211 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLK KINGDOM. 



unmixed character, and this ona is not of the 

 number. Ergot of ri/e, which was formerly pro- 

 ductive of so much misery, has since found ad- 

 mission as a medicine into our pharmacopseias; 

 it acts powerfully on the uterus, and is now, in 

 the hands of skilful and honest practitioners, ren- 

 dered subservient to the interests of society. 

 Homed rye is of very rare occurrence in Great 

 Britain. 



B.inLEr (hordcum). This species of grain 

 has a seed of a slenderer form, and a rougher 

 covering or husk than tliat of wheat; the awn 

 too is larger and more serrated than any of the 

 other species of com. Barley diiFera still more 

 from wheat in containing more farina or starch, 

 much less gluten, and about 7 per cent, of un- 

 corabincd saccharine matter, which latter wheat 

 does not possess previous to germination. 



Next to wheat, barley is in this country the 

 most important grain, being used chiefly in the 

 formation of fermented liquors and spirits. 

 There are four distinct species of barley, besides 

 numerous varieties : hordeum vulgare, or spring 

 barley ; hordeum hexasticon, winter or square 

 barley; hordeum distichon, long-eared barley; 

 hordeum zeocriton, sprat or battle-dore barley. 



The Egyptians have a tradition that barley 

 was the first of the cerealia made use of by man, 

 and trace its introduction to their goddess Isis. 

 The native country of barley, however, is as 

 little known as that of wheat. Some travellers 

 have mentioned it as being produced in a wild 

 state in distant parts of the world ; but there is 

 reason for believing that all statements to this 

 effect have been founded in error, since the har- 

 diest varieties of the cultivated grain have never 

 yet been seen to propagate themselves during 

 two following years. The seed of cultivated bar- 

 ley, when chance-sown, will indeed produce 

 plants; but the grains which these bear are 

 rarely, if ever, seen to germinate. Some grasses 

 which have been placed by botanists in the same 

 genus with barley, bear to it a strong outward 

 resemblance ; yet none of them can, by any de- 

 gree of culture, be brought into use as human 

 food, nor indeed be made to exhibit any marked 

 improvement. One of these grasses, the hordeum 

 murinum of Linnieus, known commonly as wall- 

 barley, bears the nearest resemblance of any to 

 the cultivated plant. 



In one respect barley is of more importance to 

 mankind than wheat. It may be propagated 

 over a wider range of climate, bearing heat and 

 drought better, growing upon lighter soils, and 

 coming so quickly to maturity, that the short 

 northern summers, which do not admit of tlie 

 ripening of wheat, are yet of long enough dura- 

 tion for the perfection of barley. It is the latest 

 gown, and the earliest reaped of all the summer 

 Brains. In warm countries, such as Spain, the 

 fiirmorg can gather two harvests of barley within 



the year, one in the spring from winter-sown 

 grain, and the other in autumn from that sown 

 in summer. Barley sown in June is commonly 

 ready for the sickle in three months from the 

 time of the seed being committed to the ground; 

 and in very northern climates the period neces- 

 sary for its growth and perfection is Siiid to be 

 of still shorter duration. Linnseus relates, in hia 

 tour in Lulean Lapland, that on the 28th of July 

 he observed the commencement of the barley 

 harvest, and although the seed was sown only a 

 few days before midsummer, that the grain was 

 perfectly ripe, the whole process having thus oc- 

 cupied certainly not longer than six weeks. 



Tlie property of not requiring moisture ad- 

 mirably fits barley for propagation in those 

 northern countries, where the duration of sum- 

 mer is limited to a very few months in the year, 

 and where wet is of very rare occurrence from 

 the time when the spring rains are over, at the 

 end of May or the beginning of June — after 

 which period the seed-time commences — until 

 the autumnal equinox, previous to which the 

 harvest is reaped. 



So hurtful is excessive moisture to the plants, 

 that even heavy dews, if of frequent occurrence, 

 are found injurious. Wet is detrimental at all 

 periods ; but the mischief is exhibited in a very 

 different manner, according as it occurs before or 

 after the formation of the ear. If, during the 

 former stage, the leaves, as already mentioned, 

 will become yellow and sickly, and the ears will 

 probably not make their appearance ; whereas, 

 if these should already have been formed, and 

 completely filled when visited by rain, the grain 

 will sprout in the ear ; and should the weather 

 wliich follows be warm and genial, this growth 

 will be so rapid that the ears will put on the ap- 

 pearance of tufts of grass. Barley is besides 

 very liable to be beaten down by rain and to 

 lodge ; and should this occur after the filling of 

 the ear, germination of the grains will take place 

 to such a degree, that the first growth will be 

 completely rotted and destroyed by the second. 

 Gentle showers, however, if of short continuance, 

 and if they do not happen either very early after 

 tlie plant is above the ground, or during the time 

 of blooming, or when the ear is full, are rather 

 beneficial than hurtful. It is worthy of remark 

 that the very quality which renders barley so 

 precarious a crop in unsettled climates, imparts 

 to it likewise its chief value. The facility with 

 which the grain is made to germinate is favour- 

 able to the operation of converting it into malt, 

 which is, in fact, simply the process of germina- 

 tion induced and carried forward up to and not 

 beyond the point when the maximum quantity 

 of saccharine matter is developed in the grain. 



Spring Barley — Hordeum vulgare — is the 

 kind most commonly cultivated in England. Of 

 this species farmers distinguish two sorts ; ona 



