Ch. XII.] ON BARLEY. 173 



respect inferior to the summer species *. Althougli commonly sown upon 

 poor land, and comparatively not so well cultivated, it yet properly re- 

 quires a strong soil, and in every respect the same treatment as wheat. 



A mixture of bigg and two-rowed barley is commonly cultivated in some 

 parts of Scotland under the name of " Rammel," or " Blandered-Bere." 

 When these two kinds are grown in separate fields and mixed together, the 

 seed will not at first spring equally, nor can the grain be malted by the 

 same process ; but after they have been for some time sown in a mixed 

 state, there is at last no perceptible difference in these respects, and the 

 quality of the corn seems to hold a middle place between barley and beref. 



SOIL. 



Barley, of every species, requires a ricli, friable, and mellow soil, which 

 retains a moderate quantity of moisture, but without approaching to that 

 which may be denominated wet: as, for instance, land which contains from 

 50 to 65 per cent, of sand, and the remainder chiefly clay ; though it may 

 be grown with advantage in ground containing a still larger portion of 

 sand, provided the season prove rainy ; but if the weather continue dry, 

 the crop will suffer in proportion, and therefore upon such land, its growth 

 cannot be deemed secure. It, however, succeeds well upon a more clayey 

 soil, provided its tenacity be tempered by such a proportion of mould as may 

 bring it under the class of good wheat land J : or, if the clay contains a 

 certain portion of chalk mixed with the sand, it will also be found favour- 

 able to the growth of barley, as the chalk neutralizes all acidity, and thus 

 checks a quality in the soil which is peculiarly prejudicial to the grain. 

 For poor, tenacious, and cold land, it is wholly unfit, and except upon 

 genial soils, its growth ought not to be attempted. 



CULTIVATION. 



Barley requires that the land upon which it is sown should be perfectly 

 well worked, and brought to a state of clean and friable tillage. If sown, 

 as it frequently is, upon a wheat stubble, it should have at least three 

 ploughings ; but if, after spring crops, which have been drilled, and the 

 ground well pulverized and cleaned by horse-hoeing, one is sufficient. It, 

 indeed, usually succeeds turnips, and is perhaps never so generally pro- 

 ductive as when it follows that crop ; for it loves a good tilth, and flourishes 

 upon land that has been well tilled, and heavily manured. The turnips 

 should, however, be fed off upon the land by sheep; and the "teathe,'' as 

 the improvement thus afforded to the land both by the excrements and the 

 contact of their bodies is termed in Norfolk — should be " sealed," or 

 ploughed in, as close to the flocks as possible §. If, however, this be not 



* Its produce on the Polders, or Carse lands, of the Netherlands is stated by Mr. 

 Radcliff' to equal ten quarters per English acre. Rep. on the Agric. of E. and W. 

 Flanders, p. 15. 



f Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. i. p. 496, 



X See the Table in chap, viii. p. 1 1 3. 



^ Drew's Norfolk Husbandry, p. 101. ''The effects of barley after turnips are, how- 

 ever, very different upon different soils. If the soil be light, dry, and tender, and admits 

 of the turnips being fed off by sheeji, it generally proves an ameliorating crop, and the 

 subsequent crop is rather increased than diminished. But if the soil be wet, tough, or 

 lieavy, it is very pernicious and exhausting, and the following crop is generally thereby 

 lessened from twelve bushels to two (quarters per acre. ^Vhence this arises is not alto- 

 gether certain ; but is probablj' owing to the two following causes : first, it being, for 

 the most part, impossible to feed them off with any kind of cattle upon the ground, there 

 is no dung left upon it ; and secondly, the soil is so cut and torn up by the carts, and 

 trampled upon by the horses in carrying off the turnips, that it can seldom be properly 

 prepared to receive the barley." — Essex. Rep. vol. i. p. 228. 



