MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 189 



each farmer can easily test for himself by seeding a land as I 

 recommend, and comparing it with the remainder of the field. 

 But if you do this, do not omit the use of the plank drag, for 

 I think the advantage of this method is due largely to the fact 

 that we get the surface mellower than when the land is plowed. 



Barley. Less than one-eighth as many acres of barley are 

 grown in the United States as of oats; fourteen States do riot 

 report any. The general treatment of the crop is the same as for 

 wheat. Two bushels per acre is the amount of seed usually sown. 

 Fall or winter barley is generally sown in August or early Sep- 

 tember, and spring barley as soon as the land can be worked. 

 To grow a profitable crop and good quality of barley, requires 

 rich land, and good corn land is also good barley land. The 

 most profitable crops are grown on bottom lands and under- 

 drained black land, and occasional yields of from thirty-five to 

 fifty bushels per acre are obtained on such lands, and when 

 high prices prevail, these crops are exceedingly profitable. The 

 average yield of barley is, however, only about fifty per cent 

 above that of wheat, and although there are occasional years of 

 high prices, I think the average price is considerably less than 

 that of wheat. 



There are some disadvantages connected with the barley crop, 

 which should be considered in deciding whether to grow it. 

 1st. It requires the best land. 2d. It fluctuates more in price 

 than other grains, the demand being limited to what is needed 

 for brewing, no other use to any extent being made of it in 

 this country, and a good yield often brings down the price, so 

 that it is not as profitable as wheat. 3d. The crop is easily 

 damaged, and greatly reduced in value when in shock, by a rain 

 which would not injure a wheat crop at all. 4th. It has more 

 enemies to contend with than the wheat crop. Being sown 

 earlier, it is often injured by the Hessian fly, and of late years 

 large breadths of it have been destroyed by a worm, which 

 climbs the straw and eats off blades and beards before the crop 

 has matured. 5th. The crop being used almost exclusively for 

 the production of intoxicating liquors, its production involves a 

 question of morals. 



