To obtain a place in the list of such fellaḥîn and share in the use of the communal lands is a matter of some complexity and difficulty and, perhaps, of serious discussion amounting to a quarrel. A stranger coming to the village to live cannot ordinarily enter into the land privileges. A newcomer may occasionally be worked into a privileged family by marriage. The old families of the villages, having had these land rights for years, hold them tenaciously. Newcomers are ordinarily compelled to turn to some other business, to open a shop or go into some kind of manufacture. By a difficult procedure, eased with money, communal land may become the private property of one person and be made into a vineyard or an orchard.
It is customary, under intelligent management, to let the village grain lands rest every other year.[129] Dressing the land is not resorted to. The limestone in the soil supplies to some extent this lack. Distinctively farm-buildings, such as barns, etc., are scarcely to be seen unless it be at some farm-school or foreign colony.
Wheat and barley are the common grains. The peasant knows nothing of oats. Of hay, as the Western farmer raises it, he is likewise ignorant. Large quantities of _dhurah_ are raised. This is a kind of millet. The early part of the winter is the time for sowing wheat, or, as the natives say, “When the thirst of the land is quenched.”[130] Barley, which matures quicker, is sown a little later than wheat. In broadcast sowing of grain the farmer sows first and plows afterward.[131] He starts early with his companions for the field, a little donkey carrying the plow and the seed-bags. The plow animals are usually unencumbered while going to and from the fields. Arrived at the field the donkey is turned loose to browse,[132] the men throw aside their upper garments and tuck the corners of their skirts into their belts. The sower[133] goes ahead, tossing the grain as evenly as possible over the ground, while the plowman follows and turns it under. There is generally a good deal of shouting on the part of the plowman in directing or stimulating his animals.
This talk to the domestic creatures is interesting. Here are some samples: To start a mule the expression used is _dîh_; to stop it, _hûs_. To start a donkey, _ḥe_, and to stop, _hîsh_. An ox is encouraged to go by _imshi_ or _iṭla_, and commanded to stand by _huwwa_. So there are appropriate words or sounds for the different creatures. To make a camel kneel the driver says _ikh_; to make him rise, _ḥawwil_, and to walk, _ḥay_. A horse is stopped by _hûs_ and started with a sucking sound of the tip of the tongue back of the front upper teeth. Dogs are called with _kity_ and sent away with _wisht_. Cats are called by _bis, bis_, as one rubs thumb and finger, and scared away with a rough _biss_. Hens are gathered with _tî‛ah_, chickens with _sîs_; both are driven off with _kish_.