BARLEY 



state of the land. The best practical 

 rule is, to sow as soon in March as 

 the ground is dry. The early-sown 

 crops are in general the heaviest, es- 

 pecially the sorts which ripen later : 

 they require less seed, having more 

 time to tiller before the hot weather 

 draws up the stems. There are, how- 

 ever, seasons when the later-sown 

 crops are the best. A good rule is to 

 sow a quick-growing sort when the 

 sowing is unavoidably deferred, and 

 in this case more seed must also be 

 allowed. 



The depth at which the seed should 

 be deposited depends on the nature 

 of the soil and on the season. Win- 

 ter barley need only be slightly cov- 

 ered, and will tiller astonishingly in 

 good light soils. But in stiff soils the 

 seed, buried deep, may have much 

 difficulty in germinating, the air not 

 having sufficient access, and the first 

 shoot not being able to pierce the 

 compact soil above it. As a general 

 rule, a depth of one inch and a half 

 is most likely to enable the seed to 

 sprout well, and give a sufficient hold 

 of the land by the roots to avoid the 

 danger of lodging. After sowing bar- 

 ley it is useful to pass a light roller 

 over the land, across the beds, if 

 there are any, to press the earth on 

 the seed, and prevent too great evap- 

 oration of the moisture. When the 

 plants begin to tiller, another rolling, 

 and in some cases a slight harrow- 

 ing, to loosen the surface and thin 

 out the plants where they grow too 

 close, are very useful. This also is 

 the best time to sow clover and grass 

 seeds, if not done with the first roll- 

 ing. After this no attention is re- 

 quired to the crop till harvest, unless 

 some docks or tliistles should make 

 their appearance, which must then be 

 carefully pulled up. 



The practice of sowing clover, rye 

 grass, or other seeds with the barley, 

 is almost universal, and is considered 

 as one of the great modern improve- 

 ments in agriculture. There is no 

 doubt a great advantage in having a 

 profitable and improving crop to suc- 

 ceed the barley without farther till- 

 age ; and clover prepares the land 

 62 



admirably for wheat. Still there are 

 some doubts whether this be profita- 

 ble in all cases. There are seasons 

 when the clover materially injures 

 the barley by its luxuriance ; and in 

 wet seasons at harvest it is very dif- 

 ficult to dry the straw sufficiently, 

 mixed as it is with the succulent 

 stems of the clover, or to prevent its 

 heating in the stack. The clover, as 

 far as the barley is concerned, may 

 be looked upon as a weed, which, like 

 all other weeds, must take a part of 

 the nourishment from the crop, and 

 check its tillering. If the clover is 

 sown late among the barley, the dan- 

 ger is less. It will not be able to 

 grow so high as to do much injury, 

 but the fear of losing the plant of clo- 

 ver makes most farmers prefer sow- 

 ing it soon after the barley. 



In Flanders, clover is seldom or 

 never sown with barley, but chiefly 

 with rye ; but they sow a species of 

 white carrot instead in the sandy 

 soils. These push out very little of 

 the green top, but shoot their fibres 

 downward, which form the rudiments 

 of the carrot. After harvest, the 

 ground is well harrowed, and water- 

 ed with liquid manure. The carrots, 

 which could scarcely be observed 

 above ground, soon spring up, and a 

 good crop is secured before winter, 

 extremely useful for feeding cattle 

 and swine, and greatly increasing the 

 urine of cows and bullocks, the fa- 

 vourite manure for light soils in that 

 country. 



As soon as the ears of the barley 

 begin to droop and lose their purple 

 hue, acquiring a light straw colour, 

 before the grain is quite hard, it should 

 be reaped. This is usually done by 

 mowing it with a scythe, having a 

 cradle fixed to it so as to lay the 

 swathe regularly ; but where there is 

 a sufficient supply of labourers, at 

 reasonable wages, it is far more prof- 

 itable to have it reaped with the sick- 

 le, or, what is better, with the Hai- 

 naidt scytke, a short, broad scythe, 

 used with one hand, while a light 

 hook is held in the other to lay the 

 straw even, so as to be readily tied 

 up into sheaves. A little practice 



