In
the event of his being convicted of letting out the oxen for hire, or
stealing the seed-corn so that he did not produce a crop, he had to pay
very heavy compensation, and, if he could not pay, he was liable to be
torn to pieces by the oxen in the field he should have cultivated.
In a dry land like Babylonia, where little rain falls and that in only
one season of the year, the irrigation of his fields forms one of the
most important duties of the agriculturist. The farmer leads the water
to his fields along small irrigation-canals or channels above the level
of the soil, their sides being formed of banks of earth. It is clear
that similar methods were employed by the early Babylonians. One such
channel might supply the fields of several farmers, and it was the duty
of each man through whose land the channel flowed to keep its banks on
his land in repair. If he omitted to strengthen his bank or dyke, and
the water forced a breach and flooded his neighbour's field, he had to
pay compensation in kind for any crop that was ruined; while if he could
not pay, he and his goods were sold, and his neighbours, whose fields
had been damaged through his carelessness, shared the money.
The land of Babylonian farmers was prepared for irrigation before it was
sown by being divided into a number of small square or oblong tracts,
each separated from the others by a low bank of earth, the seed being
afterwards sown within the small squares or patches.
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