8. If a man planted two rows [of vines] he may not sow seed there unless there was a space of eight cubits between them.3 If there were three rows he may not sow seed there unless there was a space of sixteen cubits between one row and the next. R. Eliezer b. Jacob says in the name of Hananiah b. Hakinai: Even if the middle [row of vines] was left waste and there was not sixteen cubits between one row and the next, seed may not be sown there; though if in the beginning he had planted them [in two rows] it would have been permitted [to sow seed there] if there were but eight cubits between.
9. If a man planted his vineyard [in rows] sixteen cubits apart, it is permitted to sow seed there. R. Judah said: It once happened in Zalmon that a man planted his vineyard in rows sixteen cubits [apart], and trained the foliage of every two rows to one side and sowed over the cleared land; and on another year he trained the foliage towards the place that had been sown and sowed over the fallow land; the case came before the Sages and they pronounced it permissible. R. Meir and R. Simeon say: Even if a man planted his vineyard in rows of eight cubits apart, it is permitted [to sow there].
5. 1. If a vineyard lay waste yet grapes could still be gathered off ten vines within a seah's space/ and they were planted according to Halakah / it may be called a ‘poor vineyard’. If a vineyard6 was planted out in irregu¬ lar fashion yet there could still be found two vines aligned parallel to three others, it counts as a vineyard; otherwise it does not count as a vineyard.
* Deut. 22*. * Since it requires at least two rows to count as a vineyard.
1 In addition to the four cubits allowed for the tillage of the vines of each row.
4 2,500 sq. cubits. See App. II, E.
5 App. I, 11. i.e. according to 4* above. 6 Variant: poor vineyard.
FIRST DIVISION: ZERAIM 34 R. Meir says: Since it appears like in form to [other] vineyards, it may be deemed a vineyard.
2. If a vineyard was planted in rows less than four cubits apart, R. Simeon says: It is not deemed a vineyard. But the Sages say: It counts as a vineyard, and the middle rows are regarded as though they were not.
3. If a ditch that passes through a vineyard is ten [handbreadths] deep and four wide, R. Eliezer b. Jacob says: If it extends from the one end of the vineyard to the other it is regarded as lying between two vineyards, and seed may be sown therein; but if not, it is reckoned as like to a wine¬ press. If a winepress in a vineyard is ten [handbreadths] deep and four wide, R. Eliezer says: They may sow seed therein. But the Sages forbid it. If the watchman’s booth in a vineyard is ten [handbreadths] high and four wide, they may sow seed therein; but if it is overhung by interlaced foliage it is forbidden.
4. If a vine was planted in a winepress or rift, they must allow it enough space for its tillage and they may sow in what is left. R. Jose says: Unless there is there [at least] four cubits’ space seed may not be sown there. If there is a house in the vineyard seed may be sown therein.
5. If a man planted vegetables in a vineyard or allowed them to grow there he may render forfeit forty-five vines. This applies if [the vines] were planted in rows four or five cubits apart. If they were planted in rows six or seven cubits apart, he renders forfeit [the vines] within a radius of sixteen cubits in every direction — reckoning in circles and not in squares.1 6. If a man saw vegetables growing in the vineyard and said, ‘When I reach them I will 'pluck them’, they are not forbidden [under the law' of Diverse Kinds]; [but if he said,] ‘When I come again I will pluck them’, they are forbidden even if they have grown only another two-hundredth part.
7. If he was passing through the vineyard and seeds fell from him, or if they came in with the manure or with the water, or if he was sowing and the wind blew seed behind him, it is not unlawful;2 but if the wind blew it before hirn [into the vineyard], R. Akiba says: [If it grows into] the blade it must be hoed up; if into the ear it must be broken off; if into the full corn it must be burnt.
