





HORDEUM 



VERY ANCIENT CEREAL VULOARE 



Cultivation 



i nmmonly cultivated in India. The only variety hitherto found 

 \\iltl is (listir/tnii. which seems to be indigenous to Western Temp* 

 Asia. 



History.- Harli-v is amongst the most ancient of cultivated plant*, but an Krlr 

 its forms rcsciulili- riu-h other MTV closely in their properties and seem to have Knowledge. 

 had. in all laiiL;ua!_'.-s, common names, it is not easy to ascertain which \.^ 



'red in l.\ the early \M-itors. Proofs in abundance ex ist that one or oth.-r 

 nf tlii forms has I.IM-II cultivated si ime the remotest times. According 



:der. Inn-ley is one i'f the livn cereals sown by the Emperor Shen-nung of chineae. 

 china, \\lni reigned ai>out -jjni B.C. TlioophruutiiH was acquainted with several 

 t'.imis nt Lai-ley, uiul it was an important article of food in the time of 8olomii 

 (M.I . 1015). The \ariety in-JUHtii-iiun has been found in the earliest Egyptian Egyptian, 

 iii'iniimenis. as also in the remains of the later dwellings of Switzerland and ! 

 SuMiy. The six-rowed barley is represented on the medals of Metapontes 

 11 toun in South Italy of date Oth century B.C. The oldest known Indian (or 

 rath.!- Central Asiatic) samples of barley are those collected by Stein tit Kara- 

 dong (Anricnt Khutnu. I HOT. 448). The ruins in question had been engulfed KhoUn. 

 by sand about the close of the 8th century A.D. The variety most frequently 

 met with in India is also hrjrtmtirinm. indra is called "the god who ripens indrajau. 

 barley," and as still manifesting ancient knowledge it may be added that the grain 

 is employed in the ceremonies attending the birth, marriage and death, as also 

 certain sacrificial rites. This idea is also borne out by the antiquity of the Sanskrit Sanskrit Names, 

 name yava (yavaka), which in the earliest times was a general term for corn or grain, 

 but which with time became restricted to what must have been at least a very 

 important grain barley; hence have come the modern vernaculars jav, jau, 

 Indrajau, jawa, etc. The grain is also closely associated with the Indian Muham- 

 madans. In the Ain-i-Akbari the crop is said to have been one of the most 

 important in Afghanistan and Kashmir, a large part of the revenue in these 

 countries having been obtained from barley by exacting the usual two out of 

 every ten kherwara produced. 



CULTIVATION. Barley is a rdbi crop, sown in October or November, Cultiva- 

 and reaped in March or April. In Bombay it is generally grown alone, occa- tion. 

 sionally with a sprinkling of rape or mustard, but in many parts it is often 

 mixed with wheat, gram, peas or lentils, while rape, Indian mustard and 

 linseed are commonly sown as borderings. The SOILS on which it thrives soik. 

 best are light and sandy, and, as a rule, not highly manured. The number 

 of PLOUGHINGS before sowing varies, but four would be a fair average. Ploughing. 

 The SEED-RATE runs from about 80 to 120 Ib. per acre. It is sown by Seed-rate, 

 plough-furrows, the surface of the ground being subsequently levelled 

 and beds for irrigation formed. IRRIGATION, however, may not be neces- irrigation, 

 sary, and in districts which enjoy a tolerable certainty of rain it is but 

 rarely resorted to. Little WEEDING is required, the crop being left very weeding, 

 much to itself till March-April, when it is REAPED like wheat, tied up in 

 sheaves, and stacked near the homesteads to dry. The preparation for 

 the market is the same as that for wheat. The total COST of growing an cot of 

 acre is variously stated : Mukerji puts it at only Rs. 18-8 ; Duthie and Production - 

 Fuller, Rs. 20-12 ; and Mollison gives for Gujarat, Rs. 51-&-0. Huskless 

 barley from Saharanpur is described in the Kew Bulletin (1888, 271-3). 



Areas under the Crop. From the Agricultural Statistics of British Area. 

 India, it appears that in recent years far the largest quantity of this cereal 

 is grown in the United Provinces and in Bengal. The Panjab, North-West 

 Frontier, Ajmer-Merwara, Bombay, the Central Provinces, Sind and 

 Madras follow in the order given. The total area under barley in British 

 India for the year 1905-6 was 7,326,755 acres. Similarly, in the Native 

 States, the area in the same year is said to have been 418,463 acres, chiefly 

 in Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur and Gwalior. 



uenxai. Tho cultivation of barley is mostly restricted to the central Bengal. 



641 41 



