Ch.XII.J ON BARLEY. 171 



Rye is frequently sown and cut green for early sheep-feed without any 

 intention of obtaining a crop of grain ; though, if not too late or too close fed, 

 both objects may be attained. It is extremely useful to farmers who keep 

 breeding-tlocks, as it comes forward earlier than tares, and affords a good 

 bite at a season when fresh food is so scarce as to put them to everv kind 

 of shift to carry on their stock. It is, also, not uncommonly sown along 

 with winter-tares: but, unless the latter can be got off the ground very 

 early, it is a bad plan ; for when the rye begins to spindle, the stem becomes 

 tough, and the sheep then rejecting it, a great part of the crop is wasted: 

 it should, therefore, be fed off quickly. 



Chapter XII. 



ON BARLEY. 



Under the general name of Barley is included all grain that is commonly 

 used for malting ; though there are two distinct kinds, the one being the 

 lent-corn, usually sown in spring ; and the other, a winter species, known 

 under the denomination of Bere or Bigg. 



SPECIES. 



The different species are distinguished by botanists as " two-rowed," 

 "four-rowed," and "six-rowed barley;" though properly speaking, there 

 is no species to which the term "four-rowed" ought to be applied* ; and the 

 many varieties which exist are designated by farmers as " sprat, or battle- 

 dore barley," " rath-ripe, or hotspur, and naked barley ;" " Egyptian, Mol- 

 davian, Thanet, Chevalier, and Annat barley t :" with a number of other 

 sorts, named either from the places of their original growth, or from 

 the persons by whom they were brought into notice, and distinguished 

 chiefly by the productiveness or qualities of their grain, and their habit of 

 late and early ripening. 



Of the different species of Summer Barley, the only varieties which we 

 deem it necessary to notice, are the common two-rowed, or late ; the naked ; 

 and the rath-ripe, or early : the two former requiring a stronger soil than 

 the latter, being also sown earlier, and generally producing better crops. 

 The grain of the first species — which is the sort most generally cultivated — is 

 larger than the other two, and should not be sown later than the beginning 

 of April, as it does not suffer materially from the frost by vvhich it may be 



* Barley is termed ''two-rowed," or *' six-rowed,'' according to the number of its 

 fertile florets. In two-rowed barley, one row of florets on each of the two sides of the 

 spike is fertile, and consequently one row of seeds on each side is perfected, in six- 

 rowed barley, three rows on each side of the spike are fertile, and consequently three 

 rows on each side are perfected. In this sense only it is termed six-rowed barley ; but 

 there is no species known to us iu which only two rows on each side of the spike are 

 fertile. Slightly examined, indeed, six-rowed barleys frequently present the appearance 

 of four rows ; but this is in appearance only, for such barleys have always the three 

 rows on each side perfect. In poor soils and unfavourable situations, two of the rows 

 run much into each other, and this has, perhaps, given rise to the mistake ; but the 

 two rows which thus run into each other in appearance, are on the opposite sides of the 

 rachis." — Low's Elem. of Pract. Agric, p. 241. 



f This latter species has been produced from a few ears casually picked from afield 

 in the Carse of Gowrie, during the harvest of 1830. It has been sown along with (lie 

 common and the chevalier barley, and has been found superior to either, both in bulk of 

 straw, weight, and quality of grain ; but has not been sufficiently diflfused to warrant 

 a decisive opinion regarding its merits ; and it appears to require a rich soil. 



