72 BARLEY. 



of the bark two pints of purest alcohol ; let it stand ten days, 

 when it is to be carefully strained and bottled. It is an 

 excellent and safe medicine taken in such proportions as 

 circumstances authorize ; as a tonic and stomachic medicine, 

 a spoonful some hours before each meal is generally a good 

 rule. 



A decoction is also made with red wine, which is some- 

 times given to children of weakly, rickety habits of constitu- 

 tion. It is given in the forenoon and after dinner. 



Slight excoriations of the skin, induced by chafes, are fre- 

 quently relieved by this pulverized bark. 



BARLEY (Lat. Hordeum) is an annual plant, but is 

 often sown in autumn, when it ripens later, and is called 

 Winter Barley. 



Two-Rowed Barley (Hordeum distichum), or Common 

 Barley, is the species generally cultivated in the United 

 States. It is considered the most valuable, on account of its 

 full berry and its general freedom from smut ; it has numer- 

 ous minor varieties, distinguished for some differences in the 

 quality of the grain, for early or late ripening, or for more or 

 less productiveness, features brought out perhaps by differ- 

 ences in culture and climate. This grain, whose native home 

 is traced from Egypt and Syria, as far back as three thou- 

 sand years since, matures in favorable seasons on the Eastern 

 Continent as far north as seventy degrees. In warm lati- 

 tudes two crops are produced in a year. 



In the United States, the yield of Barley varies from thirty 

 to fifty or more bushels per acre, weighing from forty-five to 

 fifty-five pounds per bushel. 



Both in the United States and in Great Britain, this grain 

 is grown chiefly for malt, and for the manufacture of spirit- 

 uous liquors. In France it is used for corn-bread, while in 

 some warm climates it is given to horses, and is said to be 

 as good for this purpose as oats. 



