106 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



to the barley-crop ; and perhaps, where hoed cropa 

 cannot precede, this is the preferable way, though 

 there is a great risk of too much straw, and the con- 

 sequent lodging of the barley before ripening. 



Barley should be sown, in all cases, as soon as the 

 ground is sufficiently dried and warmed to allow the 

 seeds to germinate freely, and to place them beyond 

 the danger of injury from frost. Early frosts are 

 more fatal to barley than to spring Avheat or oats, 

 and more injurious on wet or low lands than on dry 

 or elevate^ones. Particular attention must be paid 

 to the dryness of the soil at the time of sowing, 

 especially if naturally inclined to be wet, as on such 

 soils a wet spring will starve" and destroy the plants. 

 " Steeping the seed for twenty-four hours in soft 

 water will cause the grain to germinate at the same 

 time ; and this, if it is sown at a late period, is of 

 more importance than may be generally imagined, 

 as it is otherwise apt to ripen unequally." — {Brit- 

 Hus.) The finest, heaviest samples of all grains are 

 usually obtained from early-sown fields ; and the 

 difference of weight in barley and oats is from one 

 fifth to one third in favour of early sowing. The 

 smut is the only disease to which barley is subject ; 

 and this is rarely a serious injury, where the crop is 

 grown on favourable soils, and the seed is put in in 

 good order. The worm which has proved so de- 

 structive to wheat in the Eastern counties, has also 

 injured the barley to a considerable extent ; but in 

 Western New- York we have neither seen nor heard 

 of its appearance in this grain. The wire-worm is 

 sometimes very destructive to the crop when young; 

 and some seasons the meadow-rnole, so called, as 

 the grain approaches maturity, makes sad havoc by 

 cutting down the plant to get at the ears — an eftect 

 more often observed when the barley is sown on 

 turf-leys, as these rarely lie so close as not to leave 

 numberless hiding-places for the animal. 



In sowing barley, ?,s in most other crops, the uni- 



