1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



465 



PLAN OF THE FIHST FLOOR. 



three feet all around and is supported on plain 

 3^ inch brackets. 



Height of first story 10 feet; height of second 

 9 feet. The cost of the above house would be 

 from $3300 to $3500. 



CULTURE OP BARLEY. 

 This grain is raised to a greater or less extent 

 all over New England, and we think ought to 

 take the place of hundreds of acres that are de- 

 voted to oats, as it is better adapted to seeding 

 down land with, than oats, requires less seed, ri- 

 pens as well, and is admirably fitted to our short. 



it loves the heat of our glowing summer days. 

 We have seen fine crops of it on our granite 

 hills, growing erect, without weeds, and yielding 

 thirty to forty bushels per acre, — and the hot, 

 morning cakes made from good samples of it 

 somewhat excite our gastronomic desires even 

 now ! Great care should be used in the choice of 

 seed. It should be of a pale, lively color, and 

 the grains should be plump and fair. Such seed 

 will throw up strong, healthy stems, capable of 

 resisting untoward changes of the seasons, and 

 result in producing a good crop. In England it 

 is often sown as food for sheep, and is said to be 

 far more productive than rye, as it admits of be- 



hot summers, — the average product will be near- 

 ly as much as oats, and when harvested, is worth i"g ^^d down every few days during the summer. 

 a third more for horses, hogs, poultry or cattle. ^ If sowed early, and intended for seed, it may 

 No grain makes a sweeter and more nutritious be fed off in the first part of the season, without 

 bread, to be eaten while it is warm. The celebrat- injury to the crop 

 ed Warren Hastings once said "that it is of the 



greatest importance to promote the culture of 



Toads. — Toads, in common with many other 



this sort of grain— it is the corn that, next to reptiles, cast their skins ; but who has ever found 

 rice, gives the greatest weight of flour per acre." .f he old coat of a toad ? He does not leave them 

 mi 1 I, .. T J 1 • . •. lying about, like the unthrifty snake. No indeed; 



Ihe cow-keepers about London cultivate it as: •' ° . ^Z , j , j i .u- • ^* ; ^« 



' v^ <uuii vuiinauc n, "conscious that second-hand clothing is not in de- 



spring food for their milch cows. The Romans ^and among the animal democracy, he rolls up 

 used to cultivate it extensively ; made the meal 'his old coat in a pile, and when this is accom- 

 into balls, and fed their horses and asses with it,'plished, packs it away by swallowing it. This is 

 which was said to make them strong and lusty. I'" "?^^f "" suggestion to others to foliowhis ex- 

 ■p, , , ,, , J 1 , lample, but clearly proves our despised friend to 



Barley should be sowed early, on warm, sandy K^ '^^ excellent economist, as well as our bene- 

 or gravelly loams, rather than on alluvial soils. 'factor in destroying insects, and should entitle 

 Although a northern plant, like the Indian corn, 'him to respect and long life. 



