704 



HOR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



HOR 



a sack separately as soon as threshed. All the Barley sown 

 was of the Zealand stock, and the produce was as follows : 



Coo m b.Bu*h.Peck.<j,!. 



1 November, 3 Pecks of seed per Acre produced 122 1 



2 December, 3 Pecks 1 Pint 12 3 1 U 



3 January, 3 Pecks 4 Pints 13 000 



4 February, 2 Pecks 14 Pints 11 222 



5 March, 2 Pecks 10 Pints 10 337 



April, 2 Perks 2 Pints 8323 



Cultivation after seeding. Whether grass-seeds be sown 

 over the Barley or not, the surface is harrowed presently after 

 the last ploughing ; and when the Barley is up, it is run over 

 with a light roller, to break the clods, and close the earth 

 about the roots. Of this, however, we have treated before, 

 and have only to add, that in heavy lands, if the harrow leaves 

 any clods, they are broken with the clodding-beetle, and if 

 any quick is pulled up, it is destroyed. When the Barley 

 has been up three weeks or a month, it is a good way to roll 

 it again with a heavy roller, which will prevent the sun and 

 air from penetrating the ground so as to injure the roots. It 

 will also cause the Barley to tiller out, so that if the plants 

 be thin, the ground will be filled, and the stalks strengthened. 

 If the blade should grow too rank, mowing is a much better 

 method than feeding it down with sheep ; because the scythe 

 takes off only the rank tops, but the sheep, being fond of the 

 sweet end of the stalk next the root, will often bite so close 



as to injure its future growth. There are two preparations 



of Barley to be met with in the shops ; the one called French 

 or Scotch, the other Pearl Barley. Two ounces of either 

 of these, after being washed from the mealy matter which 

 adheres to them, in cold water; then boiled a few minutes 

 in about half a pint of water, which is to be thrown away; 

 and, lastly, put into two quarts of boiling water, and the coc- 

 tion continued till one half is wasted ; makes a most elegant 

 and grateful beverage, which is extremely useful in the gravel, 

 stone, strangury, and heat of urine ; likewise in fevers of the 

 ardent kind, and other acute disorders, where cooling and 

 diluting fluids are necessary. A strong infusion of malt 

 in boiling water is a pleasant, and frequently efficacious, 

 remedy for worms in children. For further particulars, see 

 Triticvm. 



2. Hordeum Hexastichon ; Winter or Square Barley, or 

 Bear, or Biy. All the florets hermaphrodite, and awned, 

 the grains placed regularly in six rows. This has a much 

 thicker spike than the common Spring Barley, and is also 

 much shorter, but the number of grains in each ear or spike 

 is greater in the proportion of at least three to two ; forty- 

 two grains being commonly counted, when common Barley 

 had only twenty-two. The ear is seldom more than two 

 inches in length ; it is square, with two rows of grains on two 

 of the sides ; on the other two, a single row of grains runs 

 up the middle, so that the former rows are awned only late- 

 ially, and the latter on the sides and along: the middle also. 

 The lower flowers are imperfect in both ; the outer valve of 

 the corollas has a rough awn or beard, from four to six 

 inches in length. This species is rarely cultivated in the 

 southern parts of England, the grain, though large and 

 plump, not being esteemed so good for malting as common 

 Barley ; but in the northern counties, and in Scotland, it is 

 generally sown, because it will bear the cold much better. 

 In some of the more southern parts of Europe it is sown in 

 autumn. For the best methods of cultivating it, see the 

 preceding species. 



3. Hordeum Distichon ; Common Barley. Lateral florets 

 male, and awnless; grains angular, imbricated. This essen- 

 tially differs from the two preceding species ; the spike or ear 

 is very long, flatted, or transversely greater in breadth than 



thickness, with a double row of defective, or male, and con- 

 sequently barren florets, on each flat side, and a single row 

 of fertile florets at each edge. The valves of the calix, outer 

 glume, husk, or chaff, are linear, and shorter by half than 

 the coiolla or inner chaff, which ends in an awn or beard 

 that is straight, and sixteen times its own length : when ripe 

 it is coriaceous, angular, and continues close about the grain ; 

 when this is taken off, the grain appears of an ovate form, 

 grooved, and angular. There is a variety which, according 

 to Mortimer, was cultivated in Staffordshire; a sort of naked 

 Barley, or Wheat-Barley, the ear shaped like Barley, but the 

 grain like Wheat; it was much sown at Rowley, Hamstal, 

 and Redmore, where they call it Brench Barley ; he adds, 

 that it yields well, and makes good bread and malt. As this 

 grain is not noticed in Mr. Pitt's View of the Agriculture of 

 this county, drawn up for the consideration of the Board of 

 Agriculture, and printed in 1796, we may conclude that it is 

 no longer cultivated in Staffordshire. Villars describes it as 

 having a larger finer grain, of the size and weight of Wheat, anil 

 separating from the husk ; from which it derives its name, 

 (Nudum.) It is more difficult to cultivate, but yields a larger 

 produce, and is of a better quality, than the common Barley. 

 See the first species. 



4. Hordeum Zeocriton ; Sprat or Battledore Barley. 

 Lateral florets male, awnless ; grains angular, spreading, cor- 

 ticated. This differs from the common sort, in being of a 

 lower stature, and in having a shorter and broader ear, with 

 closer grains, standing out more from the rachis, and having 

 shorter awns. Between the two rows of fertile flowers, are 

 two other rows of male or barren flowers, as in the preced- 

 ing species, but more conspicuous. For the cultivation of 

 this, see the first species. Under this last of the edible 

 species of this genus, we shall subjoin the various names of 

 the grain, which these first four sorts alike produce, and 

 which the press of more important matter excluded from the 

 particulars detailed in the first. It may be useful to know 

 what names different nations call this important article of 

 sustenance. The German name is Cerste; the Dutch, 

 Gerst ; the Danish, Byg ; the Swedish, Biugg, Kiorn, or 

 Korn; the French, Orge , the Italian, Orzo ; the Spanish, 

 Cebadn .; the Portuguese, Cevada, or Scvada; and the Rus- 

 sian, Jetchschmen, or Jesmin. 



** Grasses. 



5. Ilordeum Bulbosum ; Bulbous Barley-grass. Florets 

 in threes, fertile, awned ; involucres bristle-shaped, ciliate. 

 This has obtained its name from its bulbous roots, wrapped 

 up in whitish or brownish broad membranaceous fibrous 

 coats, and having strong fibres hanging from them; culms 

 two or three, from a foot or eighteen inches to three and even 

 four feet high, in different situations, with four or five joints ; 

 leaves a span or a foot, sometimes only a hand long, a line 

 and half or two lines wide; spike narrow, three or four, 

 sometimes nearly six inches long, and three or four lines 

 broad. Native of Ituly, and the Levant. 



6. Hordeum Murinum ; Wall Barky-grass. Lateral flo- 

 rets male, awned; middle involucns ciliate. Common Wall 

 Barley-grass, Way-barley, Way-bennet, or rather Way-bent; 

 called also Wild Rye, or Rye-grass ; has an annual root; nu- 

 merous stems a foot or eighteen inches in height, round, 

 smooth, frequently branching at bottom, where they are pro- 

 cumbent, and bend at the joints ; leaves from three or four 

 to six inches in length, and a quarter of an inch in breadth, 

 covered with a soft down on both sides ; spikes from two to 

 three inches long, pale green. This is a very common grass 

 by the side of paths and tinder walls, whence its trivial 

 names both in Latin and English. It flowers during the 