8. If a man suffered thorns to grow up in the vineyard, R. Eliezer says: [They count as Diverse Kinds and] this renders forfeit [the adjacent vines]. But the Sages say: That alone is rendered forfeit the like of which is [ordinarily] suffered to grow. Iris, ivy, and fritillary and all kinds of seeds are not accounted Diverse Kinds in the vineyard. Hemp, according to R. Tarfon, does not come under the law of Diverse Kinds; but the Sages say: It does so. The artichoke comes under the law of Diverse Kinds in the vineyard.
6. 1. What was the ‘trellised vine’ [about which the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel disputed]? If a row of five vines was planted beside a fence ten handbreadths high or beside a ditch ten handbreadths deep and four wide, four cubits are allotted for its tillage. The School of Shammai say: The four cubits need be measured only from the root of the vines toward the field [beyond the wall]. And the School of Hillel say: From the wall 1 The vines are forfeit that lie within a circle of sixteen cubits radius, not within the square that contains the circle. 1 Since it was not sown either consciously or intentionally.
[itself] toward the field. R. Johanan b. Nuri said: All err that say so; but [the School of Hillel said that] if there was a space of four cubits from the root of the vines to the wall, space enough is allotted for its tillage, and seed may be sown over what is left. And how much is the space needful for the tillage of the vine? Six handbreadths in every direction. R. Akiba says: Three.
2. If trellised vines projected from a terrace [of a hillside], R. Eliezer b. Jacob says: If a man standing on the ground can gather all the grapes, the trellised vines render four cubits of the field forbidden; otherwise they render forbidden only what is directly beneath them. R. Eliezer says: If a man planted one [of the two rows] on the ground and the other on the terrace, and it is ten handbreadths higher than the ground, it is not included together with the other row [to make up a vineyard]; if it is not so high it is included together with it.
3. If a man trained a vine over part of the trellis-frame he may not sow seed beneath the rest of it; yet if he has done so he does not render [the vine] forfeit. But if tendrils spread along [the rest of the frame, what is sown] is forbidden. So, too, if a man trained [a vine] over part of a serak tree.1 4. If he trained the vine over part of a fruit tree he may sow seed beneath the rest, and if new tendrils spread along [the rest of the tree] they must be turned back. Once R. Joshua went to R. Ishmael at Kefar Aziz2 and he showed him a vine that was trained over part of a fig tree. He said to him, ‘May I sow seed beneath the rest [of the tree]?’ He answered, ‘It is permitted’. And he brought him up from thence to Beth Hamaginyah and showed him a vine trained over part of a beamJ and the stump of a sycamore tree, whereon were many beams.3 He said to him, ‘Under this beam it is forbidden [to sow], but under the others it is permitted’.
5. What is a serak tree? Any that does not bear fruit. R. Meir says: All trees are serak trees excepting the olive tree and the fig tree. R. Jose says: Any tree with the like of which whole fields are not planted is a serak tree.
6. Gaps in trellised vines may measure eight cubits and a little more. Among all the measurements concerning a vineyard that are spoken of by the Sages, there is no ‘and a little more’ save only in the case of the gaps in trellised vines. These count as ‘gaps in trellised vines’: if trellised vines lie waste at their centre and five vines are left on either side and the gap is [no more than] eight cubits, seed may not be sown there; if it is eight cubits and a little more, space enough is allotted for their tillage, and seed may be sown over what is left.
7. If trellised vines [in the angle of two walls] project along the wall beyond the angle and [then] stop, space enough is allotted for their tillage and seed may be sown over the space that is left. R. Jose says: If the space was less than four cubits seed may not be sown there.
8. If the canes [of the framework] projifct beyond the trellised vines and they had refrained from cutting them short, it is permitted to sow seed directly beneath them; but if they were prepared for the young tendrils to spread along them, it is forbidden [to sow seed beneath them].
9. If blossom projected beyond the trellised vines it is reckoned as if a plummet was suspended from it: it is forbidden [to sow seed] directly 1 See below, par. 5. 1 In the land of Edom. See Ket. 5*.
