142 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



turnips, potatoes, peas, beans, &c. Small grains should not 

 precede it ; they impoverish the soil, leave it foul, and, be- 

 sides, it is contravening one of the most salutary maxims of 

 husbandry to grow two dry crops in succession. It may 

 follow clover ; but if the soil is heavy, the ley should be 

 ploughed in autumn. Barley is successfully sown upon 

 the falbws in England, (not summer, but autumn fallows,) 

 and is sown sometimes after wheat ; but in the latter case 

 the turnips are pulled, and previously fed upon the stubble ; a 

 practice which I think is not likely to obtain here. I have 

 generally sown barley after ruta baga or potatoes, these 

 crops having received a good dressing of long yard or stable 

 manure. 



' Mamire should not be applied to the barley, but to the 

 preceding crop. The short period that this grain occupies 

 the ground does not afford time for the manure to decom- 

 pose and yield its food to the plants ; and, if applied in ex- 

 cess, it causes a too rank vegetation, and the straw lodges 

 before the grain is matured. When a fallow or clover ley 

 is employed and ploughed in autumn, dung may be previous- 

 ly employed and ploughed under. 



' Preparation of the Ground. Where barley follows a 

 root or hoed crop, one ploughing will generally suffice ; but 

 in all cases a complete pulverization of the soil is necessary; 

 and to effect this a roller is often of material benefit. If 

 sown upon grass leys, ploughed in autumn, the spring 

 ploughing should be shallow, so as to leave the sod reversed. 

 But the preferable way may be to harrow the fallow, plough 

 in the seed with a light furrow, and smooth off with the har- 

 row. 



* The Seed and Smoing. Loudon enumerates six species 

 and sub-species of the barley. The kinds uniformly culti- 

 vated here are the two, four, and six rowed spring, {hordeum 

 vulgare and hordeum distichon.) Thin-skinned, pale, plump 

 seed should be selected. I sow as soon as the ground is suffi- 

 ciently dry in spring. The young grain is not hurt by the 

 ordinary frosts of the latter part of April and May. I sow 

 from six to eight pecks per acre, according to the richness 

 of the soil and the forwardness of the season ; the poorest 

 ground and the latest sowing requiring the most seed. In 

 England, the common quantity of seed is from eight to six- 

 teen pecks. Our climate being much warmer than that of 

 Great Britain, barley and other grains till better with us, 

 and consequently we require less seed. We uniformly sow 



