104 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



In this country but two varieties are sown, and 

 these are famiUarly distinguished as the two and 

 the six rowed. They are always sown in the 

 spring, no kind being able to endure the severity of 

 our winters ; or, at least, we know of no variety 

 which has been attempted in the United States as a 

 winter or fall sown grain. The comparative value 

 of the two varieties does not seem to have been 

 fully decided by our farmers, some preferring one 

 kind and some the other. That the two-rowed will 

 make the most flour from a given number of pounds ; 

 that its thin skin renders it more suitable for malt- 

 ing ; and that it is rather less liable to be affected 

 by smut than the six-rowed, seems to be generally 

 conceded ; but its productiveness is much disputed, 

 and, it would seem, with some reason, since the 

 greater length of the ear in the two-rowed will 

 hardly compensate for the greater number of rows 

 in the other variety. So far as we are able to judge, 

 however, from the opinions of experienced farmers, 

 the preference, for the reasons assigned, is becom- 

 ing more decided in favour of the two-rowed. 



Barley of every variety requires a rich, friable, 

 and mellow soil, which retains a. moderate quantit)'- 

 of moisture, without approaching to what may be 

 denominated wet ; as, for instance, land containing 

 from 50 to 65 per cent, of sand, and the remainder 

 chiefly clay ; though, in situations where the climate 

 is usually moist during the summer, it may be grown 

 where sand is in a larger proportion. It succeeds 

 best in what farmers term a rich, deep loam ; but a 

 soil with too much sand or too much clay will not 

 produce good crops. With the single "exception 

 that it will succeed with less lime than wheat, soils 

 that produce good wheat will also grow barley 'to 

 advantage. 



It is probable that more barley is grown in the 

 State of New- York than in all the rest of the United 

 States ; and the section in which it is produced in 



