"It is not unlikely that it was often turned up, with a kind of spade. Ploughs were invented very early. They are mentioned, Job iv. 8, and by Moses, Deut. xxii. 10

The prophets often speak of ploughing up

the fallow ground, Jerem. iv. 3; Hosea x. 12. Job

Job iv. 8. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Deut. xxii. 10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

Jer. iv. 3. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Hosea x. 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground.

How was the land often turned up? Repeat some verses from the Bible.

also speaks of harrows, Job xxxix. 10. Oxen were generally used for cultivating the ground. In Gen. xlv. 6, Joseph says, 'There are five years in which shall neither be earing nor harvest.' Earing is an obsolete word, which means ploughing; as appears also from 1 Sam. viii. 12. As the ploughs in ancient times

were much smaller and lighter than those which we use, it required greater care to hold them. Hence Our Lord said, 'No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Job xxxix. 10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow, or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

1 Samuel, viii. 12. And he will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

What does Joseph say? Whas does earing mean? What of the ploughs of ancient times? What does our Lord say?

"Cisterns of water were often formed to refresh the ground, and from these, little rills were directed, in small channels, to different parts of the field, which were commonly opened or closed by the foot. There is a reference to this circumstance in Deut. xi. 10, 11.

"The Israelites, father, did not raise corn merely; we often read of Vineyards in Scripture."

"You are right, Harry; and their grapes were very fine. You recollect the large cluster which was brought by the spies,-do you not ?"

"Yes; and it seems to have been as much as two persons could well carry; for you know two 'bare it between them on a staff.'”

"Lebanon seems to have been remarkable for its

Deut. xi. 10. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou' sowedst thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs.

11. But the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.

Why were cisterns of water often formed? What were directed to different parts of the field? Repeat a verse from Deut. Do we read of vineyards in the Scriptures? Were the grapes fine? What is said of the cluster of grapes brought by the spies? For what was Lebanon remarkable?

vines, Hosea xiv. 7. Towers and cottages were frequently built in the vineyards, not only for their protection, but for the abode of the vine-dressers, Matt. xxi. 33; Isaiah i. 8. In the East, vines were, and are, very commonly trained up on the walls of the houses, Psalm cxxviii. 3; Gen. xlix. 22. The vineyards of King Uzziah were on Mount Carmel, 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.

Hosea xiv. 7. They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

Matt. xxi. 33. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about, and digged a wine press in it and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

Isaiah i. 8. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard; as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Psalms cxxviii. 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thy house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Gen. xlix. 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.

2 Chron. xxvi. 10. For he had much cattle both in the low

Repeat a verse from Hosea. Where were towers and cottages frequently built? Repeat verses from Matthew and Isaiah. Where are vines trained in the East? Repeat verses from Psalms and Genesis. Where were the vineyards of king Uzziah? Repeat a verse from Chronicles.

"During the seventh year, according to the divine command, the land was to lie fallow, and the vineyards were not to be pruned nor dressed."

"Our Lord, father, compares Himself to a Vine, in the fifteenth chapter of John."

"Yes; and He tells us that His people are the branches; that is, as the branches derive nourishment, and verdure, and fruitfulness from the parent stem; so, by faith in Him, we become fruitful in every good word and work. Without this faith, which is implanted in the heart by the Holy Spirit, we are as branches separated from the vine, which are fruitless, and of no value, but to be cast into the fire."

"Do you recollect, father, that the Jews had any other kind of fruits ?"

"Certainly; we read in the Scriptures of dates; of pomegranates, Deut. viii. 8; and of figs, in many

country and in the plains; husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.

Deut. viii. 8. A land of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey.

What was done during the seventh year? To what does our Lord compare himself? What does our Lord tell us? What are we without faith? Of what fruit do we read in the Scriptures? Repeat a verse from Deut.