276 CHAPTER XVI 



2nd Year. — Summer crop — Cowpeas ploughed down. 



Winter crop — Barley, fertilised with phos- 

 phates. 

 (2) South-West Cape — 



Ist Year. — Barley (300 pounds guano or 300 pounds 



bonedust). 

 2nd Year. — Barley and vetches mixed for hay. 

 3rd Year. — Wheat, with light dressing of basic slag or 



bonedust. 

 4th Year. — Field peas ploughed down and then 

 fallowed. 

 Harvesting. — Barley should be harvested for grain for 

 malting purposes when fully matured, and every precaution 

 should be taken to prevent weathering of the seed, as any dis- 

 colouration markedly decreases the price. For feeding purposes 

 it might be cut earlier in the hard dough stage. At this stage 

 the straw will be more palatable and nutritious. 



Some of the hooded barleys when grown for seed need 

 careful handling in harvesting, since being very brittle when 

 mature, the ears are apt to break off. These types should not 

 be allowed to become too dry, and should be harvested in the 

 early morning when still fairly damp with dew. 



When sufficiently dry in the stocks, the crop should be 

 stacked, or in some cases may be threshed without being 

 stacked. 



The following yields have been obtained in variety trials 

 at Grootfontein Experimental Farm, under irrigation, 1917 : — 



Cape six-rowed 2,458 lbs. 



Chevalier 1,386 ,, 



Beardless Success 1,288 ,, 



At Elsenburg, 1913, without irrigation : — 



Duckbill 440 lbs. 



Grubproof 540 ,, 



Cape six-rowed 790 ,, 



Diseases and Pests. — Loose Smut of Barley iUstUago 

 nuda). — This is a parasitic fungus infecting the plant at the 

 time of flowering. The plants grown from seeds matured from 

 infected flowers produce smutted heads ; the following year 

 within a short time after maturity of the spores they are scat- 



