The agriculture cycle and the calendar year comprised three seasons . Aklet, the season of the Inundation, which began about 19 July, Pert " going out ", the season for ploughing and sowing which began about 15 November, and Stem, the Harvest, which began about 16 March. With the rise of the Nile the peasants carefully directed the flood- water from the main canals to smaller branches transversing the fields in straight or curved lines, controlling it by means of embankments . But even the highest inundation did not over-flow all the fields and therefore the peasant had to bring the water of the Nile as near as possible to his field with a trench then erected and used the shaduf to lift it higher . It was hard work to raise and empty the bucket of the shaduf the whole livelong day . After the Nile withdrew, leaving pools of water standing here and there on the fields, a busy time of the year began for the Egyptian farmer . From the scenes in the temple of the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Nyuserre, however, and from the scenes of the tombs of Abffem it is clear that the harvest was the season of most strenuous activity The ripened corn was reaped with a sickle, handed over to threshing floors to be trodden by oxen, goats or donkeys . The grain thus threshed was piled in heaps, and winnowed by throwing the chaff and unhusked grain into the wind . The grain was sifted to reserve the husks, then poured into sacks by women and transported to a granary . Two kinds of corn appear in the usual representations of agriculture, barley and emmer wheat; both were extensively cultivated in Egypt . Also grown were vegetables such as onions, lettuce, cucumbers and melons . Flax was cultivated and harvested at different times for different purposes . When ripe its tough fibres were suitable for mats and rops but if cut when green, they could be woven into fine soft linen cloth . Some of the surviving remnants are somtimes of such great fineness as to be almost indistinguishable from silk. Two other important products of agriculture in ancient Egypt were oil and wine. Olives were not successfully grown in Egypt until the ptolemaic period and in earlier times olive oil was imported. Oil is frequently mentioned nevertheless and its uses were many, in cooking, lighting, cosmetics, medicine and embalming. Plants indigenous to the country that could produce suitable oil included lettuce, the castor-bean plant, flax, radishes and sesame. Wine was produced from both grapes and dates, grape wine being the more highly regarded. The best wine came from the Delta and from the Oases of Kharga and Dakhla, where viniculture was practised on a large scale.

     There were flower gardens as well-not surprising among a sensitive people who loved bouquets and garlands. Depictions show gardens with ponds, where lotus flowers float surrounded by cornflowers and mandrakes (black bryony), the fruits of which were the symbol of love. Wild plants were sought out in the Nile valley and in the desert. Most famous is the papyrus sedge, but other indigenous wild plants like the turpentine tree (pistacia terebinthus) were exploited for dyes, tanning materials, cooking, perfumes and pharmaceuticals. Animal husbandry was practised as shown in tomb reliefs and veterinary medicine was a skill handed from father to son. In the tomb of the nobleman Ptah-Hotep at saqqarah a scene shows a cow giving birth with the aid of a veterinary surgeon, who gently guides the calf into the world. Other depictios suggest that Egyptians knew their animals intimately, took great care of them, and often fed them individually by hand. Depictions also show that estates owned large herds of oxen and cows. They rarely show us sheep, goats or donkeys, however, and pictures of pigs are likewise rarely found on the monuments. Horses were probably introduced as a tribute and appear only in scenes of war. In addition to ordinary domestic animals the herds of the great men in Egypt contained wild ruminants such as antelopes, ibexes and gazeles . They were captured in the desert or mountains. The flesh of a fattened antelope must have been considered food fit for the gods, since we always find a roasted one among depictions of sacrificial animals. The ancient Egyptians provided themselves with fowl the same way. Bird catchers caught ducks and geese in the marshes with huge traps, then reared and fattened them. Depictions show not only flocks of ducks and geese of various kinds, but also doves, pigeons and all manner of waterfowl. Chickens were a late introduction. Although the whole land of Egypt was in theory the property of the king, a kind of private ownerships of land undoubtedly existed as early as the Old Kingdom. The practice of making grants to temples, nobles and private persons (for mortuary estates) led to a position in which land was held as if by right, to be bought and sold or rented, and thus to be owned privately and to be assessed officially for taxes . The Egyptian peasant who worked the land toiled either with his family or as a member of a gang, helped by cattle during ploughing, sheep and pigs during sowing and by donkeys during the harvest. The Egyptians themselves felt that agriculture was the most important industry in the country not only materially, but also politically and morally since it brought prosperity, stability and serenity.