702 



H O R 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



H R 



clods and lay the earth smooth, which will render it better to 

 mow, and also cause the earth to lie closer to the roots of 

 the corn ; which will be of great service to it in dry weather. 

 Where Barley is sown upon newly-broken-up land, the usual 

 method is to plough up the land in March, and let it lie fallow 

 until June, at which time it is ploughed again, and sown 

 with Turnips, which are eaten by sheep in winter. The dung 

 of the sheep greatly improves the land ; and in March follow- 

 in? the land is ploughed up again, and sown with Barley as 

 before. Many persons sow Clover with their Barley ; some 

 have sown Lucerne with it; but this is not judicious, for 

 where there is a good crop of Barley, the Clover or Lucerne 

 must be so weak as not to pay for standing; so that the bet- 

 ter way is to sow the Barley alone without any crop among 

 it, and then the land will be at liberty for any other crop 

 when the Barley is taken off the ground : yet this custom of 

 sowing Clover, Rye-grass, and other grasses, with corn, has 

 been so long and universally established among farmers, that 

 we have little hope of prevailing upon them to relinquish this 

 absurd practice, which can only be defended upon the ground 

 of its having been handed down to them by their predecessors. 

 When the Barley has been up three weeks or a month, it will 

 be a very good method to roll it over with a weighty roller, 

 which will press the earth close to the roots of the corn, and 

 thereby prevent the sun and air from penetrating the ground, 

 which will be of singular service in dry seasons. This rolling 

 of it before it stalks, will cause it to tiller out and produce a 

 greater number of stalks ; so that if the plants should be thin, 

 it will cause them to spread so as to fill the ground, and 

 likewise strengthen the stalks. The time for cutting Barley 

 is when the red colour of the ears is off, the straw turns yel- 

 low, and the ear begins to hang down. In the north of Eng- 

 land the Barley is always reaped and made up into sheaves 

 like Wheat, by which method less corn is lost, and the whole 

 may be more conveniently stacked. But this cannot be so 

 well practised in rich lands like those in the neighbourhood 

 of London, where there are weeds among the corn ; and espe- 

 cially in moist seasons : in these cases the Barley must lie on 

 the swathe till all the weeds are dead ; and as it is apt to sprout 

 in wet weather, it must be shaken up and turned every fair 

 day after rain, to prevent it. When carried in, it ought to be 

 thoroughly dry ; for if stacked wet it turns musty, and if too 

 green will burn in the mow. The common produce of Barley 

 is two and a half or three quarters on an acre. Soil proper 

 for Barley. The best soil for Barley is the dry and heathy, 

 rather light than stiff, yet of sufficient tenacity and strength to 

 retain the moisture. If the land be poor, it ought also to be 

 dry and warm ; and if so, will often produce better corn than 

 richer land in a cold and wet situation. Much Barley, however, 

 is grown on heavy land, both after Wheat and on a fallow ; but 

 this is no proof of its being a good rule, for we have already 

 shewn the unreasonable nature of several of the customary 

 modes of cultivating this grain. Barley usually succeeds 

 Wheat or Turnips, sometimes Vetches and other crops, or is 

 put in on a fallow or on turf. After Wheat, the soil is winter- 

 fallowed by three ploughings: first lengthways in November; 

 the second across in March ; and the last or seed-ploughing 

 lengthways. The soil is harrowed between the two last 

 ploughings, and the quick, if any, destroyed. In Norfolk, 

 when Wheat-sowing is finished, the farmer begins to scale in 

 his Wheat-stubbles for a winter fallow. If the land lies in 

 narrow work, the ridgelets are split; if"in warps, the ground 

 is likewise ploughed clean, but very fleet. At the beginning 

 of March the land is harrowed, and presently after the Wheat- 

 stubbles are taken up by a full-pitch cross-ploughing; or if 

 the season be wet, and the soil heavy, he reverse* the ridges. 



In April he harrows, and begins stirring for Barley, with another 

 full-pitch ploughing, lengthways; generally gathering the soil 

 either into five-pace or '.en-pace warps, in which it lies until 

 seed-time ; when it is harrowed, rolled, sown, ploughed fleet, 

 reversing the warps, and slading down the furrows ; so as to 

 render the entire surface as even and level as may be. Alter 

 Turnips the soil is generally broken up as fast as the Turnips 

 ate got off; if early in winter, by rice-balking; if late, by a 

 plain ploughing. The general practice, if time will permit, 

 is to plough three times ; the first fleet or shallow, the second 

 full-pitch, and the last a mean depth, with which the seed is 

 ploughed in. But when it is late before the Turnips are got 

 off, sometimes the ground is only ploughed once, and the 

 seed sown above ; but more frequently it is broken by three 

 ploughings, as above, even when there is not more than a week 

 to perform them in. Such is the practice in Norfolk, where 

 the farmers are generally very skilful in the art of cultivating 

 Barley. They seem fully aware of the tenderness of this plant 

 in its infant state, and of its rootlings being unable to make 

 the necessary progress in a compact or cold soil, and there- 

 fore exert every means in their power to make their soil friable 

 and pulverous. To this intent it is sometimes two-furrowed, 

 and even a fourth earth is given, especially in a cold wet season. 

 Nor is this caution confined to Turnip-barley, but should be 

 extended more or less to Stubble-barley, which certainly re- 

 quires less care. As the soil is kept open by the indigested 

 stubble, and the roots of grasses and other weeds, from which 

 Turnip-fallows at least ought to be free, that will perhaps 

 account for the superiority of Stubble-barley, over that pro- 

 duced by a Turnip-fallow, however well-timed and manured. 

 In Essex they plough five times; four in the fallow-year, 

 throwing the land on to the ridge for winter by the fourth; 

 then they take the first opportunity of hard frosts to carry on 

 their composts, at the rate of twenty or thirty loads to the acre. 

 The compost consists of farm-yard dung mixed up with turf. 

 They then take care, as soon as the land is dry enough, to 

 plough and sow the Barley from the last week of February 

 to the middle of April ; but if the seed is not in the ground in 

 March, they despair of a great crop. This Barley culture is 

 very good. It is an excellent practice to plough and sow in 

 the spring, instead of giving preparatory ploughings when the 

 seed should be in the earth. When Barley is put on turf, or 

 after hay or Clover, &c. the turf is generally broken by a winter 

 fallow, and the soil treated in other respects as after Wheat. 

 In very light dry soils it may be right to break the flag as 

 little as possible, provided the grass be killed : in this case 

 they do not break up the turf till after Christmas. With this 

 process the Norfolk farmers sow the Barley above furrow. 

 Barley is seldom manured for, except when sown after ley: 

 after Wheat and Turnips no manure can be requisite, if the 

 ground had been manured for the former; but on a fallow it 

 is manured as for Wheat. Quantity of seed, preparation for, 

 and method of sowing. In addition to what has been already 

 advanced on this head in the former part of the present article, 

 we have to observe, that many farmers sow four bushels of 

 seed on an acre, while some few sow no more than two 

 bushels. Four bushels is very general, but in some places 

 three bushels and a half, and in others three bushels, is the 

 average or medium quantity of Barley sown. The following 

 experiments confirm Mr. Miller's theory of sowing thinner 

 on poorer soils. On an acre of poor land, worth three-and- 

 sixpence per acre, two bushels of Barley were sown ; on the 

 next adjoining acre, three bushels ; and on the next, four 

 bushels. The result was, that the crop was best from two 

 bushels, next best from three, and the worst from four ; which 

 is the greatest quantity of seed that ought ever to be sown, 



