CULTURE OF BARLEY. 233 



CULTURE OF BARLEY. 



[The following infonnation on the culture, uses, product unci value of Barley, as compared with other 

 grain crops, it will be seen was given at the request of the Editor of The Farmers' Library ] 



Auburn, N. Y., September 15, 184C. 



Dear Sir : The various injuries to which the wheat crop is obnoxious in Maryland has set 

 BOtue of the best farmers there to casting about for a substitute less liable to the ravages of iusecta 

 and the casualties of the seasons. Sonic think of having recourse to barley as the most promising 

 alternative, and, being almost destitute of practical experience, have requested me to obtain for 

 them the best information from persons most conversant with its culture in this State, where it 

 seems to constitute an important staple in your system of husbandry. I pray you, therefore, to 

 excuse my asking you (being persuaded that much practice, with your habits of close observa- 

 tion, has made you familiar with the subject) to give me information on all the points upon wlich 

 you may suppose a farmer would desire to have light, who is altogether in the dark — as, for in- 

 stance, in respect to the kinds of barley, the time of sowing, and quantity to the acre — the kind 

 of land (and preparation thereof) best adapted to it — whether or not it serves well as a protection 

 to a grass crop, or whether it is not liable to injury, or to much difficultj' in the process of curing, 

 when used as a covering to grass. Do you find it nutritious and commendable as food for stock, 

 and for stock of what kind ? and how prepared when so used ? What is its usual product per 

 acre (and its price) as compared with wheat, corn and oats ? 



My own ignorance of the subject, and the haste with which I write, may have led me to over- 

 look some points material to a thorough understanding of the culture and economy of barley hus- 

 bandry ; m which case, I beg you to supply what may be needful to a full development, for the 

 benefit of gentlemen who, as I can confidently undertake to say, are not given to hiding their own 

 lights under a bushel, when the communication of anything they know can be useful to their 

 brother farmers. If you could conveniently furnish me with such reply as you may be kindly 

 di.sposed to make, within the first week of October, you would greatly oblige 



Yours, with esteem and respect, J. S. SKINNER. 



To U. S. Randall, Esq. 



CoBTLAND Village, N. Y., September 26, \9i6. 



Dear Sir : I employ my first leisure in answering your inquiries on the subject 

 of barley and its cultivation. 



1. Varieties. — Barley [hordeum distichum) is of two general varieties, known 

 as winter and spring barley. The former is not cultivated in this Stale, that I 

 am aware of. It is said to be easily winter-killed ; but on lands which are kept 

 constantly covered with snow until the beginning of warm weather, or on those 

 which are not subject to freezing and thawing in winter and spring, it is belter 

 and produces heavier grain than the spring variety. It can be harvested in time 

 for a second crop of spring barley, in favorable situations. 



Spring barley is subdivided into the Siberian, skinless, sprat, chevalier, etc. ; 

 but the two varieties most commonly known and cultivated are the " six-rowed" 

 and the " two-rowed." The six-rowed has three seeds united at the base, at 

 each joint of the racfiis, on each side alternately ; the two-rowed has but one 

 row of seeds on each side of the rachts. It puts forth three flowrets on a side, at 

 each joint, like the preceding, but the outside ones are barren. The " four- 

 rowed" is but a deviation from the six-rowed.* 



There is but little difference in the yield of the six and the two-rowed. The 

 former is about a week the earliest, and, for reasons which I am unacquainted 

 with, usually is quoted two or three cents higher per bushel in the New- York 

 market.! Both bear the same price in the country markets ; if there is any diifer- 



* The varieties of barley will be illustrated when we come to that subject in the republication of Ste- 

 phens's Book of the Farm. 



t Some experienced manufacturers say that there is. perhaps, no intrinsic difference in quality, but that 

 the two-rowed requires more time and care to extract thoroughly its (luaUties. [£d. Farm. Lib. 



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