CLASSIFICATION OF BARLEY. 187 



two lateral of each set of threes are perfect, and the centre 

 spikelets imperfect, as sometimes happens, we then have 

 the four - rowed barley ; if, on the other hand, all the 

 spikelets are perfect, we have the six-rowed barley, but the 

 case of the four-rowed barley being merely accidental, they 

 may be referred to the six-rowed form, and then we have 

 only two principal kinds of barley, the two-rowed (hordeum 

 distichon), and the six-rowed (hordeum hexastichon)" In 

 Scotland, however, the four-rowed barley is so much grown 

 and known under the name of "here" or "bigg," that it 

 seems necessary to include this as a species under its bo- 

 tanical name hordeum vulgare, although this kind is rarely 

 grown in the southern districts of the kingdom. The fol- 

 lowing is the generic description of the three species named 

 above, beginning with hordeum vulgare : " Florets her- 

 maphrodite ; fertile, middle grains 'on each side forming a 

 distinct straight row, lateral ones forming a kind of double 

 row towards the base, but uniting so as to form one row 

 towards the extremity of the spike." The different parts 

 of " bere " are proportioned as follows : the grain nearly 

 51 parts out of the hundred, the awns nearly 6 parts, the 

 straw nearly 38, and the roots nearly 5^ parts. The 

 varieties named by Mr. Lawson are eight in number, (1) 

 common "bear," "here," or "bigg;" (2) Square barley ; (3) 

 winter barley ; (4) African, Tangier, or Morocco barley ; 

 (5) Bengal barley ; (6) black winter barley; (7) naked 

 Siberian barley ; (8) Nepaul or Himmalaya barley. Some 

 of these are not now cultivated. The following is Professor 

 Wilson's classification : (1) black four-rowed ; (2) Victoria 

 bere ; (3) winter white ; (4) Peruvian. Of these the Vic- 

 toria is probably the finest. " The straw and ear are 

 longer and stouter than the common bere ; the grain is 

 much heavier, weighing up to 54 or 56 Ib. per bushel; 

 and the produce is much larger, from 10 to 12 quarters 

 per acre having been obtained to the acre." Peruvian is 

 a naked barley, of which Professor Wilson says, the char- 

 acteristic seems to be that they " are not so well suited for 

 our climate as the ordinary barley," thriving " best whera 



