Ibn Baṣṣāl(11th Century)

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Baṣṣāl al-Ṭulayṭulī, also known as Muḥammad ibn Baṣṣāl al-Andalūsī, born in the mid-11th century at Toledo,

He was a leading Andalusian agronomist.

Ibn Baṣṣāl made the pilgrimage to the Hijaz, visiting Sicily, Egypt and Syria, and also, apparently, Abyssinia, Yemen, Iraq, Persia, northern India and Khorasan from where he brought back new ideas on the cultivation of cotton.

We may surmise that he also brought back plants and seeds from his travels, to be grown on in the botanical garden of Al-Ma’mūn at Toledo, where he most probably served under and succeeded Ibn Wāfid as director. 

Ibn Baṣṣāl’s is thus, arguably, the most original and objective of all the Andalusi agronomists (Colin 1999, n.p.).

He mentions more than 180 cultivated plants and crops in his work. His manual is practical, systematic and is organized on a pattern that is more or less followed by later agronomists. 

Here in Seville Ibn Baṣṣāl created a new botanical garden, where he experimented with the propagation and cultivation of blue lilies, asparagus and jasmine, among others .

Ibn Baṣṣāl died in Seville at the beginning of the 12th century. 

Ibn Baṣṣāl’s work  Kitāb al-qaṣd wa’l-bayān comprises sixteen chapters.

Chapter 1 : On water

Chapter one examines water of different kinds, their various natures and constitutions, and their effects on plants.

Four types are distinguished – rainwater, river water, spring water and well water.

The best is rainwater, for it is the most beneficial to plants and leaves no residual salts. It has a warm and moist constitution, resembling air in this respect.

In contrast, river water is dry and sour by nature, and can even remove or deplete the moisture in the ground by washing it out.

Water from springs and wells is heavy and earthy, unlike rainwater, but can be warming in winter, benefiting plants suffering from the cold, and, conversely, cooling in summer, reviving plants with its freshness.

Chapter 2 : On land and soils

The second chapter examines the different types of lands and soils, their natures and properties, and how to distinguish good farmland from poor.

Ten types of land/soil are distinguished: soft, heavy, mountain, sandy, black manured land, white, yellow, red, rough and stony land, and, finally, ‘alcadén’ (mukaddana) that is, reddish sandstone land.

Each of these classes of land is examined in respect to its nature – whether cold, warm, dry or moist, whether it is porous or permeable to the passage of air and water, its agricultural advantages and disadvantages, the type of manure required and the crops best suited to each.

The author draws attention to the varying productivity and workability of the soil depending on the season in which it is cultivated.

Chapter 3 : On manures

Chapter three deals with manures of different kinds and their appropriate uses. Ibn Baṣṣāl distinguishes seven types of manure: equine, human, sweepings and refuse, that from sheep, and pigeons, ashes from bathhouse furnaces, and, lastly, artificial compost made from grasses, weeds and dry leaves.

He makes no specific mention, however, of cattle manure, so important in farming today. This may be because he classes it with manure from horses and mules, or because the manure of free-ranging cattle was rarely collected.

As always, he is careful to specify the nature and characteristics of each type of manure, especially whether it is more or less wet or dry, cold or hot, salty or viscous.

He pays particular attention to the degree of maturity of the manure, its different reactions according to the type of soil in which it is incorporated, and its varying effects on the plants that receive it.

Chapter 4 : On the choice of land and its preparation

Chapter four discusses the indicators, especially the natural vegetation, by which the farmer can determine the quality of land.

Next Ibn Baṣṣāl advises on the best way to prepare a piece of land and organize it for cultivation, and how to ensure that water circulates properly, if it is irrigated.

For this purpose an instrument of undoubted Christian or Mozarab origin, the murchical, is used (calledalmarchaquel in the medieval Castilian translation – it was a triangular level, with a plumb, similar to that used by masons today), along with some other tools and equipment to level and flatten uneven ground. Among farming operations, our author discusses in particular the long fallow, which is equivalent to a good manuring in benefiting the crop.

