76 



SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



a form of naked barley in which the hulls do not adhere 

 to the kernels; unfortunately, the yield of this kind is 

 small. 



Beardless barley has excited some interest. Its chief ad- 

 vantage is its earliness and the absence of beards (Fig. 29) . 

 Its disadvantages are small yield of grain, 

 weak straw, small number of stems produced, 

 and extreme tenderness, or susceptibility to 

 winter-killing. Even in the central part of 

 the Gulf States this variety requires sowing 

 after Christmas. It is the earliest of any of 

 the small grains tested at the Alabama Ex- 

 periment Station, but is scarcely practicable 

 except on a small scale and on rich land. 



78. Soils and fertilizers. Barley requires 

 a richer soil than any of the other small 

 grains. It prefers a limestone soil, and on 

 acid lands the use of lime is usually advan- 

 tageous. The fertilizer should be either 

 stable manure or a mixture of commercial 

 fertilizers containing nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash. 



79. Sowing. In the central 

 part of the cotton-belt, barley 

 may be sown at any date between 

 September 1 and December 1. 

 For sowing broadcast to afford 

 pasturage it is advisable to use 

 2^ bushels of seed per acre. For 



grain production, or for sowing in drills as a soiling crop, 

 1^- to 2 bushels per acre is sufficient. 



