy give the
following yield of wheat, after green manure and after
leguminous crops for grain, on an average for three years, in
kilogrammes per hectare :
Fertilizer
None
Phosphate
Phosphate & 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 cultivated fallow . . . 1,750 kgs.
after sesame with fertilizer . 1,425
Fields C. & D.: Sowing in Strips Versus Ordinary Sowing.
An area of 6 hectares is devoted to the study of these
methods.
The method of sowing in strips is characterised by the
fact that all the crops which enter into the rotation are sown
in spaced strips allowing cultivation between them.
Rotation. Three different rotations are included. See ex-
plantations, p. 80.
The experiments were started in the year 1928/29.
Fertilizers. Half the area of each field was fertilized that
year with Phosphate and Nitrate of Soda for comparative pur-
poses. In future the entire field will be fertilized, as results of
previous years show few prospects to increase yields without
fertilizer. The following Table gives the yields obtained in
1928/29 (in kgs. per hectare).
92
Details of experiments
Wh
Grain
1'591
691
1'282
706
e a t
Straw
3-661
1-612
-
F l
Grain
540
377
601
403
a x
Straw
6-543
1-773
2-765 j
2059 j
Fenugrec
Grain
766
181
1-184
341
Slraw
1-609
1-196
2-487
888
Field C. Strips :
1. Phosphate and
Nitrate
2. No fertilizer
Field D. Ordinary sowing :
1. Phosphate and
Nitrate
2. No fertilizer
The area worked by "cultivators" was sown in strips,
each consisting of four rows with spaces of 14 cms. in between,
and each strip being 65 cms. apart from the next. The amount
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 "cultivator"
is of a small type and reaches to a depth of 5-6 cm.
Fie id E.: Dairy Farming.
Area. An area of 2 hectares is devoted to this purpose.
The features of this type of farming are its special rotation and
the use of organic manure.
Rotation. The rotation is composed of fodder crops and
of cereals in almost equal parts. The following fodder crops
are sown :
Clover, vetch hay, stock beets, pumpkins, maize
for forage, maize for grain 1 hectare.
Wheat and barley 1 hectare.
The cereals and the fodder crops also alternate among
them, so that each crop appears 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
able to sustain 2 cows. Some changes in regard to area are,
however, made from time to time.
Manure. Manure at the amount of 40-45 tons per hectare
is applied every four years. Until now only old manure was
used. The manure is applied before the fodder crops: 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 shows little or no difference against the other types
of farming described.
The main characteristic is the summer ploughing. Immedia-
tely after the harvest of the crop, the soil is ploughed at a
depth of 18-20 cm. In these experimental fields, ploughing 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. The
forage crops are sown first, then follow barley and wheat.
This order is sometimes necessary, as sudden rains may
interfere with the sowing. It is of more importance for the
forage crops to be sown early than for the cereals.
The experiments started in the year 1926/27, when one
fourth of the field, Va hectare, was manured, and the various
rotation crops were sown. It was discontinued for the year
1928/29, and retaken again in the following years.
The following yields were recorded:
94
Yields of Fodder Crops (Green Fodder),
(in Tons per Hectare).
Kinds of fodder
Yield
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
Remarks
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 Hectare).
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
66
436
639
556
645
539
Vetch
Clover
Beets
Pumpkins
Maize
Maize for grain
Crop yields in dairy farming do not themselves determine
the amount of direct income but only determine it indirectly by
fixing the yield in milk and offspring. The capacity of a unit
area for supporting cows is directly dependent upon the amount
of the crop. The yields indicated in the first table on this
page, first column, are average figures obtained in dairy farms;
where yields are as high as these, it is possible to keep one
cow per hectare. The balance of revenue and expenditure 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 considerable period of time,
according to the findings of the Division of Agronomy. The
results given here are not intended to be conclusive but to serve
as a record of observations made.
96
Harvesting with binder
with machine
Cha p t er Seven.
MODERNISING THE FELLAH'S FARM.
In the following chapter we shall set down only in general
outline those graduated improvements 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 separate study based on an analysis of the
various types of existing farms in the grain region of the country.
The following scheme of improvements rests axiomatically upon
two preliminary suppositions :
A. That the fellah's farm remains during a specific trans-
itory period in its prevailing form without important changes
in his draught animals, implements, crop rotation, or his way
of life. Its objective is increase of revenue without appreciable
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 production but of luxury. The existing
instruments of production must advance 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 Stages in. Modernisation
of a Primitive Farm.
The Heavy Crane. Up-to-date instruments of product-
ion introduced in the modernisation of primitive farms in
97
the first transitory stage may be compared, in many instances,
to the use of the heavy and costly crane to lift light and in-
significant loads. The "crane" is the capital invested in the
form of buildings, machinery and tools; the "load" is the net
profit remaining for the support of the working family. In the ab-
sence of exact correspondence between crane and load, the
balance 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 250300 dunams. Its chief source of revenue is from its
milk production. In 1927, the time of investigation, 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 about100. 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 labourer. A ploughman receives 28 per year; a
stable boy 10 per year. The daily wage is 8PT. If hired
labour is to be paid at a rate affording a human standard of
living 7 per monthly field labourer, 5 per monthly stable
man and 17PT. for a daily labourer expenditure on this item
will rise to 164 instead of 47 with the result that the net
profit will disappear and the farmer-owner's standard of life be
lowered. Increased intensification cannot bring about the desired
salvation, because increased production by intensification is re-
quired to maintain the balance of profit of the dairy. The farm
serving as illustration obtained 250 from dairy produce when
milk was 2PT. per litre. When it drops to 1 PT., double the
quantity must be produced with the same expenditure, with a
corresponding increase when the price fluctuates from 1.3 to
1.5 PT.
98
The capital investment in a diversified farm based on
own labour amounts to 1,200 excluding land, when completely
equipped with all instruments of production. The value of the
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 211. The
family also consumes about 70 worth of the farm's products.
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 support, and a net profit of 9. Interest
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 ' 25O
500
500
l'OOO
300
2-250
l'2OO
700
420
80
C
a
s
h

