138 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



barley succeeds, not because it likes hardship but be- 

 cause it is naturally very rapid in its course and can, 

 therefore, sprout in the gentle springtime and sprint 

 to a harvest before the autumn rains and fogs dim its 

 brightness. Under such conditions barley is sown 

 in northern climates from April 15 to May 25, about 

 the time of its ripening in California. Growing in 

 the California valleys from fall and early winter sow- 

 ing, it advances more slowly during the rainy sea- 

 son, stools more amply and under favorable condi- 

 tions makes its notable acre yields in this State. 



The knowledge that barley has been grown in Cali- 

 fornia since 1769 and that the variety most abun- 

 dant since the American occupation is different from 

 those largely grown elsewhere, has led some eastern 

 writers to surmise that California had a native bar- 

 ley from which the locally cultivated variety had 

 been developed. Two conclusive facts oppose this 

 view : California has no indigenous barley or Hor- 

 deum species and no aboriginal population sufficiently 

 energetic and intelligent to accomplish such develop- 

 ment. Another assumption is that the common Cali- 

 fornia barley is a legacy from mission agriculture 

 and is, therefore, a descendant of a Spanish or Mexi- 

 can variety which the padres introduced about one 

 hundred and fifty years ago. This is a more reason- 

 able belief, but it has not been demonstrated. There 

 is no specific description of the barley grown at the 

 missions preceding the coming of the early Ameri- 

 cans. The question of whence came the six-rowed 

 California barley is probably unanswerable. As soon 



