BARLEY GRASSEa 



The average price in England, per Win- 

 chester quarter of barley, according to M'Cul- 

 loch, was in 



,771 

 1775 

 17N) 

 1785 

 1790 

 1795 

 1800 

 1809 

 1810 



The account in imperial quarters of the fo- 

 reign barley and barley-meal entered forborne 

 consumption every five years since 1815, was 

 (M'Culloctis Com. Diet.} 



For further particulars as to its consumption 

 and culture, see Smith's Tracts on the Corn 

 Trade, 2d edit. p. 182 ; Penny Cyclop., vol. iii. 

 p. 461; Brown on Rural Affairs, vol. ii. p. 42; 

 and Elements of Prac. Agr., by Prqf. Low, p. 

 246, &c. ; to which last-named valuable work 

 I ha\v, in this ;md other articles, been under 

 very considerable obligation. 



(Phillip" s Cult. Vq[., JtGuOock't Com. Diet.; 

 Com. Board of Ag. vol. vi. ; Hitchin, in Baxter's 

 Ag. Lib. ,- Professor Low's El. of Ag. ,- Brandt's 

 Diet, of Science.} 



Barley, in the United States, is cultivated 

 almost exclusively for the breweries, the grain 

 being rarely given to cattle, and barley-bread 

 being unknown to native Americans. 



BARLEY GRASSES. Some coarse kind 

 of grasses which are known under the several 

 names of meadow barley grass (Plate 7, d), 

 wall barley grass, way-bennet, and mouse bar- 

 ley, and are of little use to the farmer. (See 

 HonjiF.rn murinum, and H. pratense.} 



BARLEY HUMMELLER. This is an in- 

 strument worked by the hand, which is em- 

 ployed when the threshing machine is not in 

 use, or performs its work imperfectly. It con- 

 sists of a set of parallel iron plates fixed to a 

 frame, and worked by the hand like a paver's 

 instrument. The barley to be hummelled is 

 laid upon the barn-floor, and by repeated 

 strokes of th; hummeller, is freed from its 

 awns. Messrs. Grant, wheelwrights of Aber- 

 deenshire, have described this instrument very 

 fully, with some improvements, in Trans. High. 

 Soc. vol. iv. p. 334. 



BARM. The foam or froth of beer or any 

 other liquor in a elate of fermentation, which 

 is used as a leaven in the making of bread, 

 <tc. (See YEAST.) 



19 



BARN OWL. 



BARN. A covered building, constructed for 

 the purpose of laying up grain, &c. Farms 

 should always be furnished with barns pro- 

 portioned to the quantity of grain they produce; 

 but since the practices of stacking and thrash- 

 ing by mills have become more general, there 

 is much less need of large barns. They should 

 have a dry situation, and be placed on the 

 north or north-east side of the farm yard, so 

 that the sun at noonday may shine* on th 

 thrashing-floor, and the lean-toos for stock in 

 j the yard be thus open only to the south. Every 

 farm should have at least two thrashing-floors, 

 that different kinds of grain may be thrashing 

 at the same time. Barns may either be con- 

 structed of timber, or be built of brick or stone, 

 whichever the country affords in the greatest 

 plenty, but wooden barns are the best for the 

 corn ; and in either case there should be such 

 vent-holes or openings in their sides or walls as 

 to afford free admittance to the air, in order to 

 prevent the mouldiness that would otherwise 

 occur from the least dampness lodging in the 

 grain. The foundations, and for two feet out 

 of the ground, are best made of brick or stone, 

 on account of greater solidity, and the protec- 

 tion from vermin ; the whole may be roofed 

 with either thatch, slate (which is ihe best of 

 all), or tiles, as can be most conveniently pro- 

 cured. They should have two large double 

 folding doors facing each other, one in each 

 side of the building, for the convenience of 

 carrying in or out wagon-loads ; and these 

 doors should be of the same breadth as the 

 thrashing-floor, to afford the more light and 

 air. Formerly, a much larger expenditure in 

 the number and size of these buildings was in- 

 curred than is now requisite, since the practice 

 of stacking has become general. It is found 

 that all grain is a better sample from stacks 

 than from barns ; vermin have less chance 

 of injuring it, indeed may be set at defiance, 

 and at harvest the corn may admit of being 

 carried two days sooner for stacking than for 

 housing. 



BARNACLES. A name given to horse 

 twitchers or brakes, a sort of instrument used 

 by farriers to put upon horses' noses, when 

 they will not stand quietly to be shod, bled, or 

 dressed. 



BARN OWL (Strfx flammea). The white, 

 or screech owl, unlike some of the species, is 

 resident in England throughout the year, 

 and is so peculiar in the colour of its plumage, 

 and so generally diffused, that it is probably the 

 best known of all the British species of owls, 

 [t inhabits churches, barns, old malting kilns, 

 or deserted ruins of any sort, and also holes in 

 decayed trees. If unmolested, the same haunts 

 are frequented either by parent birds or their 

 offspring, for many years in succession. As a 

 constant destroyer of rats and mice, and that 

 to a very considerable extent, the services per- 

 formed by barn owls for the agriculturists have 

 obtained for these birds toleration at least, 

 while by some they are, as they deserve to be, 

 strictly protected in return for benefits recehecL 

 Unless disturbed, these birds seldom leave their 

 retreat during the day ; and, if the place of 

 concealment be approached with caution, and 

 a view of the bird obtained, it will generally 

 N 145 



