Ibn Bassal was an 11th-century Andalusian Arab botanist and agronomist in Toledo and Seville, Spain who wrote about horticulture and arboriculture.
13 Facts About Ibn Bassal
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Ibn Bassal is best known for his book on agronomy, the Diwan al-filaha.
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Ibn Bassal worked at the Abbasid court of Al-Mutamid, for whom he created the Ha'it al-Sultan botanical garden in Seville.
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Originally from Toledo, Ibn Bassal moved to Seville after Alfonso VI conquered Toledo in 1085.
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Ibn Bassal travelled to the Hejaz, visiting Egypt, Sicily, Syria, and seemingly countries from Abyssinia and Yemen to Iraq, Persia, and India.
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Ibn Bassal is best known for his book on agronomy, the Diwan al-filaha.
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Ibn Bassal wrote the treatise The Classification of Soils, which divided soil fertility into ten classifications.
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Ibn Bassal describes manure with straw or sweeping mixed in as mudaf, implying that it is not composed of only one material but is a mixture.
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The sweepings from hot baths included urine and human wastes, which Ibn Bassal describes as dry and salty, unsuitable for use as fertilizer unless mixed with other types of manure.
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Ibn Bassal gives two recipes for composting pigeon and possibly donkey manure, though the translation is uncertain.
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Human waste, on the other hand, Ibn Bassal advises using in hot temperatures because there is no heat to it.
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Compost made without manure is considered less desirable; Ibn Bassal calls this type muwallid, made with herbage, straw and grass, ashes from ovens, and water.
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Some of Ibn Bassal's text was copied by the Yemeni writers Al-Malik al-Afdal.