!
I
n
c
o
m
e

T
o
t
a
l

C
a
s
h
1
E
x
p
e
n
-

j
d
i
t
t
i
r
e
S
u
p
p
l
y

!
o
t

t
h
e

j
h
o
u
s
e
h
o
l
d
:
i
n

C
a
s
h

j
N
e
t

:
P
r
o
f
i
t

|
F
a
r
m

p
r
o
-
d
u
c
e

r
e
-

1
q
u
i
r
e
d

f
o
r
,
t
h
e

s
u
p
p
l
y
o
f

t
h
e

i
h
o
u
s
e
h
o
l
d
=8
410
250
150
195
70
310
211
141
135
35
110
80
40
60
15
100
49
9
-
-
70
70
50-60
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 above selected farms. If they were to hire themselves out
at 7 per month they would earn 168 per annum under nor-
mal working hours, with no over-time, none of the worries of
*) A =- German farm, B = Small holding farm (full equipment),
C = Small 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 surplus of 112 (42 in cash
and 70 in produce) above the family's remuneration for labour.
This difference is secured only because of the discrepancy be-
tween the two standards of life of the owner and his workers.
In type B the farm brings in 199, that is, the farmer re-
ceives a surplus of 31 above the family's remuneration. In
order, therefore, to obtain a surplus profit of 112 as in farm
A, a capital investment of 3,500 is needed, and in order to
secure only 31 above ordinary wages of hired labour 1,700 are
required. This is the "expensive crane" which from a pure
economic standpoint hoists 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 average for all farms with 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 hectares. The total labour income per farm will then be
479X6=2,874 Danish kroner or 69 ore per calculated working
hour. By comparing 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 among 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 able to pay the family remuneration
for labour performed when all other expenses ate paid and 5
per cent interest on the capital. On the average for all farms
the labour earnings of the family amount to 69 kroner per hectare
or about half the calculated normal remuneration. The labour
earnings have been highest in the group of less than 10 hectares,
amounting here to 1,436 kroner per farm and for farms of 50
hectares or more there have been no labour earnings but even
a deficiency of 2,025 kroner per farm when 5 per cent interest
is to be paid on the capital. In 192627 the labour earnings
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 comparison of the figures for
the two years shows a considerable progress both for the large
and the medium-sized farms while in the small-holdings the
labour earnings have declined by about 200 kroner per farm.
In 192728 the labour earnings for this group are 30 per cent
below normal remuneration, corresponding to the amount which
the family could have earned during the year if working for the
same number of hours in other farms at the going wage. In
192627 the labour earnings were 25 per cent below normal
remuneration for the same group of farms."*)
The instruments of production themselves employed in each
of the above types 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 buildings. Heavy 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, Organisation and Development of Investigations in
Agricultural Economics and Farm Management in Denmark, 1927.
*) Results of Danish Farm Accounts in the Accounting Year 192728.
Bureau of Farm Management and Agricultural Economics, 21st Report,
4th October 1928.
100
101
Machinery requires proper sheds for protection and skilled wor-
kers to operate it. Ail this complicated mechanism calls for
much attention and absorbs most of the time of the workers.
The question for consideration is this: is ail this cumber-
some machinery an indispensable necessity, or is it possible to
obtain the returns quoted above with a simpler and cheaper
medium? 1 he reply is that at a specific stage the "heavy crane"
is essential, but during certain transitory periods it is superfluous
and complicating; it becomes appropriate only when the biolo-
gical factors of production which determine the revenue of
the farm cannot be exercised without it.
Biology and mechanics in agriculture. There are two
forces operating in agriculturebiology and mechanics. The
former embraces manure systems, modern crop rotation, improve-
ment of seeds, improvement of domestic animals, control of
diseases and pests. Mechanics embraces implements without
which the biological forces cannot be operated such as ploughs
for cultivating systems, implements for sowing, manuring and
control of pests, or of such kind that are essential for gathering
the fruits of labour as harvesting, threshing and transport
machinery.
The decisive force in the advancement of agriculture, in
increasing the fertility of the earth and the revenue from the farm
was always the biological factor. At times this was due to the
laboratory of the scientist and his experimental fields, from
Liebig, Bussingault and Law up to the present day; at times it
was due to the model farm of the practical man. The scientist
requires mechanical aids but not the enormous ones of the fields.
An ox and an ass yoked together to a nail plough can produce
similar crops to those obtained with the heaviest tractor and
plough. There are not more sheaves grown with a harvesting;
