ral, which were found in the
tombs of Thebes, are preserved in the museums of Europe.

The hoe in hieroglyphics stands for the letter M, though the name of
this instrument was in Egyptian, as in Arabic, _Tore_. It forms the
commencement of the word _Mai_, "_beloved_," and enters into numerous
other combinations.

There are no instances of hoes with metal blades, except of very late
time, nor is there any proof of the plowshare having been sheathed
with metal.

The ax had a metal blade, either bronze or iron, and the peasants are
sometimes represented felling trees with this implement, while others
are employed in hoeing the field preparatory to its being
sown--confirming what we have observed, that the ancient, as well as
the modern, Egyptians frequently dispensed with the use of the plow.

The admission of swine into the fields, mentioned by Herodotus, should
rather have been before than after they had sown the land, since their
habits would do little good to the farmer, and other animals would
answer as well for "treading in the grain;" but they may have been
used before for clearing the fields of the roots and weeds encouraged
by the inundation; and this seems to be confirmed by the herd of pigs
with water plants represented in the tombs.

They sometimes used a top dressing of nitrous soil, which was spread
over the surface; a custom continued to the present day; but this was
confined to certain crops, and principally to those reared late in the
year, the fertilizing properties of the alluvial deposit answering all
the purposes of the richest manure.

Besides the admixture of nitrous earth the Egyptians made use of other
kinds of dressing, and sought for different productions the soils best
suited to them. They even took advantage of the edge of the desert for
growing the vine and some other plants, which, being composed of clay
and sand, was peculiarly adapted to such as required a light soil, and
the cultivation of this additional tract, which only stood in need of
proper irrigation to become highly productive, had the advantage of
increasing considerably the extent of the arable land of Egypt. In
many places we still find evidence of its having been tilled by the
ancient inhabitants, even to the late time of the Roman empire; and in
some parts of the Fyoom the vestiges of beds and channels for
irrigation, as well as the roots of vines, are found in sites lying
far above the level of the rest of the country.