THE BARLEY CROP. 129 



the young plant when attacked changes from a dark 

 green to a sickly yellow colour, and then either dies off or 

 remains in a stunted, debilitated state. Notwithstanding 

 the serious injuries they inflict, these insects, and doubtless 

 many others, are, so to speak, " preserved " on our farms, 

 and carried on from the barley crop to the wheat crop by 

 means of the rye-grass which is so generally mixed with 

 the clovers in the intermediate seed crop. This practice 

 is opposed to all principles of rotation, as rye-grass belongs 

 to the same botanical order as both the barley and the 

 wheat, and thus three crops requiring the same mineral 

 food are sown consecutively on the same ground; while it 

 offers a home between the two marketable crops for the 

 reception and increase of those fungoid and insect enemies 

 which are so injurious to both, and which a perfectly dif- 

 ferent crop, such as clover, for instance, would, from its 

 unsuitability to their requirements, go far to starve and 

 get rid of. 



The large consumption of barley for brewing and 

 distilling purposes, has caused its Chemistry to be more 

 inquired into than it probably otherwise would have 

 been. As it is, we have much reliable information as to 

 its composition, and consequently what it requires from 

 the soil in which it is grown. From the data already 

 given we may take the proportion of grain to straw in 

 the barley grown in this country at about 2 to 3, or 45 

 parts of grain and 55 of straw in 100. The continental 

 chemists give a slightly different estimate ; according to 

 Schwerz the proportion is as 507 to 100, or about 1 to 2, 

 and this seems to be generally accepted by them. The 

 amount of mineral matter (ash) in the grain varies, and 

 may be taken at from 2*5 to 3 per cent, and in the straw 

 at from 5 per cent, to 8 per cent. The water naturally 

 contained in the grain and straw (air-dried) is about the 

 same 12 per cent, to 14 per cent, in each. 