machine thaji niih a scythe, nor does the smouai oi crHin in-
crease because a threshing machine instead of a board is used.
A milking machine does not draw more milk from the udder
than does the human milker. Selected seeds, and the quality cow do
increase returns, and they are biological factors. Control ot disease
and pests is possible only as-the result of extensive research
in the nature of the disease and behaviour of the pests. The
machine has not generally played the same role in agriculture as
in industry. Only in isolated cases has it been a principal factor
as in boring artesian wells, drainage and drying of swamps, in
reclaiming the field for the farmer, but not within the sphere of
his labour itself. Agriculture did not, as in industry, jump from
stage to stage. It knows no astonishing novelties; it has not
invented aeroplanes nor discovered radio. In the organic world
generally conquests are not made with the rapidity characteristic
of the mechanical world.
The function of the machine in agriculture and in partic-
ular regarding the single person's farm was more concerned
with retrenching labour than increasing the land's fertility and
the farm's revenue. It was more a product of sociology than pure
economy, the result of social causes rather than governed by
the soil itself. The machine was an essential factor of production
in the large farm when wages rose and labour was short be-
cause of the drift to urban industry; it was likewise an essen-
tial production factor in the winning of wide stretches of
virgin land in America and Australia. It can be indispensable
as a saver of labour in a small farm when it reaches a high
standard of intensification like that of the small farm in Den-
mark. There a farm of 7 hectares has a pair of draught animals,
a series of ploughs, sowing machine, dynamo and huge buildings.
The super-intensification in milk production, breeding of pigs
and poultry, so occupies the farmer's family that he has but
lirtie iim^ for field labour. The fast working machine is a stand-
by when he is pressed for time. He is obliged to use it even
for a small area, exploiting it to the full, but also leaving it idle
for long. In this case two motives are mixed the machine as
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 that the machine in itself always increases
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 impediment when it is a premature luxury, prior to the farm
being able to bear it. It is this conflict which is especially
revealed in the transitory stage from primitive to modern agri-
culture, bringing complications into the entire farm.
The same implement may be a means of production and
a means of luxury according to the extent of its use. The fast
motor is a means of production if there is enough work to run
it for economic purposes every day in the week. The ass, for
example, cannot at its rate of speed execute the same amount
of work. But if there is only enough work to run the motor a
few hours and for the rest of the week it stands idle, its greater
speed has only a luxury and not an economic value. Under
such conditions there is nothing better than the ass with its
natural slowness. The motor 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 hands determine the system of work. The size
of the "living area" determines the essential rate of speed in order
to complete all the labour, with its rational distribution, accord-
ing to the calendar of operation for each season throughout
the year. That instrument which corresponds to such rate of
speed and guarantees the proper standard of life is an instrument
104
tnhiii hrenl. yielding 800 lif.n.-s IK.'I" vesU
1
Crossbreol, Arab :uv\ DuMi, 1st jjonomfcion, yicMinj;. over -iOdO
lifiMs (:ivor;ige for three veal's)
Crossbreed, Beyrouth
fun I Friesinn ("A Friesiaa
l.ilootl), nvpni^c yield for
thren years 2,935 liters.
(Jros>11reed. Beyr out h ;iml
Krii-siiiii. averayi
1
yield I'm-
ilii-ci> vei ns 2.711 l i ffi s. .
jaggjggE
1
m
I
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.
of production; that which works at exceptional speed during a
few days in the season and remains idle the rest of the time
for lack of work, owing to the limits of the "living area," is a luxury.
Psychological causes may make the latter instrument essential
even when it is possible to perform the work it does with
slower and simpler tools. It is possible, for example, that the
Danish farmer cannot adapt 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 clothes and boots, a roomy home, fine
furniture, etc. In Denmark there is an expansive exhibition field
on which there has been erected a veritable ancient village in
all aspectshomes, 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 paths. It is con-
ceivable that with these ancient instruments of production, ex-
hibited merely as a memory of early days, prevailing returns
could be obtained by the fanner, if it were not for his desire
for present day comfort. Noi the needs of production but the
refinement of the habits of the producer caused the substitution
for simple and plain tools of expensive, intricate and heavy
machinery. Possibly this refinement has also affected the cows
and pigs who, if not now maintained according to modern stan-
