lo March. 1910.] A// Abnormal Six-nrnjed Barley 



of the worm are of great importance, and should further experiments be 

 carried out will prove of much value. 



The chemical treatment of land is both laborious and expensive. 

 ■Chemical substances can be made to destroy worms that are free in the 

 soil but none of the substances tried can be depended on to disinfect soils 

 while still occupied with living infested plants. The eggs are not 

 destroyed by chemicals unless they are very concentrated. 



Freezing kills tlie worms very quickly, but to prevent the eggs hatching 

 out, considerable time is required ; consequently, nematodes are not the 

 menace to the agriculturist in cold countries the\ are in Australia. 



We would advise that in future experiments much smaller plots be 

 used, say of 6 square yards, a small trench being made between each 

 plot. 



All weeds on infested land should be collected and destroyed b\ 

 burning. 



Infested land is a distinct menace to a whole district, the eggs and 

 •embryo worms being carried bv water, wind, and manv other agencies. 



Unlike the potato, the disease is seldom carried awa\ by the plant 

 itself, those affected rarely becoming marketable. 



Two methods of xaising onions are practised extensiveh b\ onion - 

 growers, in different parts of the world. They are known as the " Old 

 onion culture," and the " New onion culture." The new method consists 

 in sowing in sterile soil and transplanting. Where this method is u.sed, 

 little damage is caused bv eel-worms. 



AN ABNORMAL SJXKOWED BARLEY. 



Alfred J. Eicart, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S., Government Botamst and 

 Professor of Botany in the Melbourne University. 



In June, 1908, Messrs. Barrett Bros., maltsters, forwarded some 

 abnormal heads of barley with the following letter : — 



The enclosed two heads of barley have been sent to us by Mr. Hardwick of the 

 Swan Brewery, Perth, as per enclosed letter which explains itself. We would be 

 much obliged if you would be good enough to answer the following questions : — 



1. Are the six-rowed heads enclosed abnormal in containing only two rows with 

 awns on the grain, and four rows without ? 



2. Is this peculiarity likely to lead to any infertile condition of the barley? 



3. Is it likely to tend to make its quality worse or better? 



We may point out the barley appears to us to be a development from what we 

 know as Cape barley, or another variety Oregon, which is a superior Cape, or even the 

 French barley Escurgeon, all of which we believe are six-rowed. 



The barley as you see it is of a very poor type, and we should think likely to be 

 abnormally low in starch content. 



The heads proved to be a form of six-rowed barley {Hordeum sativum 

 var. hexasticlwri). In this variety the spikelets are in threes arranged on 

 opposite sides of the axis so as to form six vertical rows, all the spikelets 

 being fertile. Frequently, however, the awn or bristle of the central grain 

 in each set of three is longer and stouter than in the two lateral ones. 

 In the specimens sent, this peculiarity was intensified by the reduction 

 of the lateral awns to mere points, while the central one was strongly 



