104 OUR FARM CROPS. 



a good market sample. It is a good sort for cold soils and 

 late districts. 



Norfolk Short-necked, or Late English. A very hardy 

 variety, introduced on the Norfolk estate of Lord Leicester. 

 It is a leafy, strong-awned, late variety, suitable for high 

 and exposed districts, and for dry soils and seasons. The 

 straw is very long and tough; the ear compact, with 

 strong awns. The sample is good both in quantity and 

 quality. In wet seasons it is apt to sprout in the ear, 

 and at all times it appears to be very liable to choke in 

 the shot-blade at the time of coming into ear. It has 

 never made much progress in public estimation, but is a 

 useful variety for certain conditions of cultivation. 



Naked. This variety has probably excited more atten- 

 tion than any other kind with which we are acquainted. 

 It has at various intervals been introduced to us, from 

 several different places, and under as many different 

 names, and each time sold in small portions at enormous 

 prices. It is, however, a very old and well-known sort, 

 and has several times been in cultivation, though, pro- 

 bably always from the same cause, it gradually is lost 

 sight of until, after some interval, it is re -introduced, 

 and its value and advantages re- asserted. In the herbals 

 of Gerarde (A.D. 1597), and of Dodoens, there is a full 

 description and drawing of the plant, of its cultivation, 

 &c. The straw is tall, but slight ; the ear long ; grains (about 

 fourteen to sixteen on a side) large and bare, like in wheat ; 

 sample very heavy, 64 to 66 Ibs. per bushel; grain elliptic 

 shaped ; skin fine and transparent ; colour dark ; and alto- 

 gether more like wheat than barley. The yield is generally 

 large, and the grain suitable for malting as well as mealing 

 purposes. At harvest, the field operations are very un- 

 satisfactory with this variety. The straw is too tender to 

 make bands for the sheaves, and, when ripe, it becomes so 

 brittle that the ear frequently is broken off and left on the 