3 Or: severed branches.
36 FIRST DIVISION: ZERAIM beneath it. So, too, with a dangling branch. If a vine-shoot stretched from tree to tree, it is forbidden [to sow] beneath it. If it was made fast with a ligature of rope or reed-grass, it is permitted [to sow seed] beneath the ligature; but if the ligature was prepared for the young tendrils to spread along it, it is forbidden [to sow seed beneath it].
7. i. If a vine-shoot was sunk into the ground and there was not three handbreadths of soil above it, seed may not be sown over it even though it was sunk through a gourd-shell or pipe. If it was sunk into stony ground and there was but three fingerbreadths of soil above it, seed may be sown over it. [In measuring the six handbreadths prescribed for the tillage of a single vine] measurement need be taken only from the second root of the sunken vine-shoot.
If three vines are sunk into the ground and their roots become visible, R. Eliezer b. R. Zadok says: If the space between them is from four to eight cubits, they must be included together [with the parent vines]; other¬ wise they are not included together. If a vine is withered it is forbidden [to sow near it], but this does not render [the vine] forfeit. R. Meir says: Moreover it is forbidden to plant the cotton-tree, but it does not render [the adjacent vines] forfeit. R. Eliezer b. R. Zadok says in his name: Moreover it is forbidden to sow over [the sunken shoots of] the vine, but it does not render [the vine] forfeit.
3. Over these [places] it is forbidden [to sow] but it does not render [the vines] forfeit; the surplus ground1 in a vineyard patch; the surplus ground in the vineyard’s outer space; the surplus ground beneath the gaps of trellised vines; and the surplus ground beneath the trellis-frames. But the space beneath the vine and the space needful for tending the vine, and the four cubits in the vineyard, these render forfeit [the adjacent vines].
4. If a man suffered his vine to overshadow his fellow’s growing corn he renders it forfeit and he is answerable therefor. R. Jose and R. Simeon say: None can render forfeit what does not belong to him.
5. R. Jose said: It once happened that a man sowed his vineyard in the Seventh Year,1 and the case came before R. Akiba, who said: None can render forfeit what does not belong to him.
6. If a usurping occupant3 sowed a vineyard and it was recovered from him, the [forbidden] crop may be cut4 even on the middle-days of a Feast. How much more need the owner pay the labourers? As much as one-third more. [If they exact] more than this, he may continue to cut the crop in his own fashion even if it be after the Feast. After what time is the vineyard called by the name of the usurping occupant? After [the name of its first owner] is forgotten.5 7. If the wind hurled vines over a grain crop [and they took root] they must be cut away at once; but if hindrance befell [the owner] the vines and crop are not forbidden [under the law of Diverse Kinds]. If growing corn swayed under a vine (and the same applies with vegetables) it must be bent back, but [even if it is not bent back] it does not render [the vine] 1 An empty patch less than the prescribed (see above 4') sixteen cubits.
* Forthwith by its rightful owner, to clear himself of the charge of sowing Diverse Kinds in his vineyard, even though it means performing work forbidden during mid-festival (p. 207, n. 19; M. Kat. 21) when produce may only be gathered from fear of its being lost.
s Then the Diverse Kinds serve to render forfeit the produce sown and the fruit of the vineyard (Deut. 22*).
forfeit. After what time is a grain crop [sown near a vine] rendered forfeit? After it has struck root. And grapes? After they have grown to the size of a white bean. If the grain had become fully dried or the grapes fully ripe they cannot be rendered forfeit.
8. [Seed sown in] a holed plant-pot in the vineyard may render [vines] forfeit, but in an unholed plant-pot it does not render them forfeit. But R. Simeon says: Neither is permitted yet neither renders [the vines] forfeit. If a man carried a holed plant-pot through a vineyard, and [while he carried it past the vines what was in it] increased by a two-hundredth part, it becomes forbidden.1 8. i. It is forbidden to sow Diverse Kinds in a vineyard or to suffer them to grow, and it is forbidden to make any use of them. It is forbidden to sow Diverse Kinds of seeds or to suffer them to grow, but they are per¬ mitted as food.2 Diverse Kinds in stuff are permitted in all things, and it is only forbidden to wear them. Diverse Kinds among cattle are per¬ mitted to be reared and maintained, and it is only forbidden to breed them. It is forbidden to mate Diverse Kinds of cattle one with another.
