122 OUE, FARM CEOPS. 



better access to the young plants; they grow stouter, and 

 give a better return both in quantity and quality ; while 

 the benefits of its effect on the young seeds are most per- 

 ceptible. Although, owing to its rapid growth and late 

 period of sowing, it is seldom thought necessary to hoe 

 barley, still there is no grain crop that requires it more, 

 or that would better repay the cost of labour. It is both 

 a delicate plant, and one that feeds very quickly, and can 

 ill contend against the adverse action of any weeds indi- 

 genous to the soil, which not only directly obstruct its 

 growth, but abstract from the soil portions of food which 

 ought to be appropriated by the barley alone. In the 

 early-sown crops, a hoeing might be advantageously given, 

 before laying down the seeds; and the wider the drills, 

 the more effectively could this be carried out. 



Owing to the period at which barley is usually sown, 

 it is most important that none of the conditions requisite 

 for its successful germination should be neglected. Mois- 

 ture is most important to it ; therefore it should be sown 

 upon a fresh furrow, or, if upon a stale one, only at a time 

 after rain, or otherwise, when that condition can be se- 

 cured. Besides moisture, a certain temperature, access to 

 air, and absence from light, are absolutely needed; and 

 these are always obtained by properly depositing the seed 

 in a suitable soil. Then the initial process of vegetable 

 life germination is set up ; and this is such a simple, yet 

 beautiful illustration of the admirable design that pervades 

 Creation, and one so important to be understood by all 

 interested in vegetable life, as to claim our especial con- 

 sideration. 



The seed which is placed in the soil contains starch, 

 gluten, and certain mineral substances (see p. 130); and 

 so long as these substances remain unchanged, the vital 

 principle, which exists in all perfect seeds, remains dormant 

 under ordinary conditions, but in equal force. Directly, 