dards, would deteriorate. Possibly quality crops, those which
withstand competition require special arrangements, involving
additional investments and a large turnover. It is difficult to
distinguish fundamentally in modern agriculture between what
is vital and what is luxurious or convenient. At all events the
"leverage" to obtain profits in all these cases is ponderous
and intricate.
In many developed countries agriculture has during the last
105
decade suffered more or less from serious crises. Under stress
the Government assists the agriculturists in various ways, direct
and indirect, by grants, long term loans at low interest, by
maintaining scientific and economic institutions at its expense,
the opening up of markets, protective tariffs, etc., thus relieving
the individual farmer burdened with an excessive investment,
and so balancing his deficits which have a purely economic
origin. These deficits are partially the result of the discrep-
ancies arising from the excess of investments for the conveni-
ence and comfort of the worker as compared with those essential
for producing revenue. The purely economic law is decisive but
in its place there come reasons of social policy which require the
protection of agriculture as part of the life blood of the general
social organism. 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 monotonous, discouraging
initiative, and is oui of accord with the rhythm of modern times
and of modern thought. Driving a tractor is more harmonious
and pleasant and even in cases where it does not increase the
returns compared 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 impossible. 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 machines we commit a double error 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 misses his goal when he
106
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-
lah, who derives pleasure from mere coloured advertisments.
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 owner even as a means of comfort.
The art of reforming the primitive farm is to determine
exactly when the farm has graduated to the point when it can.
use modern machinery, and not to introduce it before then. It
is the essence of the art to transfer the farm by gradual de-
velopment from the easy to the difficult stage. The "crane" of
which we have spoken must be an organic product of the land
itself, growing naturally like the crops. It must be prepared for
during the transition stage when the fellah's nature is still
characterised by satisfaction with little for this characteristic is
also susceptible of change. Until the needs of the fellah increase in
accord with a cultured standard of life he will find the natural,
domestic "crane" in the home-grown and not acquired stock, for
its cost is but nominal, not having absorbed much expenditure.
Those 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 implements
for modern ones and so change 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 was from a certain point of view born with a defectits
107
numerous requirements. It begins with large expenditures prior
to its receipt of even small returns. Every modern farm in the
country is handicapped at the start by an expense of 80 per
annum. Half of this sum comprises communal expenses for se-
curity, education, organisation, and for such needs as concen-
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 generations and trans-
mitted from father to son just as the treasures of the home. Jewish
colonisation in Palestine also does not provide the settler with
a complete equipment, which costs about 1,200, but only
with a partial equipment, costing 700. During a prolonged
period of years the settler can, by his thrift and self-deprivation,
acquire the complete equipment. His instruments of production
will, therefore, be almost half composed of virtual accumulated
capital. For the fellah the transition will be lightened, in partic-
ular if he continues for a certain time to utilise (he common
draught-animal and implements and not tractors or motors.
The stages of progress 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 expenditure items enumerated above for
a fairly long period. He can utilise the crops of his farm for his
family's sustenance, such as wheat, milk, eggs, vegetables, to
the same extent as the above mentioned modern farms without
any necessity to resort to the "heavy" rather than the "light crane."
His present implements will enable him to increase his cash
proceeds by from 20 to 30 during the transition period.
This is all it is necessary to find at first, for with it the fellah
begins to approach a cultured standard of life, and the farm
108
Ta b l e 20.
Comparative Expenditure on Different Types of Farms (in ).
Hems German Farm
Smallholder's
Farm
(self-working)
Smallholder's
Farm (trans-
itory stage)
Fellah's Farm
Seeds
Labour
Feeding
Manure
Maintenance of
Buildings
Taxes
Sundry
Depreciation
Colony Expenditure:
Education
Guard of Colony and
Fields
Administration
General Exp.
Sick Fund
Pasture
Bulls
Fire Insurance
Dues of Workers'
Organisation
Sundry
Home Expenditure:
Food and Sundry
Clothes and Shoes
Farm products
used for household
