THE FARMER AT HOME. 35 



It has a thick spike, with long arms attached to the kernel. It is 

 divided into several kinds ; of which the most common are the long- 

 eared, or two-rowed barley, the square or six-rowed, and sprat or 

 battle-door barley. The six-rowed is most commonly cultivated in 

 the north of England and Scotland; having the reputation of being 

 the hardiest plant. In this country the long-eared or two-rowed has 

 usually obtained the preference ; producing a whiter, fairer grain, and 

 smutting less than other kinds. Barley, in this country, is principall) 

 used for malting ; in other countries it is extensively used for bread, 

 and for feeding cattle. Barley has met with little favor in this 

 country, as food for horses, but there is nothing improper in the 

 grain, as is evident from the fact, that barley is almost the only 

 grain given to horses in the east, where the best and finest horses are 

 found. The difficulty lies in the mode of feeding. Barley is one of 

 the best substitutes for corn in making pork. It requires a rich soil, 

 rather moist and dry ; and the ground should be made fine before the 

 seed is sown. From two to two and a half bushels of seed per acre, 

 is the usual quantity allowed. 



BARM, or YEAST. Used in the composition of bread, to render 

 it light. When the art of brewing became known, this ingredient, 

 which is much better adapted to the purpose than any thing previously 

 used, was discovered. It is the spume which arises on the surface of 

 the beer in fermentation. 



BAROMETER. A machine for ascertaining the weight of the 

 itmosphere, in order chiefly to determine the changes of the weather ; 

 iience usually termed a weather-glass. It consists, generally of a 

 glass tube, somewhat more than thirty-one inches in length. It is 

 filled with quicksilver and immersed in a small basin of the same 

 metal, the immersion being so made, that no air can ascend to the 

 upper part of the tube ; hence the small space above the quicksilver 

 is usually a complete vacuum, and hence the ease with which the 

 metal moves up and down in the tube, according as the atmosphere 

 presses upon the quicksilver in the basin. The usual range of the 

 barometer in this country is from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches ; 

 at twenty-eight the air is lightest ; at thirty-one heaviest. Of course 

 when the air is light, the vapors which are suspended in it when it is 

 heavy, must fall to the ground. When high winds blow, the quick- 

 silver is generally low ; it rises higher in cold weather than in warm ; 

 and is also higher at morning and evening than at mid-day. In hard 

 frosts the air is purest and heaviest, the barometer then being at its 

 highest point. 



The changes in the height of the column of mercury, preceding or 

 during changes of the weather, have given great value to this instru- 

 ment, and obtained for it, among common people, the name of weather- 

 glass, as foretelling the weather. It is a most valuable instrument 

 at sea ; its rapid fall previous to violent storms, putting the mariner 