The land is given four ploughings between mid January and late May or early June in order to break up the clods, produce a fine tilth, and “lose its bad humours”. Ibn Baṣṣāl distinguishes between cultivated land, uncultivated wasteland which is ‘asleep’ and has never been ploughed, and land which has been worked but still carries the stubble of the previous crop. He extols the efficacy of good tillage in increasing fertility – there is nothing, not even manure, that confers its benefits. He studies the different effects of tillage according to the season and the weather conditions when it is carried out.

Chapter 5 : On planting trees

The fifth chapter, comprising fifty-three sections, deals with arboriculture and examines the species of trees, including fruit-trees, commonly grown in Muslim Spain.

Different methods of propagation – by seed or stone, shoots, cuttings and grafts – are explained.

Each species is treated in terms of propagation, preparation of the soil, care and watering. It begins with the cultivation of the palm-tree, followed by the olive, pomegranate, quince, apple, fig, pear, cherry, apricot, plum, peach, almond, walnut, hazelnut, grape, citron, orange, pistachio, pine, cypress, chestnut, holm-oak and deciduous oak, allohanta , tree of paradise, arbutus, elm and ash.

In this long and dense chapter the author includes some methods for combating diseases of trees.

As well as orchard and garden trees, forest trees figure prominently, indicating perhaps that Spain at this time was not as deforested as it is today.

Chapter 6 : On the different systems of propagation, especially layering

A brief chapter six expands on some methods of propagating the trees already mentioned.

Ibn Baṣṣāl recommends, in particular, the technique of layering, especially for hard or heavy soil.

He also discusses propagation from cuttings taken from the parent tree, and propagation by means of pips, seeds and stones, started in pots and containers and transplanted into nursery beds.

Chapter 7 : On how to prune trees and improve their health

Chapter seven is also very short and deals with the pruning of trees. It discusses the appropriate time for pruning in relation to the movement of sap, the correct point at which a shoot should be pruned, and the right way to prune old trees in order to rejuvenate them.

Chapter 8 : On how to graft various trees onto others and how to know if they are compatible. Also concerning the seven climes, their weathers and natures 

The eighth chapter is devoted to the operation of grafting, which Ibn Baṣṣāl examines in great detail.

As the success of the graft is closely related to climatic conditions, our author begins by addressing the agricultural potential and constraints of the seven climes, especially in relation to what is feasible in the way of grafting.

Then he turns to the four natures or constitutions of trees – oleaginous, viscous, milky and aqueous – which determine the technique of grafting because only trees with the same nature can be grafted, although there are exceptions.

There follows a classification of trees according to these four constitutions. After this introduction to the subject, the five general types of graft are discussed: the Roman graft (between bark and wood), cleft graft, tube graft (tarqīb al-qanūt), shield graft, and drill or awl graft.

Detailed instructions are given on how to accomplish each type of graft, the tools needed, the species suited to each type and those that support different types.

Chapter 9 : On certain types of graft, their secrets and marvels

The ninth chapter complements the previous chapter in discussing some curiosities and wonders of grafting, especially in making grafts between trees of very different natures, for example, between the olive and the fig tree.

The Andalusi agronomists excelled in this technique.

They also made use of large clefts and hollows in the host tree, where they placed pots and containers filled with soil in which were sown seeds or stones of the plant to be grown.

With repeated watering, these seeds rooted in the hollow and the soil in the host tree.

In truth, these were more like epiphytes than true grafts, but in this way roses appeared to be grafted on vines, olives on laurels, and so on.  

Chapter 10 : On the sowing of cereals and  vegetables and their like in the kitchen-garden

Chapter ten, very long, presents the other major area of plant science – the cultivation of herbaceous plants, grains and vegetables.

The chapter begins with the cultivation of chickpeas and is followed by beans, rice, peas, flax, henbane, sesame, cotton, safflower, saffron, poppies, henna and artichoke.

Some crops, such as flax and cotton, are dealt with at much greater length and include instructions on industrial processing such as the retting of flax.

On occasion Ibn Baṣṣāl recalls agricultural knowledge and expertise acquired in Egypt, Syria and Sicily during his pilgrimage to Mecca.

For each crop he gives the required method of cultivation and care, manuring, time of planting, the recommended amount of seed per unit area, irrigation, thinning and weeding, and of course, the appropriate soil.

Chapter 11 : On the cultivation of spices used to flavour dishes

The eleventh chapter continues with the cultivation of plants used as spices and flavourings, such as cumin, caraway, fennel, anise, coriander, etc., following the same pattern as in the previous chapter.