Total Expenditure
12
3-200
5150
1-650
80
30
70
47
59
6
1 0
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
30
l o -
ss
281
50
4
6
2
10
29
95
196
11
4
35
7
7
4-500
0-300
1-600
50
*) 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
Ta b l e 21 .
Standard of Living on Farms in Transitory Stage in Different
Settlements (in ).
Items of Expenditure
Prise
of unit
weight
mils
Farm A Farm B Farm C
/. Food and Necessaries
a, bought from outside
Sugar
Oil
Cracked grains
legumes
Potatoes
Fruit and vegetables
Sugar for jam
Toilet soap
Petrol
Total for the month
Total for ihe year
Meat
Clothing
Nevvspaperi
Miscellaneous
Total bought from
outside
b. Derived from the Farm
Wheat
Milk
Eggs
Chicken
Vegetables
Grapes
Jam
Total according to
market price
Total food and
necessaries
/ / . 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
- 36 0
- 2 10
- 0 8 0
- 12 0
- 150
- 070
- 100
- 150
1-500
18 - -
2
10
1-200
2
6-750
15
4
2
3-
2-400
6
1-200
1
33-200
43-750
76-950
1 0-600
87-550
-260
-450
-2*0
-160
-120
-250
-070
-100
-150
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
-100
250
-170
-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
12 600
82600
Number of family members: two adults and two children.
Source of dat a: Special survey arranged by the author in about
200 farms.
110
will of itself increase its receipts until it reaches the maximum
development possible.
This additional income does not call for any revolution in the
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 II, page 42, 46 serve as striking examples. The
question is how shall we make all the farms capable of earning
the same income?
The fellah's farm can be enhanced by the following reforms:
1. The increase of the fertility of the soil; 2. The increase of
its present crops; and 3. Diversification. These factors can be
brought into operation with small means without shaking the
foundations 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 described in our introduction with special emphasis.
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 fodder; the green manure 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 any case there is no
demand for hired labour, and hands in a village for whom
there is no demand must inevitably remain idle. The Experi-
mental Station will publish the results of its researches 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
ill
or changing the prevailing time of sowing. The reasons are
as follows :-
A change of rotation calls for fundamental changes in the
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.
Change of times of sowing means ploughing of brittle soil,,
which involves much expenditure which is not recoverable from
yields, as well as oppressive 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 harmony of the holding.
Summer ploughing of heavy soil is justified in certain cases
only in a dairy farm which gives first place in the crop rotation
to fodder crops such as clover and vetches. Ploughing of brittle
soil is sometimes obligatory in order to advance 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
pasture, an important item in the economy 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 increased without exces-
sive manipulations simply by carefully preparing a good 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 weed-
ing increases the yield of such crops as sesame and durra,.
and in consequence also of the cereals which follow them in.
112
o
rotation. The additional ploughings preserve the moisture of the
soil, the determining factor in'the life of all plants in semi-arid
countries. The ploughings and weedings destroy the harmful
weeds which cause a double evil, absorbing the moisture
gathered with much effort in the soil and squeezing out the
productive plants. The defects in the preparation of a good
rotation crop are the result of a lack of good draught animals.
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 area 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. Commercial fertilizer operates success-
fully only when the land is cultivated properly, aerated and
conserving moisture. 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 particular
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 dependent on one culture and it is not surpri-
sing therefore that its existence is not certain. The farm can be
diversified without burdening it with crops for which there is
113
no sure market. The additional branches should be native
plantations and home produce oi various kinds.
Native plantations. A small area, 5 to 10 dunams, should
be given over for irrigated or dry plantations according to local
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 surplus. But it is also possible to grow cer-
tain vegetables as cash crops like onions. Egypt exports great
quantities of onions and there is no reason why the local fellah
should not compete with it. Each fellah can also maintain
two local cows and more poultry. Palestine imports 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 exports 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
necessary to introduce into every village pure bred bulls for
crossing with local cows. The results of such crossing in