2. One kind of cattle with another, one kind of wild animal with another, cattle with wild animals, wild animals with cattle, one kind of unclean beast with another, one kind of clean beast with another, an unclean beast with a clean, a clean beast with an unclean — it is forbidden to plough with them, draw with them, or drive them.
3. If a man drove them he incurs the Forty Stripes;3 if he sat in a wagon [drawn by them] he incurs the Forty Stripes, but R. Meir declares him exempt. Also if a third beast [of a Diverse Kind from the other two] was bound to the harness, it is forbidden.
4. A horse may not be tied to the sides of a wagon or behind a wagon [that is drawn by oxen], nor may they harness Libyan asses with camels. R. Judah says: All offspring of a horse though sired by an ass are permitted [to be yoked] together; and all offspring of an ass though sired by a horse are permitted [to be yoked] together. But it is forbidden [to yoke together] the offspring of a horse with the offspring of an ass.
5. It is forbidden to mate mules if it is unknown whether their dam was a horse or an ass; but a mule foaled by a horse is permitted [to be yoked] with a horse]. Wild men4 are [classed with] wild animals. R. Jose says: [When dead] they convey uncleanness by overshadowing5 as does [the corpse of] a man. The hedgehog and weasel are [classed with] wild animals. As for the weasel, R. Jose says that the School of Shammai say: An olive’s bulk conveys uncleanness by carrying, and a lentil’s bulk bv contact.6 6. Wild oxen are deemed a kind of cattle. But R. Jose says: A kind of wild animal. The dog is reckoned a kind of wild animal. R. Meir says: A kind of cattle. The swine is reckoned a kind of cattle, the wild ass a kind 1 But not the vine*, *ince the pLant-pot was not set on the ground.
* Some texts add: Still more for use.
s The punishment for the transgression of a negative command. See Makk. 3'*.
* The meaning is doubtful. Perhaps the chimpanzee or gorilla is meant.
* Lit. 'tent-uncleanness’, Num. 19“. ‘Tent’ is used to indicate any confined space or any space that is roofed wherein a corpse, or part of a corpse, conveys uncleanness to what¬ soever is under the same roof. See p. 649, n. 3.
6 According to the School of Shammai it is in doubt whether the weasel is to be classed as a wild animal (an olive’s bulk of whose flesh conveys uncleanness), or ss a creeping thing (a lentil’s bulk of which conveys uncleanness by contact but not by carrying). See App. IV. 8.
38 FIRST DIVISION: ZERAIM of wild animal, and the elephant and ape a kind of wild animal; and with any of them a man may draw or plough or drive.
9. 1. Wool and linen alone are forbidden under the law of Diverse Kinds; wool and linen alone becom^u^lean by leprosy-signs;' and when the priests minister m the Tembfempy* wear wool and linen alone. If camel’s hair and sheep’s wool have been nackled together and the greater part is camel’s hair, this is permitted [to be mixed with linen]; but if the greater part is sheep’s wool it is forbidden. If they are in equal parts it is forbidden. So, too, if hemp and flax have been hackled together.
2. Silk2 and bast-silk3 do not come under the law of Diverse Kinds, but they are forbidden for appearance’s sake. Mattresses and cushions do not come under the law of Diverse Kinds provided that a man’s naked flesh does not touch them. Diverse Kinds may not be worn even momentarily, and Diverse Kinds may not be worn even over ten [other garments], even4 to escape customs dues.
3. Handkerchiefs, wrappers for scrolls [of the Law], and bath-towels do not come under the law of Diverse Kinds. But R. Eliezer forbids them [if they have in them wool and linen). Barbers’ towels are forbidden [if made from wool and linen] under the law of Diverse Kinds.
