Book of the Commandments: On Variable Ripening in Barley

It is well known that all [grain in a] field cannot be in the same stage of growth unless it is [either] green grass or dry. And in between these two stages, it differs because some of it can be swelling in the boot [a stage of the seed head] and some not yet, and the same applies when [grain] becomes milky or curdled and to other stages. The description [of a field] goes by the most widespread [stage of growth of the grain]. However, there can be patches on it such that some are riper than others and some are similar to each other. The reason for it is that [the field] could have been manured and [the manure] was not mixed with all [the field] so that the place where [the manure] was mixed in is heated from the manure and ripens not at its [natural] time. Or perhaps it is an elevated place or a place under a tree. Lower places ripen later. [ . . . ] And there are other reasons [for uneven ripening]. But if the soil is balanced out, then the state [of crops on different parts of a field] will be similar.

Source: St. Petersburg RNL MS Evr.-Arab. I 3920, fols. 92r–92v.