160 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Hordeum hexastichon, Linne.* 



Orient. The regular six-rowed barley. This includes among other 

 varieties the Red, the Scotch, the Square, and the Bear Barley. 

 Seeds less uniform in size than those of H. distichon. The so- 

 called skinless variety is that in which the grain separates from 

 the bracts. Langethal observes that it is most easily raised, requires 

 less seed grain than ordinary barley, has firmer stems, is less subject 

 to the rust disease and to bending down. 



Hordeum secalinum, Schreber. (H. nodosum, Linne* j H. pratense, 

 Hudson.) 



Europe, North and Middle Asia, North America. Perennial. 

 Famed as the best fattening grass of many of the somewhat 

 brackish marsh pastures on the North Sea. It never fruits when 

 kept down by cattle, and suppresses finally nearly all other grasses 

 and weeds. 



Hordeum vulgare, 



Orient. The four-rowed Barley, though rather six-rowed with two 

 prominent rows. Several varieties occur, among them : the 

 Spring, Winter and Black Barley, the Russian, the French, the 

 Naked and the Wheat Barley. Pearl Barley is obtained from the 

 winter-variety, which also surpasses Summer-Barley in rigour of 

 stems and rich and early yield, it being the earliest cereal in the 

 season ; the straw is copious and nutritious, and the grain is rrch in 

 gluten, hence far better adapted for flour than for malt. Summer 

 Barley also passes under the name of Sand Barley ; it is inferior in 

 yield to H. distichon, but is content with a less fertile, even sandy 

 soil, and comes in a month's less time to ripeness. In Alpine 

 regions it ripens with a summer of sixty or seventy days without 

 frost. The Naked Barley is superior to many other varieties for 

 peeled barley, but inferior for brewing ; the grain is also apt to 

 drop (Langethal). Malt is important as an antiscorbutic remedy. 

 Chemical principles of malt : asparagin, a protein substance, 

 diastase, an acid and cholesterin fat. 



Hordeum zeocriton, Linne.* 



Central Asia. Also a two-rowed Barley. To this species belong 

 the Sprat, the Battledore, the Fulham and the Putney Barley, the 

 Rice Barley, the Turkish Barley and the Dinkel. This species 

 might be regarded as a variety of H. distichon. The grains do not 

 drop spontaneously, and this variety is securer than others against 

 sparrows ; requires however a superior soil, and is harder in straw 

 (Langethal). 