the modern farms of the country are astonishing. The
offspring of a native cow and Dutch bull produces after its first
calf 2,500 litres of milk per annum in place of 700 litres, the
production of its dam. The fellah requires for this farm a pure
bred bull able to produce both a series of working oxen and
cows noted for milk and meat. The Agricultural Department
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 present with the addition
of a few supplementary improvements, for the herds will not
radically change their mode of life. They will continue to live
114
in the usual shelters. A small srea ne.xt to the farmyard is all
that nz~d be sown for ioddzr which can Szrve as an zddi:ion.il
feed. Greater comfort for man and beast will come with the
opening up of markets for the new crops and the forward
move of the farm as it develops of its own accord.
Improving the poultry. This is possible in two ways: by
crossing the local hens with Leghorns or Rhode Island Reds
or by pure selection. The local hen withstands pests better
than the imported, and it is also a good layer. Its manner of
living need not be essentially changed either as regards feed
or barn. Such alterations immediately increase expenditure and
this branch is still too weak to bear the burden of modern
investments.
There are two types of farms which both form an organic
unity being harmonious in their organisation and balancing their
income and expenditure: the low-grade farm, like the fellah's,
and the high-grade farm, like the high-class dairy farm in this
country which is comparable to that of the Danish farmer. The
first lives by its very limitations, the poorness of its income and
the absence of expenditure; the second by the creative power
of the worker who compels the soil to render high yields and
who bases his farm on diversified branches.
Looked at from a narrow economic point of view both
forms justify themselves in so far as both balance. From a
humanitarian point of view the. first should be rejected, for it
compels the worker to live below the poverty level. From the point
of view of national economy 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 economy. With any devel-
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 gates to America or to any other
115
1
country which promises better conditions of livelihood, there
will without doubt be a large emigration from the country.
The abandonment of primitive farming is imperative not
only for the new settler coming with a high standard of living
from Europe, but also for the fellah. The aim of both is the
same; the difference is only in the rate of speed at wh.ch it is
to be attained, and the difficulty is in finding a suitable path
of transition. Transition farms include both non-rational and
rational types. The former are those which are burdened with
the heavy machinery of tne modern farm while yet retaining the
usual cropping system of the farm of the fellah. These the
author calls "semi-modern farms" - modern in expenditure and
primitive in revenue, or spending like farmers and earning
like fellaheen. Good transition farms are those which cnange
the whole system of farming by converting grains into milk
and eggs. .
Illustrations are numerous and will be brought in a special
study The income and expenditure specified in Tables 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 800-1,000
dunams using modern implements. In comparing the respective
figures of income and of field returns it will be seen that the
latter farm is in neither respect superior to the former.
Modernising the F ellah' s F arm in accord with
Geographi cal Distribution of F arming Systems.
Village lands can be schematically divided into the following
divisions: - (1) the lands lying along the borders of the sands
and of the heavy soil; (2) the lands lying in the plain, irrigable
and non-irrigable; (3) The lands in the plain bordering the
foot-hills; and (4) the valleys. (See map facing p. 120).
116
Ta b l e 22.
Areas, Seeds and Yields in Tel-Adass, 1916-1919.
1916-1917
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
Total
31-8 26746
23-4
6-9
2-5
1 0-3
12-6
1
0-0
3-0
93 8
29846
3075
1875
3388
562
85
41 8
325
1917-1918
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
1918-1919
34-2 22450
11-5
4-2
2-4
5-7
1-0
3-0
3-0
2 ^
> 5
12827
2632
1324
2307
420
846
1 05
waggon
65-0
Yields per Ha
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 35
wag.
T a b
Cash Income and Expenditure and Net
N 0 M
I t e m s
1916-17
L.E.
1917 - 18
L .E.
1918 - 19
L.E.
1. Field crops
2. Vegetables
3. Dairy: Milk
Calves
4. Poultry : Eggs
Poultry
5. Outside-Work
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
-762
78-088
Total 580-044 667-531
Area in hectares
No. of cows
No. of heifers
Young stock
Poultry
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
1 e 23.
Farm Income at Tel-Adass 19161919 in L.E.
E X
I t e m s
1. Field crops:
Seed
Insurance
Threshing
Tithe
Sundry
2. Vegetables:
Seed
Manure and Sundry
3, Dairy:
Oil Cakes
Pasture
Bull and Sundry
4. Poultry
5. Working Animals
6. General Expenses
Total
Net Farm Income
Total
P E N D I
1916 - 17
L.E.
80-276
-
-
82-273
- 162-549
4-143
- 4-143
-102
7-120
2-342 9-564

