BARLEY. 297 



the main crop, giving it the best soil and fertilizers in order to keep up the highest quality of 

 the variety unimpaired, or to improve upon it, if possible. This method is almost invariably 

 attended with good results. 



Harvesting. Oats should be harvested when the lower part of the stalk has turned 

 yellow; the plant then ceases to draw nutriment from the soil, and the grain has passed from 

 the milk state and may be easily compressed between the thumb and finger. If cut at this 

 period the straw is better for fodder and other purposes, and the grain more plump than 

 later; but if the cutting be delayed, the kernels will be liable to shell out, and considerable 

 loss to the crop may be sustained, besides the quality of the straw impaired. 



Small fields of oats may be cut with a cradle, and when badly lodged a scythe is often 

 used for the purpose, but for large fields a reaper seems to be a necessity; those that both 

 reap and bind are of course the best, since they economize labor most. It is very important 

 that the oats should be well dried before being put away, if not threshed in the field, as they 

 will be very liable to heat badly and the grain become discolored. Exposure to rain and dew 

 will also have a tendency to discolor the grain, and lessen its value for market purposes. 



It is very important that oats be cut in dry weather, and the bundles put in small stacks 

 for a day or two, and exposed to the sun, that they may become entirely free from moisture. 

 When cut by a cradle or a reaper that is not self -binding, they may dry in the swath before 

 being bound. Much of the labor of handling bundles and stacking them away is obviated by 

 threshing the grain in the field with a machine that also cleanses and bags it ready for market. 

 When rain chances to fall upon the crop, it should be thoroughly dried as soon as possible. 



Diseases of Oats. There are fewer diseases and insects that affect oats than most 

 grains, it being seldom injured by rust or smut. Whenever it is attacked by either, it is 

 usually in very warm, damp weather. The wire-worm has at times been very destructive in 

 some localities, and is most liable to be troublesome when fresh sod is used for sowing. We 

 would not advise the use of fresh sod for this crop, but whenever such a course is pursued it 

 would be well to turn it over late in the fall just before the ground freezes, which leaves 

 these insect pests without a retreat from the frost. The use of salt as a fertilizer, and also 

 lime, has a tendency to extirpate them from the soil. When rust or smut are seen in a field, 

 it is best to have the crop cut as soon as possible. The brine-wash for the seed does not seem 

 to have the same effect in destroying the germ of the fungus in oats as with wheat and rye, 

 owing to the hard, thick covering of the grain. 



BARLEY. 



THIS is one of the most widely distributed of grains. It was an important article 

 of food in remote antiquity, and commonly cultivated by the Hebrews, Greeks, and 

 Romans. In Europe it is at present a very important crop, ranking in Great Britain 

 next to wheat both in an agricultural and commercial point of view. It is used for bread in 

 many portions of Northern Europe, and especially in the lowlands of Scotland, where 

 unleavened cakes or &quot;bannocks o barley meal&quot; constitute an important item in the diet of 

 the peasantry. It is also used in preparing the &quot;barley broth,&quot; so much esteemed by the 

 Scotch nationality. It is appropriated, however, both in this country and Europe quite as 

 much to the manufacture of malt liquors as any other purpose, although to a certain extent 

 for fattening live-stock, especially swine. It were better for both countries if its cultivation 

 were entirely discarded, rather than it should be perverted to the former use, to the incalcu 

 lable injury it does to multitudes of human beings, and we hope no honest farmer who wishes 