4. The wrappings of a corpse and asses’ pack-saddles do not come under the law of Diverse Kinds. A man may not put the pack-saddle on his shoulder even to carry forth dung thereon.
5. Clothes dealers may sell [garments made from Diverse Kinds and display them] in usual fashion, provided that they do not use them of set purpose in the sun as protection from the sun or in the rain as protection from the rain. Howbeit the more scrupulous wrap them around a stiff behind them.
6. Tailors may sew [garments made from Diverse Kinds and hold them] in usual fashion, provided that they do not use them of set purpose in the sun as protection from the sun or in the rain as protection from the rain. Howbeit the more scrupulous sew them [while setting them] on the ground.
7. The [woollen] rugs from Bera and Bered,s or Dalmatian hosen, or slippers of felt may not be worn until they have been examined. R. Jose says: Stuff brought from the sea coast or from beyond the sea need not be examined since the presumption is that it is made out of hemp. Woollen- lined shoes do not come under the law of Diverse Kinds.
8. Spun and woven work alone are forbidden under the law of Diverse Kinds, as it is written, Thou shalt not wear Sha'atnez6 — that which is shu'a (hackled), tawui (spun), and nuz (woven). R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: [It means that he that wears it] is ‘estranged’ ( naloz ) and ‘estranges’ (meliz) his Father in heaven against him.
9. Felted stuff [of Diverse Kinds] is forbidden because it is hackled. An edging of wool on a linen garment is forbidden since it interlaces the web [of the garment]. R. Jose says: Girdles of purple-dyed wool are forbidden because a man stitches them [to his shirt] before he ties it.
1 Lev. See Neg. 11*. 3 A kind of silk resembling flax.
3 Silk resembling wool. * Some texts omit the last clause.
3 The meaning of both terms is doubtful. Heb. birsin, bardarin. They are explained as woollen bed-covers, the one kind thick and the other thin.
6 Deut. 22*k JR.V. ‘mingled stuff’. What follows is an example of Midrash Haggadah, making play the consonants of the unusual word sha'atnez.
A cord of wool may not be tied on to one made of linen to bind up the loins, even if there is a [leathern] strap between them.
10. The marks of weavers and washermen are forbidden under the law of Diverse Kinds. If [two pieces of stuff, one of linen and the other of wool], are fastened with a single stitch, this does not form a connective [for purposes of cleanness and uncleanness]1 nor does the law of Diverse Kinds apply, and if a man undoes it on the Sabbath he is not culpable.2 But if he brings both ends [of the thread] to the same side, this forms a connective, the law of Diverse Kinds applies, and if a man undoes it on the Sabbath he is culpable. R. Judah says: Only if a man makes three stitches. A sack and a basket [that are bound together and patched the one with wool and the other with linen] are included together so that they come under the law of Diverse Kinds.3 1. 1. Until what time may a tree-planted field be ploughed in the year before the Seventh Year? The School of Shammai say: So long as this benefits the produce [of the sixth year]. The School of Hillel say: Until Pentecost. And the opinion of the one is not far from the opinion of the other.
2. What counts as ‘a tree-planted field?’ Any in which three trees grow within a seah's space.5 If they are [each] fitted to produce a cake of dried figs weighing sixty minas,6 Italian measure, the whole seah's space may be ploughed for their sake; but if less than this, only such space may be ploughed which is occupied by the fruit-picker and his basket, [when his basket lies] behind him.
3. It is all one whether they are serak 7 trees or fruit trees: they are reckoned as though they were fig trees; if they are [of a size] fitted to pro¬ duce a cake8 of dried figs, weighing sixty minas, Italian measure, the whole seah's space may be ploughed for their sake; but if less than this, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for them.
