BARLEY 



593 



BARN 



BARLEY 



some of which are mere grasses, are cultivated 

 where no other cereal will survive. Winter 

 crops are raised in warm regions. To obtain 

 the best results, the soil on which barley is 

 planted should be porous, well drained and fer- 

 tile. The land should be thoroughly 

 prepared for the seed by plowing 

 the season before. Fertilizers con- 

 taining large quantities of nitrogen 

 should not be used. Barnyard ma- 

 nure is the best fertilizer for barley. 

 Two or three bushels of seed per 

 acre are sown broadcast, or prefer- 

 ably in drills. If barley follows a 

 hoed crop, like com, better yields 

 are obtained. Thirty-five or forty 

 bushels per acre is considered a good 

 \ i 1.1. but sixty bushels or more are 

 obtained under very favorable con- 

 ditions. 



As barley ripens before spring 

 win -at, it is usually harvested just 

 before that crop. The exact time, 

 however, depends upon the soil and 

 climate conditions, and the use to which the 

 grain is to be put. When the grain can be just 

 dented with the nail, it is ready for harvesting, 

 unless it is desired for brewing purposes. For 

 that use it should be dead ripe. As soon as 

 dry enough, the grain should be taken under 

 cover, as rain or dampness discolors it and les- 

 sens its value. 



Insect Enemies and Diseases. Although 

 much less liable to disease than other cereals, 

 it is attacked by smut and rust (see RUST; 

 SMUT). The Hessian fly (which see) also occa- 

 sionally does damage to barley crops. In 

 America, loose smut is the most serious of bar- 

 ley diseases. It darkens the grain and scatters 

 out in the form of black dust. The grain heads 

 are th n I. -ft empty. To prevent the disease, 

 the seed before planting should be soaked in 

 cold water for five hours, then in water at a 

 temperature of 125 F. for fifteen minutes, 

 seed should then be sown on clean land. 

 When the grain is attacked by close smut, the 

 seed should be soaked for tin minutes in a 

 solution of bluestonc, one pound to five gallons 

 of water, or formalin, one pint to thirty gallons 

 of water. 



Uses. Barley is used as a food for both man 

 and beast and for malting purposes; as a food 

 its use is decreasing among most nations, 

 although it yet serves as a coarse bread for 

 mi II ions of the peasants of Europe. 



Pearled barley, which is the polished grain, 

 38 



is used with other ingredients in preparing food 

 for babies and invalids. A drink prepared from 

 it, called barley water, is given to infants with 

 intestinal disorders. Scotch barley is the grain 

 from which the husk has been removed at a 

 mill. Barley is also used for thickening soups. 

 When malted it is used as a preparation for 

 spirits and beer. The percentage composition 

 of barley, for feeding purposes, is starch, 69.8; 

 ether extract, 1.8; water, 10.9; proteids, 12.4; 

 ash, 2.4; crude fiber, 2.7. It is used in many 

 parts of the United States and Canada as a 

 forage crop, being sowed with peas and vetch. 

 See GRAINS; BREWING. M.S. 



BARMECIDE'S, bahr'mesidz, FEAST, a 

 very common phrase, which had its origin in 

 the Arabian Nights story of the barber's sixth 

 brother, and is used now to describe an imag- 

 inary feast. In the story the barber's poor and 

 hungry brother is invited by a prince of the 

 Barmecide family to a feast. Only empty 

 dishes are put before him, but his host con- 

 stantly asks him how he likes the food. The 

 jolly beggar praises it all, especially the wine, 

 which he declares is so heady that it intoxicates 

 him. In this pretended intoxication he boxes 

 the ear of the Barmecide, who laughs heartily 

 at the joke and has a real feast set before him. 

 See ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT. 



BAR 'MEN, one of the most prosperous 

 cities of Germany, famous for the manufacture 

 of ribbon, in which it is the leading city of the 

 Continent. It is situated on the Wupper River, 

 twenty-five miles northeast of Cologne. The 

 town comprises several small villages extend- 

 ing along the valley, and on the west it joins 

 the town of Elberfeld. The river flows through 

 the center of the town and is crossed by about 

 twenty bridges. Among the important buildings 

 are a beautiful and modern town hall and a 

 municipal theater; there are also a number of 

 institutions for higher education, a municipal 

 hospital, a museum of natural history, a library 

 and an art gallery. All public utilities includ- 

 ing gas works, electric lighting and water works 

 are municipally owned and are profitably con- 

 ducted. 



Barmen manufactures cotton and woolen fab- 

 rics, linens, silks, laces, soap, candles, machin- 

 md musical instruments; the calico prim- 

 mi: establishments here are noted for the 

 superiority of the dye called Turkey red. 

 Population in 1910, 169.211 



BARN, tho principal building of a farm, 

 except the residence of tho family, is, in the 

 strict sense of the word, only a shelter for hay 



