משנה: בְּצָלִים הַסָּרִיסִים וּפוּל הַמִּצְרִי שֶׁמָּנַע מֵהֶן מַיִם שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם לִפְנֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה מִתְעַשְּׂרִין לְשֶׁעָבַר וּמוּתָּרִין בַּשְּׁבִיעִית וְאִם לָאו אֲסוּרִין בַּשְּׁבִיעִית וּמִתְעַשְּׂרִין לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה. וְשֶׁל בַּעַל שֶׁמָּנַע מֵהֶן מַיִם שְׁתֵּי עוֹנוֹת דִּבְרֵי רִבִּי מֵאִיר וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים שָׁלֹשׁ. MISHNAH: Sterile onions and Egyptian beans from which water was withheld thirty days before the New Year are tithed for the past [year] and may be kept in the Sabbatical year58They may be treated as private property of the farmer and be harvested during the Sabbatical year. If tithes are given for this crop from another place, it must be from produce of the preceding year.; otherwise they are forbidden in the Sabbatical year59Forbidden to be harvested and stored as seeds but permitted to be taken by everybody. and are tithed for the coming year. For those from a ba‘al field94An unirrigated field that must be watered by hand if used for vegetables. The term seems to be taken from pagan neighbors since Ba‘al is the Semitic rain god, equivalent of the Greek Zeus. The Tosephta (Note 83) makes it explicit that the first rule speaks of fields irrigated by a permanent installation., if one withheld water for two periods83Tosephta 2:4 is practically identical with Mishnah 9, except that in the case of ba‘al fields, the Tosephta states that for the field to qualify as seed field, one must withhold two (or three) מריעות, instead of עונות in the Mishnah. The Tosephta is partially quoted in Ma‘serot 4:5 (fol. 51b), where the reading is מודייות [two] modii.
R. Abraham ben David (Ma‘aser Šeni 1:10) deduces from the Mishnah that מוריות, מריעות are instances of irrigation; R. S. Lieberman reads the words as derived from מרביעות “fertilizations,” but it might be better to take the word from מרויות “waterings”. בעל fields of produce other than grains, while not irrigated permanently, are watered occasionally (Mishnah 9).
Maimonides, followed by the commentators of his Code and J. Levy, translates מורביות (or מרביות in the Rome ms.) as “trimmings”; that meaning is found in the Babli (Sukkah 45a, Tamid29a). R. Abraham ben David wonders why Maimonides in his Code follows an unclear Tosephta instead of a clear Mishnah., the words of Rebbi Meïr, but the Sages say three.
הלכה: מַהוּ בְּצָלִין הַסָּרִיסִין אִילֵּין בּוֹצְלַייָא כּוּפְרַיָא דְּלָא עָֽבְדִין זֶרַע. HALAKHAH: What are sterile onions? Those rural onions which do not form seeds.
אָמַר רִבִּי מָנָא מִכֵּיוָן שֶׁמָּנַע מֵהֶן מַיִם שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם לִפְנֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה נַעֲשׂוּ כְבַעַל. Rebbi Mana said, since he withheld water for thirty days before New Year’s Day, they are as on a ba‘al [field].
רִבִּי יוֹנָה בָּעֵי לְמַפְרֵיעוֹ הוּא נַעֲשֶׂה זֶרַע זַרְעוֹ מִיכָּן וְלָבֹא. מַה נְפַק מִבֵּינֵיהוֹן לָקַט בְּתוֹךְ שְׁלֹשִׁים וּלְאַחַר שְׁלֹשִׁים. אִין תֵּימַר לְמַפְרֵיעוֹ הוּא נַעֲשֶׂה זֶרַע מְעַשֵּׂר מִזֶּה עַל זֶה אִין תֵּימַר מִיכָּן וְלָבֹא אֵינוֹ מְעַשֵּׂר מִזֶּה עַל זֶה. Rebbi Jonah asked: Do they become seed-plants retroactively [or are] they seed-plants for the future? What would be the difference? If he took some within the thirty days and some afterwards, if you say that they become seed-plants retroactively, he tithes from one for the other; if you say, only in the future, he may not tithe from one for the other.