SEED BARLEY 373 



oats, oats, turnips, barley, seeds ; or oats, potatoes, 

 barley, turnips, barley, seeds, in which the farmyard 

 manure was applied to three successive crops the 

 potatoes, barley, and turnips. 



Little wheat is now found in the district, oats form 

 about two-thirds of the cereals, and almost as much 

 rye is grown as wheat. Until quite recently Sandy 

 was the standard oat, but, thanks to the experiments 

 carried out by the College at Aberdeen, it is being 

 generally replaced by some of the newer and more 

 heavily cropping varieties. Indeed, these experiments 

 have aroused a general interest in improved varieties ; 

 the Scotch common barley, still the kind generally 

 grown, is now recognized as a very mixed stock, and 

 trials are being made of the selected Archer varieties 

 introduced by the Irish experiments, and of Plumage 

 a wide-eared variety originally selected at Svalof. 

 One farmer, we found, had begun to pick out pure 

 lines for himself, though it is doubtful whether a farmer 

 can profitably carry through the long and tedious 

 testings that are necessary to establish the superiority 

 of any one of such selections. Morayshire is a notable 

 barley district, and as most of the great Scotch whisky 

 distilleries are close at hand, a good and regular 

 market is assured. The vexed question of change of 

 seed was also discussed, for in Moray it is impossible 

 to obtain what the farmer generally desires a stock 

 of seed from a later and more northern district. How- 

 ever, Mr. Beaven's suggestion ought to answer that 

 the farmer should grow his own seed barley on a 

 small area of specially enriched land. The virtue of 

 northern-grown barley lies in the size of the grain ; 

 it is large and bold even if coarse and off colour 

 for malting purposes ; the farmer can attain this 

 character on his own land by manuring, though for 



