^25 THE CEREALS IX AMERICA 



because the bearded varieties are irritating to the mouths of 

 horses and often injurious.^ 



451. Breeding Barley. — Saunders crossed a six-rowed variety 

 known as Baxter upon a Swedish two-rowed variety Royal, a 

 six-rowed variety, and Beaver, a two-rowed variety, have been 

 obtained, each of which has stiff straw, is a vigorous grower and 

 productive.^ Johannsen, by systematic selection of heads with 

 heavy grains and low nitrogen content for three generations, 

 has obtained a progeny of the fourth generation with somewhat 

 higher average weight of grains and appreciably lower nitro- 

 gen content.^ Remy has selected strains of drouth resisting 

 barley, such plants being shorter in the straw and shorter 

 and closer in the head than those requiring a greater quantity 

 of water.* 



III. CLIMATE AND SOIL 



452. Climate. — Barley is successfully cultivated in a wider 

 range of climate than any other cereal. It is cultivated from 

 65° N. Lat. in Alaska to semi-tropical California. (391) It is 

 said to mature in the Andes at an elevation of 11,000 feet. 

 While growing freely in Chile at 5,000 feet, it rarely ripens on 

 the plateaus of Peru, which have an elevation of 9,000 feet.^ 

 Grain is produced in Colorado at 7,000 feet and heavy crops of 

 hay at 8,500 feet. In California, where, for climatic reasons, 

 neither oats nor maize is grown extensively, barley is an im- 

 portant crop, both for grain and hay 



Brewer has shown that in 1880 the greatest production of 

 barley in the United States was with a smaller annual rainfall 



1 Ariz. Rpt. 1899, p. 249. 



2 Soc. Prom. Agr. Sci. 1899, p. So. 



s Medd. Carlsberg Lab. 1S99, No. 4, pp. 22S-313. E. S. R. XII, p. 326. 



4 Deut. Landw. Presse, 29 (1902), Nos. 87, p, 706, Fig. i; 88, pp. 715., 716. 

 E. S. R. XIV, p. 650. 



5 Int. Encycl., Vol. II, p. 487. 