Chapter 12 : On the cultivation of cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and their like

Chapter twelve – which is missing from the manuscript of the medieval Castilian translation – concerns the cultivation of cucumbers, melons, mandrake, watermelons, pumpkins and squash, eggplant, asparagus, caper, and colocynth, i.e. plants typical of larger gardens and irrigated land, hence the importance given here to the waterings or irrigations required, noting however that over-watering tends to reduce the sweetness of some, like the melon.

Chapter 13 : On the cultivation of root vegetables

Chapter thirteen is devoted to bulbs and root plants, giving concise but practical information on several of these. It begins with the cultivation of turnips, distinguishing two types -  the long and the round -  followed by carrots, radish, garlic, onion, leek, parsnip, the Sudanese pepper, and madder, the latter absent from Ibn al-‘Awwām’s later treatise.

Chapter 14 : On various methods of cultivating vegetables

The fourteenth chapter is given over to the cultivation of leaf vegetables, beginning with cabbage, of two types – the summer cabbage, which is tender, with closed leaves, and the winter cabbage, with well-separated leaves. This is followed by the cultivation of cauliflower, the cabbage of the Christians (baqla al-rūm), spinach, purslane, amaranth or the Yemeni vegetable, and chard.

There is a somewhat extended treatment of lettuce, giving different methods of cultivation, and the chapter ends with concise instructions of the cultivation of chicory and the poppy.  

Chapter 15 : On the cultivation of aromatic plants such as sweet basil

The fifteenth chapter deals with aromatic plants. It begins with the rose, which Ibn Baṣṣāl treats at some length.

The author explains how to achieve two flowerings, first in spring and again in autumn, by ceasing to water during the hot season and resuming repeated waterings from the beginning of August, thereby inducing abundant blooms in autumn.

There follow some short paragraphs, sometimes only two or three lines, on the wallflower and the violet, distinguishing the violet of the mountains, with small leaves and very blue flowers, and the garden violet, which thrives in soil containing debris from old mud-brick buildings, mixed with sand from bath-houses.

The chapter continues with brief notes on the cultivation of the white lily, chrysanthemum, narcissus, basil al-qarnafalī, which is the best and most aromatic of its kind, followed by the aromatic herbs marjoram, lemon balm, rue, mallow, chamomile and wormwood.

Chapter 16 : Concerning wonderful and useful knowledge about waters, wells, the preservation of fruits and other beneficial things indispensable to the farmer

The sixteenth chapter, the last, presents some useful knowledge, indispensable to the farmer, concerning water, wells, the preservation of fruits, etc.

To protect plants from grubs in the soil and other similar pests, Ibn Baṣṣāl recommends covering the ground with a layer of sand from the bath-house, to the thickness of a finger, before manuring and sowing the field.

He discusses the acclimatization of wild plants in the garden, collecting their seed, the importance of sowing it at the right time (in some cases thirty days before the arrival of spring), and trying to replicate the soil and moisture conditions of their natural habitat.

Much space is devoted to the sinking of wells - the advantage of siting them at a height so that water can be led easily and quickly to all parts of the garden; the best time to sink a well, which is about the month of August, when the water-table falls in response to the sun and is at its deepest; the signs that indicate the amount of water at a place, and its quality and taste; ways to raise the water in very deep wells; and how to activate the water of a newly-dug well, etc.  

Finally, there are some brief instructions on the conservation of fruit.

In the case of apples, these are picked when ripe, at night, being careful not to bruise or damage them, then they are laid out loosely in a cool room and inspected regularly every thirty days to remove any deteriorating fruit that may affect others; in this way they should last until June.

The same procedure is followed with pomegranates.

As for nuts such as chestnuts, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds, they should be stored in holes after the manner of silos, in sand to keep them fresh.

Two short prescriptions for making beautiful bouquets of flowers and unfermented wine with mustard (mosto amostazado) complete this chapter on rural household economy.

In these last chapters Ibn Baṣṣāl offers the same practical, objective advice based on experience which is found throughout the whole work.

The plan and arrangement is organic and systematic, a pattern that is more or less followed by later Hispano-Arab agronomists.