3-918
48-804
228-978
351-066
580-044
T U R E
1917 - 18
L.E.
113-800
6-242
-
60-484
11-960 192-486
11-663
3-210 14-873
-041

2-308 2-349
-334
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

-883
2-703
208-597
591-172
223-636
814-808
119
1. Sandy 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 there are visible to the eye the boundaries
where the two types of land meet. The villages of Yazour and
Safriyeh can serve as illustrations. 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
crops suitable for heavy soil we must be satisfied, as a tempo-
rary measure, with irrigating 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 be
divided into three types: that which is entirely irrigated, that
which is partially. irrigated, and that which is not irrigated.
To the first type belongs the land belonging to the villages of
Beit-Dajan 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 heavy 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 cultures,
even though the grove is not as long lived as that in its
natural soil, and requires additional working days for its cul-
tivation. We are not referring to the capitalistic plantation which
thrives on the surplus remaining after wages have been paid.
This will be a small farm which entirely depends on the number
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 working family will be able itself to devote the necessary
120
/UGGEJTED GEOGRAPHICAL
D1/TR1B OTION OF THE
FA R TIING 5YSTEMS I N
PAL ESTINE.
n\nn | /
d fdrmmO ilono/idr thi
/onu ol lion) ind t\uvy /oil
yn?v
soil farmino
tntirrly irrioilrd.
. a
.S 3
a. >
P
A
L
E
.
5
T
o
5
M
n H
Oo
o m
TJ
n> m c
-i nt
A3
2
M 3
^ p
5 *
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
attention for an orchard even in heavy soil. In this section
it is also possible to plant an orchard on 5 dunams, vegetables
on 5 dunams such as onions which have, a market, and a little
fodder. It must be emphasized that over-modernisation will also
complicate this farm by the excessive investments. There 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. The water
drawn by the mule moistens the soil just the same as that
drawn by electricity or oil pumps, and extracts 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 plot of 5 dunams. In such case the electric
force is not a means of production in the field of the fellah,
just as the substitution of his oil lamp in the home by an
electric lamp will not be considered productive. Manuring,
adequate irrigation, pruning the dry branches, selection of buds,
the control 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 land in the plain which is not irrigated there is
no other solution than the increase of yields and of revenue
by means of the plan detailed above. The increase of the area
unit in comparison with irrigated soil will provide what is
lacking in the present standard of life. The unit for modern
farms has been fixed at 100 dunams on unirrigated soil, and
25-30 dunams on heavy irrigated soil. The fellah's farm can secure
the same net profit as the modern farm, for not having 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 plantations can be set on the hill sides. The
cool climate and the water holding capacity natural to mountain
soil together with its percolating quality make the hilly region
suitable for many kinds of plantations. Labour will be distributed
in a regular order according to the seasons 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 lands can be divided into plots of from
5 to 10 dunams of olives, carobs, figs and grapes. Special
attention should be given to the culture of carobs because 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 will serve for
cereals in accord with our proposed reforms.
4. The valleys. This type includes the valley of Beisan
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 marketable. 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 drought. 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 desirable standard
of life with another similar area in reserve.
122
T a b l e 24.
Density of Population in Palestine according to Districts ;
(Government Census of 1922).
Districts
Acre mountain
Acre plain
Haifa mountain
Haifa plain
Nazarelh mountain
Nazareth plain
Tulkarem mountain
Tuikarem plain
Jerusalem mountain
Ramallah
Bethlehem
Jericho
Jaffa
Ramleh mountain
Ramleh plain
Gaza
Hebron
Nablus
Beersheba
Jenin mountain
Jenin plain
Beisan
Tiberias
Safed
Total
Towns
Grand Total
b
e
r
l
l
a
g
e
s
!
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)
E ?
a -a .
3
<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 dunams desert land 180,000 dunanis, or 10.02 dunam per head
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 dunams desert land 1,105,200 dunams, 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. "Hapoel Hazair", No. 30 (41) 1930.
123
The Sums Required for the Improvement of the
Fellah's Farm.
The improvement is of two kinds: such-as is apt to come
due to inner growth and such as require special sums of money.
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 sums. 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
expenses; 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 things. First of all the irrigation is to be attended
to. Small repairs are to be made in the buildings on the plot.
There is to be applied also a rational green manure on one-
fifth of the field, so that within five years 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, however,
deeply in debt, will find this kind of credit of no avail, as long
as he is not freed from this burden; for the value of his farm
and all its income as a basis of credit will not allow an amount
to be lent to him high enough to bring about the desired effect.
Only when the fellah will be clean of his debts will he be in
a position to make use of this credit for additional improvements
and working capital.
124
-
iliiii
^ . -. ; - ^ r ^ j
- . . . - " - * , V S
- . >"* * * . , . . . . . . w > -
' ; \ **--- *4 i ' " . -a *
Old caix>l hv c on I'ucky ground (I-J;III-C'I-"\VIKI)
Carob planted on rocky ground, (Ben Rlieinen 1913)
ground before plant-in' (Kiryath. Auavim)
Young orchard on terraced rooky ground (TCiiyni.li Ana vim)
