A large-probably the largest-portion of the people must have been engaged in the occupations of agriculture.  Babylonia was, before all things, a grain-producing country—­noted for a fertility unexampled elsewhere, and to moderns almost incredible.  The soil was a deep and rich alluvium, and was cultivated with the utmost care.  It grew chiefly wheat, barley millet, and sesame, which all nourished with wonderful luxuriance.  By a skilful management of the natural water supply, the indispensable fluid was utilized to the utmost, and conveyed to every part of the country.  Date-groves spread widely over the land, and produced abundance of an excellent fruit.

For the cultivation of the date nothing was needed but a proper water supply, and a little attention at the time of fructification.  The male and female palm are distinct trees, and the female cannot produce fruit unless the pollen from the male comes in contact with its blossoms.  If the male and the female trees are grown in proper proximity, natural causes will always produce a certain amount of impregnation.  But to obtain a good crop, art may be serviceably applied.  According to Herodotus, the Babylonians were accustomed to tie the branches of the male to those of the female palm.  This was doubtless done at the blossoming time, when it would have the effect he mentions, preventing the fruit of the female, or date-producing palms, from falling off.

The date palm was multiplied in Babylonia by artificial means.  It was commonly grown from seed, several stones being planted together for greater security; But occasionally it was raised from suckers or cuttings.  It was important to plant the seeds and cuttings in a sandy soil; and if nature had not sufficiently impregnated the ground with saline particles, salt had to be applied artificially to the soil around as a dressing.  The young plants needed a good deal of attention.  Plentiful watering was required; and transplantation was desirable at the end of both the first and second year.  The Babylonians are said to have transplanted their young trees in the height of summer; other nations preferred the springtime.

For the cultivation of grain the Babylonians broke up their land with the plough; to draw which they seem to have employed two oxen, placed one before the other, in the mode still common in many parts of England.  The plough had two handles, which the ploughman guided with his two hands.  It was apparently of somewhat slight construction.  The tail rose from the lower part of one of the handles, and was of unusual length. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 3.]