HO R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



HOP. 



701 



and cut in May ; and another sown in spring;, and cut in 

 autumn. In some of the northern parts of Europe it is called 

 Korn, or Corn, exclusively, and is more cultivated because it 

 ripens in less time than any other kind of grain. In Lapland, 

 fifty-eight days only, or about two mouths, elapse between 

 the sowing and cutting of it. But it is the Rath-ripe, or 

 Patney Barley, which is annually sown in northern climates. 

 Hordeum Celeste, or Siberian Barley, (called Hunmclyerste, 

 or Himmelskorn, by the Germans ; Himmelsbyg or Tkorebyg, 

 by the Danes; Himmelskiorn, by the Swedes; and Orge Celeste, 

 by the French,) was only introduced into England in May 1767. 

 It has a broader blade, of a much deeper green, than common 

 Barley at first coming up. The ears are shorter, having only 

 from live to nine grains in length, whereas those of the com- 

 mon sort have from nine to thirteen ; and in all. stages it is a 

 fortnight forwarder than common Barley. The two sorts being 

 sown in the same field on the 28th of April 1774, to the 

 quantity of three bushels of each, the common Barley pro- 

 duced thirty-six bushels and a half, weighing fifty-two pounds 

 each, and the Siberian produced thirty-two bushels weighing 

 fifty-eight pounds each. But the soil was very dry, and much 

 inclined to a gravel, greatly to the disadvantage of the Siberian 

 Barley, which requires a richer land. Propagation. We shall 

 now direct our attention to the propagation and culture of 

 this most important article. The directions given apply 

 generally to the four first species of this genus ; all the sorts 

 of which are sown in the spring of the year, in a dry time, in 

 some very dry light land : the usual time is e-arly in March, 

 but in strong clayey soils, it is not sown till April, and some- 

 times not until the beginning of May ; but when it is sown 

 late, if the season does not prove very favourable, it will be 

 late in autumn before the Barley become fit to mow, unless it 

 be the Rath-ripe sort, which is often matured in nine weeks 

 after the seed has been sown. Some sow Barley upon land 

 where Wheat grew in the former year; but when this is 

 practised, the ground should be ploughed in the beginning 

 of October during dry weather, and laid in small ridges, that 

 the frost may have more power over it ; which will render it 

 mellow, and greatly improve it. This should be ploughed 

 again in January, or at the beginning of February : it will break 

 and prepare the ground better ; which should be ploughed a 

 third time in March, and laid even where it is not very wet ; 

 but in strong wet lands, the ground should be laid round, 

 and the furrows made deep to receive the wet. When this is 

 finished, the common method is to sow the Barley-seed with 

 a broad-cast at two sowings; the first being harroweu in 

 once, the second is harrowed until the seed is buried : the 

 common allowance of seed is four bushels to an acre. This is 

 the quantity of grain usually sown by the farmers ; but if they 

 could be prevailed on to alter this practice, they would soon 

 find their account in it ; for if less than half that quantity be 

 sown, there will be a much greater produce, and the corn will 

 be less liable to lodge ; for when corn or any other vegetable 

 stands very close, the stalks are drawn weak, and incapable 

 of resisting the force of winds, or bear up und'er heavy rains ; 

 but when they are at a proper distance, their stalks will be 

 more than twice the size of the other, and are seldom laid. 

 In fields where there has been a foot-path through the middle, 

 the corn which came up thin on eacli side the path has been 

 observed to stand upright, when all the rest on either side 

 has been laid flat upon the ground : and whoever will observe 

 these roots of corn near the paths, will find them tiller out, 

 that is, have a greater number of stalks by four times than 

 any other parts of the field. Experiments have been made 

 by sowing Barley in rows, in divers parts of the same field, 

 and the grains sowed thin in the rows, so that the roots were 

 VOL. i. 69. 



three or four inches asunder in the rows, and the rows a foot 

 distance ; the intermediate spaces of the same field were at 

 the same time sown broadcast in the usual way ; and the 

 consequence was this, the roots which stood thin in the rows 

 tillered out from ten or twslve to upwards of thirty stalks on 

 each root; the stalks were stronger, the ears longer, and the 

 grains larger, than any of those sown in the common way ; 

 and when those parts of the field where the corn was sown 

 in the usual way have been lodged, the parts thinly sown 

 have maintained their upright position against wind and rain, 

 though the rows have been made not only lengthways but 

 across the lands in several positions, so that there could be 

 no alteration in regard to the goodness of the land, or the 

 situation of the corn. Therefore where these experiments 

 have been frequently made, and always attended with equal 

 success, there can be no room to doubt which of the two 

 methods is more eligible, since, if the crops were only sup- 

 posed to be equal in both, the saving more than half the corn 

 sown is a very great advantage, and deserves national con- 

 sideration, for in scarce times such a saving might be of great 

 importance to the public. It is true, farmers in general are 

 very apt to complain if their corn does not come up so thick 

 as to cover the ground green in a short time, like grass-fields : 

 but it is often observed, that when, from the unfavourableness 

 of the season, it has come up thin, or when part has been 

 accidentally killed, the corn has been much stronger, the ears 

 longer, and the grain plumper, so that the produce of those 

 years has exceeded that of other years when it had come up 

 thick ; for the natural growth of corn is to send out many 

 stalks from a root, and not to rise so much in height ; therefore 

 it is entirely owing to the roots standing too near each other, 

 that the stalks are generally drawn up tall and weak. I hav.- 

 had (says Mr. Miller) eighty-six stalks upon one root of 

 Barley, all of which were strong, producing longer ears and 

 better-filled grain than any which I ever saw in the common 

 method of husbandry, although the land upon which it grew 

 was not remarkably rich : but I have frequently observed 

 on the side of hot-beds in kitchen-gardens, where Barley- 

 straw has been used for covering the beds, that some of the 

 grains left in the cars having dropped out and grown, the 

 roots have produced from thirty to sixty stalks each, every 

 one three or four times larger than they ever grow in the com- 

 mon way : but to this, (continues Mr. Miller,) I know it will be 

 objected, that although upon rich land in a garden these roots 

 may probably have so many stalks, yet in poor land they will 

 not produce so much, and therefore a greater quantity of seed 

 must be sown to make the crop worth standing. Now this is 

 one of the greatest fallacies that can be imagined, to suppose 

 that poor land can nourish more than twice the number of 

 roots in the same space as rich land; yet it is the general 

 practice to act upon this absurd supposition, as if it were 

 really true. A greater quantity of seed is allowed for poor 

 land than for richer ground, the sower not considering that 

 where the roots stand so close they will deprive each other of 

 their nourishment, and starve themselves ; which is always the 

 case where the roots stand close. The truth of this will be 

 evident to any person who will observe that part of a field 

 where the corn happens to be scattered in sowing it, and those 

 places where, by harrowing, the seed is drawn up into heaps; 

 the latter will starve, and never grow to a third part of the 

 size to which they attain wherever the seed happens to have 

 been loosely sown : yet common as this is, our farmers surely 

 cannot be aware of it, otherwise they would not continue their 

 old mode of sowing : if they know it, their prejudice must be 

 strong in the extreme. When the Barley is sown, the ground 

 should be rolled after the first shower of rain, to break the 

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