ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 49* 



oughly dry, and pack them in tin boxes. 

 Put them in a dry place. 



The following are some of the most 

 useful: Angelica, anise, balm (lemon), 

 basil (sweet), burnett, cardoon, coriander, 

 corn salad, comelina, dandelion, dill, 

 French sorel, pennyroyal, pot marigold, 

 rosemary, sage, saffron, summer savory. 



ANNOTTO, Choice of.— Annotto should 

 be chosen of a good flame color, brighter 

 in the middle than on the outside. It 

 should feel soft and smooth, and have a 

 good consistence. It should possess a 

 strong smell. 



ANTS in GREENHOUSES, To Destroy. 

 — Place some arsenic, mixed with sugar 

 and water, in a saucer, which cover with 

 a slate, leaving room for the insects to 

 pass between the slate and the saucer. 

 A stone ought to be set on the slate to 

 prevent any other creature but the ants 

 from getting access to the poison. Lime 

 water, poured into the nests, will also de- 

 stroy them. 



BARLEY, To Cultivate.— Our climate 

 is not as favorable for barley as for oats 

 and wheat. We cannot obtain a good 

 crop unless the soil is dry, clean and rich. 

 It seldom does well on a recently inverted 

 sod. Its best place in the rotation is 

 after a highly manured and thoroughly 

 cultivated corn crop. The best crops 

 are obtained on a rather heavy calcareous 

 loam, provided it has been thoroughly 

 pulverized during the preceding summer 

 and autumn. But as this is seldom the 

 case, the soils that usually give the best 

 medium crops are those of a lighter and 

 warmer character — or sandy loams. 



Barley should either be sown very 

 early, or rather late — say the moment the 

 ground is fit to work in the spring, or not 

 until after the heavy spring rains are 

 over. Much depends on the season. If 

 there has been heavy rains soon after the 

 barley is sown, and then before the 

 plants cover the ground, dry weather sets 

 in, the surface of the soil becomes baked, 

 and the crop suffers. An early sown 

 crop would suffer less, because it would 

 have got a good start before the drouth 

 set in. A crop sown immediately after 

 the spring rains, as soon as the land is in 

 condition to work, commences to grow 

 rapidly at the very first, and often does 

 better than a crop that is sown two weeks 

 earlier — but not as well as a crop sown a 



month earlier. If the soil is rich and has 

 been plowed the fall previous, sow as. 

 early as it will work without clogging. 



When barley is grown to sell, the six- 

 rowed, or what is usually the four-rowed 

 (though there is no such thing as a four- 

 rowed barley,) is the most profitable — be- 

 cause it brings from ten to fifteen cents a 

 bushel more than the two-rowed. But 

 when barley is grown to feed out on the 

 farm, the two-rowed is altogether the 

 best— especially on strong, rich land. It 

 weighs a great deal more per bushel, and 

 if the soil is rich enough, it will yield 

 more per acre. It has another advantage 

 — that of being later than the four-rowed, 

 which ripens at the same time as wheat, 

 and we have wheat and barley harvest on 

 us at once. With the two-rowed, we can 

 get through with the wheat by the time 

 the barley is ready. 



It is usual to sow from two to two and 

 a half bushels per acre. If the land is. 

 very rich and it is sown early and drilled 

 in, less seed is required. The yield varies 

 more than that of any other crop, de- 

 pending somewhat on the season, but 

 much more on the condition and previous 

 culture of the soil. 



BARLEY, To Harvest.— When the 

 straw is long enough, the best way to 

 harvest barley is to bind it up the same 

 as wheat. It requires to be cut just at 

 the right time. If cut too early, the 

 grain shrivels up, and if it is allowed to> 

 stand a few days too long, it "crinkles 

 down," and the heads drop off in reaping 

 and are lost. We know of no better test 

 than to squeeze the grain between the 

 thumb and finger, and if ihere is the least 

 appearance of milk, the crop should be 

 allowed to stand longer. The real diffi- 

 culty, however, is in the uneven ripe- 

 ness of the crop. Some portions will be 

 dead ripe, while others are still green, 

 and it requires considerable experience 

 and a sound judgment to decide whether 

 we shall lose most by cutting before it is 

 all ripe, or by letting a portion of it get 

 so ripe that there is danger of the head* 

 falling off. Much depends on the weath- 

 er. In this, as in many other farming 

 operations, we must calculate our chances 

 — and not be discouraged if we sometimes 

 miss the mark. When barley is clean 

 and the weather favorable, there is per- 

 haps no better — certainly no cheaper — 



