334 i'J^lE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



favor of early seeding of barley was much less than with spring 

 wheat, oats and flax.^ The Tennessee Station found September 

 decidedly the best month for the fall seeding of barley.^ 



459. Seed Selection. — The Ontario Agricultural College has 

 obtained an average for six years of fifty-four bushels from 

 sowing large plump seed; fifty bushels from small plump 

 seed ; forty-six bushels from shrunken seed, and forty-three 

 bushels per acre from sowing broken grains produced by 

 the usual process of threshing.^ The Tennessee Station sowed 

 large seed that were twenty-eight per cent heavier than small 

 seed, and obtained fifty bushels from the larger seed and forty 

 bushels per acre from the small seed. The weight of the 

 individual grains was, however, practically identical in both 

 cases. Large grains from large heads gave a larger yield of 

 grain than from medium or small heads.'* 



460. Harvesting. — Barley that has been allowed to ripen 

 fully will be likely to have the most mealy endosperm, and most 

 likely to sprout uniformly. On the other hand, if allowed to 

 ripen fully, there is more danger of discoloration from rain and 

 dews, and as this character is counted so important in fixing 

 the commercial grade, early cutting is frequently practiced. 



If bundles are shocked promptly and shocks are carefully 

 capped with tw^o bundles, ripening may proceed, and both ends 

 — full maturation and bright color — be measurably secured. 

 (160) Formerly the barley crop was usually cut with a self-rake 

 reaper and laid off in small gavel* or in continuous swaths. 

 These were allowed to dry a day or so, as required, and then 

 raked together, or, more usually, placed in piles by hand with a 

 large wooden, four-tined fork. The aim was to get the barley 



i Minn. Bui. 40, p. 282. 



2 Tenn. Bui. Vol. XIV, No. 3, p. 6. 



S Ont. Agr. Col. and Expt. Farms Rpt. 1903, p. 119. 



4 J enn. BuL Vol XIV, No. -?. 