A passing observer, seeing the soil with its scanty yields
and the worker in his low estate, would be apt to judge harshly
of the nature of both. But he would be mistaken, for great
powers are latent in both, and merely await 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 nothing given him in return. And
he, having no alternative, paid out the soil in the same coin,
always taking from it and never giving. So, there was a twofold
robbery of the cultivator and the soil both.
Almost the whole financial burden of his country was im-
posed upon the peasant for many ages. The tithe and the other
taxes in themselves were enough to break his back; and yet
they were as nothing as compared with their concomitants,
the tax-gatherers and other agents of the rulers, who placed the
peasant at the mercy of the usurers and the speculators who
pretended to be saviors in his time of distress. In order to free
himself 'from these latter, he was compelled to sell his produce
at-low prices and to buy it back again for his household needs
and
:
for sowing his fields at double and fourfold prices; He
descended lower than the beast of burden, whose instinct impels
if to rebel when it is too poorly .fed. But, because he -being
-human, his reasoning powers impelled him to accept a yoke so
heavy- that he could" not even attempt to-rebel.. Everything for
him was as a-heavenly decree: the iniquity of his-rulers and
the oppression of their agents, even at third and fourth hand.
L
Even when he looks up from his depths to the- heights,
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the fellah sees only poverty. The ancient Hebrew, for example,
called the Milky Way the "River of Fire." But the fellah speaks
of it as the "Tarik-el-tebbene" ("Way of Tibn"). Poverty-symbols
dominate not only his daily live, but his imagination as well.
The fellah has been reduced to a bare crust not by his
primitive mode of cultivation, but by the prevailing social system
and the misrule of the Turkish government and its predecessors.
The fellah's primitive wisdom, which is enshrined in many folk-
sayings about all sides of farming, would suffice him for ex-
tracting enough bread from his soil (though with little to spare),
even if he used only his present implements. But he has lacked all
freedom of movement and freedom of choice. The law has not
protected him. The first measures 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 conditions for the introduction of technical improvements.
The creation of these preliminary conditions is necessarily a
Government function, being beyond the powers of the individual
or even of private organizations. If, for example, cattle plague
is a constant visitor to a country (as in Palestine under the
Turkish rule), there is no use in improving the breeds; or a
locust invasion which, if it come only once in 15 years, destroys
all the fruits of the farmer's labours in a few weeks, the increase
of yields is of only limited benefit. When insects and plant
diseases destroy his fruits, no improvement of varieties will be
of any avail. The preventive measures to be taken against these
evils lie in the two provinces of research and administration.
Many valuable beginnings have been made from the administrative
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side by the Department of Agriculture of the Palestine Government.
It suffices to recall that the cattle plague has been wiped
out, and the locust invasions of the last two years successfully
combatted; that the Government has a well planned organiza-
tion for the control of contagious animal diseases and pests and
for the inspection of fruit. In the course of time it has provided
good means of communication without which the modernisa-
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 period, nothing more can be done than
to carry on farming in the grain belt within the limits of self-
sufficiency, with a very slight surplus for the market; but, at
the same time, we must keep in mind the ultimate aim, namely:
that there must be the same standard for the villager as for the
skilled worker of the city, and the former must not be expected
to be content with little. Unless their standards are equalized,
nothing will bar the rush from the village to the city. Therefore,
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 orange can bear the burden of the
national economy alone, because, owing to its monopoly, 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
"mosaic structure" put together of a little bit of this and a little
bit of that. One district might specialize in vinegrowing, a
second in dairying, a third in almond plantations, and a fourth
in tobacco. These products may be a negligible quantity in the
market, and yet, taken all' together, they form a respectable
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source of livelihood. The present type of grain farm, with its
single crop, can by no means support close settlement with a
decent standard of living.
When we speak of cash crops, we always have the world
markets in mind. It is in great industrial countries that agricul-
ture can maintain itself on the inner market, but even then needs
the help of the protective tariff. The products of backward
countries cannot hold their own against competing superior goods.
Not even in their local markets can they maintain themselves
except upon their producer's capacity for suffering. But the cul-
tivator's needs increase whether 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 protected from shocks by guaranty-prices for field crops,
so that they will not be hit hard by the fluctuating prices of
the foreign imports. On the other hand, protective tariffs are a
two-edged sword. There are in backward countries no strong
shoulders to bear, the burden, neither in the cities nor on the
land. And there can be no certainty that the benefits will accrue
to the worker and not to the money-lender and the speculator.
Backward countries are like a runner who comes to the
races just a little bit late, and so has no chance against rivals
with no greater skill than his 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.
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