THE BARLEY CROP. 99 



be seen growing at an altitude of 1950 metres (6530 feet) 

 above the sea-level; while in our own country we see it 

 cultivated in many districts where wheat cannot profitably 

 be grown. In the south of Europe, Sicily, Italy, and 

 Spain, two crops of barley are obtained in the twelve 

 months ; the one sown in autumn is read} r for harvesting 

 in the early spring, and the second is then got speedily 

 into the ground, and comes to the sickle at the ordinary 

 harvest time. This variety of barley was known to the 

 Romans, and is fully described by Pliny. It came to 

 maturity in April, and is supposed to be the same as that 

 to which reference is made in Exodus, 1 and assists very 

 much in rendering that passage more intelligible. 



Barley belongs to the same natural order of plants as 

 wheat (Graminese), and botanists have given the name of 

 Hordeum 2 to the genus of plants producing it. Much dis- 

 crepancy exists between different authorities as to the 

 number of species and varieties forming the genus. Pro- 

 fessor Kunth enumerates fifteen, Professor Lowe describes 

 six, Gasparin gives two the six-rowed and the two-rowed, 

 while Dr. Lindley reduces them all to mere variations 

 from the original type, which he considers to be the two- 

 rowed or common barley of our farms. He says : " The 

 spikelets of this genus always standing in threes, and the 

 threes being -placed back to back, it is evident that every 

 ear of barley must consist of six rows of spikelets. If the 

 middle spikelet of each set of threes is alone perfect, the 

 side spikelets being abortive, we have the common two- 

 rowed barley (Hordeum distichum) and its many varie- 

 ties ; if the two lateral of each set of threes are perfect, 

 and the centre spikelets imperfect, as sometimes happens, 



1 Ex. ix. 31, 32 "And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley 

 was in the ear, and the flax was boiled. But the wheat and the rye were not 

 smitten, for they were not grown up." 



2 Said to be derived from hordus, heavy; because the meal, containing less 

 gluten than that of wheat, makes heavier bread. 



