CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



n.'e; . i pra'Uici; \il> icb 1 think is not likely to obtain here. I have generally 

 sown barley after ruta-baga or potatoes, these crops having received a good 

 dressing of long yard or stable manure. 



"Manure should not be applied to the barley, but to the preceding crop. The 

 short period that this grain occupies the ground, does not afford time for the 

 manure to decompose and yield its food to the plants; and, if applied in ex- 

 cess, it causes a too rank vegetation, and the straw lodges before the grain is 

 manured. When a fallow or clover ley is employed and ploughed in autumn, 

 dung may be previously employed and ploughed under. 



" Preparation of the ground. Where barley follows a root or hoed crop, one 

 ploughing will generally suffice; but in all cases a complete pulverization of 

 the soil is necessary; and to effect this a roller is often of material benefit. If 

 sown upon grass leys, ploughed in autumn, the spring ploughing should be 

 shallow, so as to leave the sod reversed. But the preferable way may be to 

 harrow the fallow, plough in the seed with a light furrow, and smooth off with 

 the harrow. 



"The seld and sowing. LOUDON enumerates six species and sub-species of 

 the barley. The kinds uniformly cultivated here are the two, four, and six 

 rowed spring, (hordeum vulgare and hordeum distichon.) Thin-skinned, pale, 

 plump seed should be selected. I sow as soon as the ground is sufficiently dry 

 in spring. The young grain is not hurt by the ordinary frosts of the latter part 

 of April and May. I sow from six to eight pecks per acre, according to the 

 richness of the soil and the forwardness of the season; the poorest ground and 

 the latest sowing requiring the most seed. In England, the common quantity 

 of seed is from eight to sixteen pecks. Our climate being much warmer than 

 that of Great Britain, barley and other grains till better with us, and conse- 

 quently we require less seed. We uniformly sow broadcast, generally on the 

 fresh furrow, and harrow in both ways; and' those who have a roller use it in 

 the finishing operation. It gives a smooth surface, breaks down the lumps, 

 brings the earth in contact with the seed, and if grass seeds have been sown, 

 its use is doubly beneficial. I steep my seeds twenty- four hours in a weak 

 solution of nitre, the crude kind of which costs me only eight cents per pound 

 by the quantity. From the analysis and observations of Grisenthwaite, there 

 is reason to believe that this salt is peculiarly beneficial to the barley crop, the 



frain yielding it on analysis. I have made no comparative experiments, but 

 think this step serviceable. I have applied to this grain, as a top-dressing, 

 with singular success, the powdered dung of pigeons and dunghill fowls, at 

 the rate of twenty to thirty bushels the acre. 



"The crop admits of no after-culture when sown broadcast. Yet the appli- 

 cation of the roller, when the plants are two or three inches high, is no doubt 

 salutary, especially if there have been no considerable rains. Rolling gives a 

 salutary compression to the soil, which in the spring is apt to be loose and 

 porous, and full of cracks, by the alternation of freezing and thawing, or of 

 wet and dry weather; it destroys many insects; and, above all, it partially 

 buries the crowns of the plants, and introduces a multiplication of seed stalks. 

 I can recommend the practice from experience. When grass seeds are sown 

 with barley, the luxuriance of the young grass sometimes chokes the grain, 

 robs it of nutriment, and sensibly diminishes the product. To obviate this 

 evil it has been recommended to sow the grass seeds after the barley has come 

 up, and to cover them with a light harrow and a roller; and it is said, and I 

 think with truth, that this operation will not materially injure the grain. In 

 dry seasons, the crop is sometimes attacked by worms, while young. In this 

 case the roller should be applied and sufficient weight added to require the 

 draught of two or three cattle. 



" Time and method of harvesting. When the soil is rich and the season pro- 

 pitious, this grain is very liable to lodge. If this happens after it has blossomed, 

 no material injury is sustained in the product; if before, the crop is greatly 

 diminished. This shows the danger to be apprehended from making the soil 

 too rich, and of applying fresh manure. Barley is known to be ripe by the 

 disappearance of the reddish cast on the ear, or what the English farmers 

 term red roan; by the ears beginning to droop, and bend themselves round 

 against the stemsj'and by the stalks becoming brittle, and of a yellowish colour. 



