Sowing. The operation of a sowing, with the hand, is one of so simple a character, as to need little description. The Egyptian paintings furnish many illustrations of the mode in which it was conducted. The sower held the vessel or basket containing the seed in his left hand, while, with his right, he scattered the seed broadcast. The "drawing out" of the seed is noticed, as the most characteristic action of the sower, in Psa_126:6. (Authorized Version, "precious"). And Amo_9:13 in wet soils, the seed was trodden in by the feet of animals. Isa_32:20. The sowing season began in October and continued to the end of February, wheat being put in before, and barley after, the beginning of January. The Mosaic law prohibited the sowing of mixed seed. Lev_19:19; Deu_22:9.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
Our Lord, in his parable of the sower, says, Some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them. Buckingham, in his Travels in Palestine, remarks, We ascended to an elevated plain where husbandmen were sowing, and some thousands of starlings covered the ground, as the wild pigeons do in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on the grain thrown into the furrows, which are not covered by harrowing, as in Europe. The sowing beside all waters, mentioned by Isaiah, seems to refer to the sowing of rice, which is done on low grounds flooded, and prepared for sowing by being trodden by oxen and asses, mid-leg deep; thus, they send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.