220 



Barley. — Facilities for Transportation. 



Vol. IX. 



Barley. 



Barley delig'hts in any deep loam or other 

 soil not of a tenncious character, in deep 

 gravels, and in light sands; but, in order to 

 secure g-ood crops, a tolerable state of fertil- 

 ity is essential. The light sands in which 

 it may be jirown, should not be very dry. 

 Depth and friabililij of soil, as well as mo- 

 derate moisture, are necessary prerequisites 

 to its vig-orous g'rowth and the successful 

 fructification of its seed. It succeeds best 

 after plough and hoe crops, as it luxuriates 

 in a cleanly culture; prospers most in the 

 absenceof weeds, and should therefore never 

 be g-rown on stubble. Stitf clays or wet soils 

 of any kind, are not adapted to its culture. 

 Deep ploughing and thorough pulverization 

 of the soil are indispensable to insure good 

 returns; and in order to make assurance 

 doubly sure, after the seed is sown the 

 ground should be rolled ; but if it be not 

 convenient to roll at the time of sowing, 

 this operation may be performed after the 

 plants are up, and from two to three inches 

 high. This latter process might be advan- 

 tageously performed, whether the ground 

 were rolled or not at the time of sowing. 



The best time for sowing is as .soon in the 

 spring, as, from the abseVice of frost, the 

 ground can be got ready. The ground 

 should be measurably dry when sown. 



As to the quantity of seed, if the ground 

 be in good heart, naturally rich, or improved 

 by manuring, six pecks to the acre will be 

 enough. If the ground be poor, two bushels 

 will not be too much. Fresh manure that 

 is undecomposed, or long manure, never 

 should be applied immediately to the crop, 

 as it has the tendency to make it run into 

 straw. Lime, marl, ashes, or thorough rot- 

 ted manure, may be applied at the time of 

 seeding, the three first being preferable. 



The. preparation of the seed is best effected 

 by being soaked twenty-four hours in a solu- 

 tion of the liquid of horse-dung and saltpetre, 

 made as follows: Put as much horse-dung 

 into a hogshead as will fill it about ontT- 

 third; then fill the hogshead with water. 

 After letting it stand a day, draw it off, and 

 to every eight gallons of the liquid add two 

 pounds of salt-petre. In this soak your seed 

 the time above named. Then drain the 

 matter off, roll your seed in plaster or lime, 

 and sow before it dries : and, as fast as your 

 lands are sown, harrow in both lengthwise 

 and crosswise. After the whole may be 

 sown, it should be rolled as above directed. 

 This steep insures an early germination of 

 the seed, imparts a vigorous growth to the 

 young plants, and enables them to overcome j 

 weeds. I 



In England the average is computed at 

 thirty bushels to the acre, though from si.xty 

 to eighty, under peculiarly favourable cir- 

 cumstances of soil and season, have been 

 grown. In this country, as high as seventy 

 bushels have been raised on an acre, and 

 then again as low as ten. 



We wish it to be borne in mind, that bar- 

 ley must be reaped before it is ripe, as other- 

 wise a vast amount is lost by shattering. — 

 Louisville Weekly Journal. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Facilities for Transportation. 



To THE Editor, — Many of us remember 

 when fears were not unfrequently expressed 

 that the multiplication of rail-roads, c\nals, 

 &c., would bring our distant farming lands 

 so nearly within reach of the Atlantic cities, 

 that the value of farms in the vicinity of 

 those cities, would be very seriously and in- 

 juriously aifected. These fears, however, 

 have hot been realized. The value of lands 

 in the neighbourhood of the large seaboard 

 towns, has kept continually increasing, as 

 have also those of the interior. To those at 

 a distance, who send their produce to mar- 

 ket, we can hardly estimate the importance 

 of good roads, or the advantages of rail-roads 

 and canals. To the farmer who puts his 

 produce — his wheat, for instance, or his 

 pork, or potatoes, on his own wagon, and 

 brings it to market, a very small piece of 

 bad road may add materially to the ex- 

 pense; for it should be recollected, that of 

 whatever length his road may be, and how- 

 ever level and hard it may be in its general 

 character, he can only brmg to market such 

 load as he can draw over the worst part of 

 it. Even live stock is frequently brought a 

 great distance on our rail-roads, — the ex- 

 pense of this mode of transportation being 

 more than counterbalanced by the gain in 

 time, &c. As an illustration of this, I take 

 the following statement from a late English 

 paper: "David IMartin, of Wainfleet, sent 

 five sheep to London, to walk the whole dis- 

 tance on the road, and killed five others at 

 home. The two lots were of exactly equal 

 weight — 858 lbs. — when alive. The car- 

 cases were weighed when dead, when it 

 was found that tlie sheep which had walked 

 to London, weighed 4.35 lbs., and their loose 

 fat 60 lbs.; while the five killed at home, 

 reached 489 lbs., their loose fat weighing 

 74^ lbs. The total difi^erence of weight 

 amounted to 68i lbs., or 14 per cent, of the 

 original weight of mutton, and this was evi- 

 dently the loss of meat occasioned by com- 

 pelling the five sheep to walk from Lincoln- 