4. If one tree can produce [such] a cake8 of dried figs but [the other] two cannot, or if two can do so but one cannot, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for [each of] them. This applies when there are from three to nine trees [in the seah’s space]; if there are ten or more than ten, whether or not they can produce [the prescribed measure] the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake. For it is written, In plotting time and in 1 So that if one piece contracts uncleanness this is not transmitted to the other piece, and if one piece is rendered clean again (by being sprinkled with the Sin-offering water — see Num. 19'“) the other piece remains unclean.
J A slight variant in the parallel text in Sifre (a Midrash, containing material much of which is contemporary with that in the Mishnah) gives the easier sense: ‘A sack or basket (in which are wool and linen) causes (its contents) to be included together so that they come under the law of Diverse Kinds’ — therefore it is forbidden to carry such a sack or basket on the shoulder (ed. Friedmann, p. 1 17 b).
♦ Lit. ‘seventh’-(y«ar). The subject of the tractate is the law (Ex. 23***; Lev. 25**’' **"*; Deut. is*-*) forbidding the cultivation of the land in the seventh year. The land must lie fallow. What grows in that year is ‘ownerless property’, and the public has equal rights with the owner to the produce. None may trade with -Seventh Year produce. Also all debts are remitted in the Seventh Year.
s See App. II, E. It is a space fifty cubits square. Such a space normally contains ten trees, each tree being supposed to stand within a square with sides of 16 cubits.
4 Or: a talent of figs which is sixty minas (so, too, in par. 3).
FIRST DIVISION: ZERAIM 40 harvest thou shalt rest.1 There was no need to speak of the plowing time and harvest of the Seventh Year; but it refers to the plowing time in the sixth year which enters into the Seventh Year, and to the harvest of the Seventh Year which extends into the year after the Seventh Year. R. Ish- mael says:2 As the time of ploughing is of free choice, so is the time of harvest of free choice, save only the time of harvesting the Omer.3 5. If the three trees belong to three persons, they are included together and the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake. How much space should there be between them? Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: Enough for oxen and yoke to pass through.
6. If ten saplings are spread out over a seah’s space, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake, until the New Year, but if they are set out in a row or surrounded by a fence, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for them.
7. Saplings and gourds may be included together [to make the total of ten] within a seah’s space. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: Wheresoever there are ten gourds within a seah’s space, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake until the New Year.
8. Until when can they be called ‘saplings’? R. Eleazar b. Azariah says: until [the fourth year when] they become free for common use.4 R. Joshua says: Until they are seven years old. R. Akiba says: ‘Sapling’ [must be understood] according to its [accepted] sense — [newly planted]. If a tree was cut down and [its stump] put forth fresh shoots, if they are one handbreadth or less high it is accounted a sapling; but if they are more than a handbreadth high it is accounted a tree. So R. Simeon.
2. 1. Until when may a white field5 be ploughed in the year before the Seventh Year? Until the ground has dried,6 [or] such time as the ground is still ploughed for planting out beds of cucumbers and gourds. R. Simeon said: Thou puttest the law for each man into his own hand! — but, rather, a white field may be ploughed until Passover and a tree-planted field until Pentecost.
2. Beds of cucumbers or gourds may be dunged and hoed until the New Year; so, too, irrigated fields. Until the New Year they may cut off flaws, strip off leaves, cover up roots or fumigate plants. R. Simeon says: A man may even remove a [withered] leaf from a grape cluster in the Seventh Year itself.
3. Until the New Year they may clear away the stones. Until the New Year they may trim trees, prune them, or lop off dead branches. R. Joshua says: What applies to pruning and lopping off in the fifth year applies also in the sixth year. R. Simeon says: So long as it is still permitted me to tend a tree it is permitted me also to lop off its dead branches.
4. Until the New Year they may besmear saplings, wrap them round, protect them with ashes,7 make shelters for them or water them. R. Eliezer b. Zadok says: A man may even water the foliage in the Seventh Year itself, but not the roots.
