Book VI. 



BARLEY. 



757 



other grain, on account of its requiring to be so short a period in the soil; sbrtietimes 

 not longer than six weeks, and not often more than seven or seven and a half. In Spain 

 and Sicily they have two crops a year on the same soil: one is sown in autumn and ripens 

 in May, and the other is sown in May and reaped in autumn. In Britain, barley is a 

 tender grain, and easily hurt in any of the stages of its growth, particularly at seed time ; 

 a heavy shower of rain will then almost ruin a crop on the best prepared land ; and in all 

 the after processes, greater pains and attention are required to insure success, than in the 

 case of other grains. The harvest process is difficult, and often attended with danger ; 

 even the threshing of it is not easily executed with machines, because the corn generally 

 adheres to the grain, and renders separation from the straw a troublesome task. 



4660. Specien and varieties. (,fig' 555.) There are six species and subspecies of this 

 grain in cultivation besides varieties. These are : 



Hordeum vulgare. Spring barley (a)., 

 coeleste, Siberian barley, 

 liexastichon. Winter barley {b). 



Hordeum distichon, Common or long-eared barley (c). 

 nudum. Naked barley, 

 zeocriton. Sprat or battledore (d). 



The second and fifth sort are allowed to be subspecies or varieties of the first and fourth, 

 and indeed there can be little doubt that the whoje do not constitute more than one species. 



553 



4661. The spring barley or early barley (a), is distinguished by its double row of beards or awns stand* 

 ing erect, and its thin Imslc whicli renders it favorable for malting. This is the sort principally cultivated 

 in the southern and eastern districts of both England and Scotland, and of which the farmers make two 

 sorts, viz. the common, and the rath-ripe barley : but these two sorts are in reality the same : for the 

 rath-ripe is only an alteration of the common barley, occasioned by being long cultivated upon warm 

 gravelly soils. The seed of this, when sown on cold or strong land, will, the first year, ripen near a 

 fortnight earlier than the seed taken from strong land, and therefore the farmers in the vales generally 

 purchase their seed-barley from the warm or gravelly lands ; for, when preserved in the vales two of 

 three years, it becomes full as late in ripening as the common barley of their own product: on the other 

 hand, the farmers on warm lands are also obliged to procure their seed-barley from the strong lands, 

 otherwise their grain would degenerate in bulk or fulness, which, by this change, is prevented. 



4662. The Siberian barley, Orge celeste, Fr. and Himmels gerste, Ger., is a variety of early barley with 

 broader leaves and reckoned more productive than the other. It is much grown in the north of Europe, 

 and was introduced to this country in 1768, but is believed to be now lost or merged in the parent species. 



4663. Winter barley, late barley, or square barley (h), has the grains disposed in four or in six rows, large 

 and thick skinned. It is chiefly cultivated in tiie north of England and in Scotland, on account of its 

 hardiness ; but from the thickness of its rind it is ill adapted for malting, and is growing out of use. 



4664. Bigg, hyg, or barley big, is a variety of winter barley known by always having six rows of grains, 

 by the grains being smaller and the rind thicker, and by its being earlier than the parent variety. Pro- 

 fessor Martyn says, he has frequently counted forty-two grains on one ear of bigg, when common or 

 long-eared barley had only twenty-two. 



466.5. Common or long-eared barley (c), is known by its very long spike or ear, flatted transversely, 

 greater in breadth than thickness, with chaff' ending in an awn sixteen times the length of the grain. 

 This sort is cultivated in many parts of England and Scotland ; though some object to it because the ears 

 being long and heavy they think it apt to lodge. 



4666. 'Naked barley, or wheat barley, is known by the grain separating easily from the chaff, and is by 

 some considered as nothing else than spelt wheat, which it greatly resembles. It does not appear to bfl 

 cultivated at present in any part of Britain. 



4667. Sprat, or battledore barley {d), is known by its low stature, coarse straw, short broad ears, and long 

 awns. The long awns and closeness of the ears protect it better from birds than most other sorts, but as 

 the straw is scanty and of little use it is not much cultivated. 



4663. Besides these sorts there are some locd varieties, as Thanet barley. Putney barley, &'C. which are 

 merely names given to the varieties common in those places. The Thanet is the winter, and the Putney 

 the sprat barley. 



4669. New varieties may be procured by selection or crossing, as in the case of wheat* 

 (4607.) 



4670. In choosing a sort of barley for cultivation, regard must be had to the soil and 

 climate. The hardiest may be considered the winter barley, and the earliest, and perhaps 

 the best, is the spring barley. The long-eared is also a much esteemed variety. In 

 choosing from any particular variety, the best grain for sowing is tliat which is free from, 

 blackness at the tail, and is of a pale lively yellow color, intermixed with a l)right whitish 

 cast ; and if the rind be a little sh'i-ivelled, it is so much the better, as it shows that it ha 



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