1 Ex. 34”. The quotation refers to the beginning of the chapter and answers the question, Why is ploughing forbidden during the 6th year? The quotation is concerned with the Sabbath; but since, according to rabbinical interpretation, it is superfluous so far as the Sabbath is concerned (work having already been forbidden on the Sabbath) it must be applied to the sabbatic year. * This Halakah deals with the Sabbath.
’ See App. I. 31. The reaping of it is a religious duty and overrides the Sabbath (Men. io*). * After they cease to be OrfoA-fruit. See Lev. iq*** and App. I. 32.
s A sown field, i.e. not planted with trees which cast a dark shadow.
6 After the rainy season, i.e. about the middle or end of April. r Or, ‘dip them’.
5. Until the New Year they may oil unripe figs or pierce them; but unripe figs of the sixth year which remain on the tree until the Seventh Year, or unripe figs of the Seventh Year which remain on the tree until the eighth year, these they may not oil or pierce. R. Judah says: Where the custom is to oil the figs they may not do so, since that would rank as work; but where it is not the custom to oil the figs they may do so. R. Simeon permits work to be done to the tree [itself], since it is permitted to tend a tree [but not the fruit].
6. In the sixth year, within thirty days of the New Year, they may not plant trees or sink vine-shoots or graft trees; if a man planted or sank or grafted, he must uproot what he has done. R. Judah says: If within three days an engrafting has not struck root it will never do so. R. Jose and R. Simeon say: Within two weeks.
7. Rice, durra, panic and sesame that have taken root before a New Year are1 tithed after the manner of the past year2 and they are permitted in the Seventh Year; otherwise they are forbidden in the Seventh Year and are1 to be tithed after the manner of the coming year.
8. R. Simeon of Shezur says: Egyptian beans, if from the outset they were sown only for seed, are treated in like manner. R. Simeon says: Large beans are treated in like manner. R. Eleazar says: Large beans are treated in like manner only if they have formed pods before the New Year.
9. Shallots and Egyptian beans that have not been watered within thirty days of the New Year are tithed after the manner of the past year and are permitted in the Seventh Year; otherwise they are forbidden in the Seventh Year and are tithed after the manner of the coming year. So, too, is it with [the produce of] a naturally watered field3 that has not been watered for two spells.4 So R. Meir. But the Sages say: Three.
10. Gourds that have been left growing for seed only may be left growing during the Seventh Year if they have hardened before the New Year and become unfit for human food; otherwise they may not be left growing during the Seventh Year. Their buds are forbidden during the Seventh Year. They may water5 the soil of a white field. So R. Simeon. But R. Eliezer b. Jacob forbids it. They may flood a rice field in the Seventh Year. R. Simeon says: But they may not cut [the rice plant], 3. 1. From what time [in the Seventh Year] may dung be brought out to the dung-heaps [in the field]? After transgressors6 have ceased [to tend their fields]. So R. Meir. R. Judah says: After the moisture [of the dung]7 is dried up. R. Jose says: After it turns solid.
2. How much dung may they lay down? Three dung-heaps in every seah’s space, ten skep-loads8 of dung to every heap, one lethek* to every skep-load. They may increase the number of skep-loads but not the number of heaps. R. Simeon says: Also the number of heaps.
1 In an ordinary year.
* If the past year was the 1st, 2nd, 4th or 5th of the Sabbatic cycle they grant First Tithe and Second Tithe; if it was the 3rd or 6th year they grant First Tithe and Poorman’s Tithe.
» Wholly dependent on the winter rainfall. Lit. ‘(fields) of Baal’. The term is still in use among the Arab peasants of Palestine. Cf. Ter. 10"; B.n. 3*.
* i.e. two times when rain might normally have been expected.
* In the 6th and 7th years so that plants may survive for the 8th year.
4 Those who tend their land and harvest their crops contrary to the law of the Seventh Year.
7 So Bert.; Tif. Yis.: 'the (ground) moisture’. See below, 9*, where the same expression, translated ‘moisture’ (lit. sweetness), is used.
42 FIRST DIVISION: ZERAIM