220 FIELD CROPS 



ing to oats, alfalfa, or some other crop which is less resistant 

 to the injurious effects of these salts. 



263. Fertilizers and Manures. The best fertilizer for 

 barley is barnyard manure, particularly if this is applied to 

 some previous crop or is well rotted. Barley can be grown 

 successfully on richer land than oats, but heavy fertilization 

 is apt to cause a rank growth of straw with a tendency to 

 lodge. As the roots of this crop do not penetrate. as deeply 

 as those of oats or wheat, the surface soil should contain an 

 abundance of plant food. The yield of barley may be 

 increased by the use of green manure crops, such as cow- 

 peas, field peas, and the like, which add greatly to the 

 vegetable matter in the soil, increasing the water-holding 

 capacity and the supply of readily available plant food. 

 On poor soils where neither barnyard nor green manures are 

 available, beneficial results will be obtained from the use of 

 commercial fertilizers. The many feeding roots which 

 barley throws out near the surface enable it to use com- 

 mercial fertilizers quickly and to good advantage. The 

 proper fertilizers to use depend largely on the soil to which 

 they are applied. Phosphorus and potash are usually more 

 necessary than nitrogen for the highest yields of barley. 



264. Preparation of the Land. A well prepared seed bed 

 is essential to the best growth of this crop. Fall plowing is 

 desirable wherever possible, for fall-plowed land usually 

 holds moisture better the following spring and can be put 

 in shape for seeding at an earlier date than spring plowing. 

 Sowing barley on land that has been disked and not plowed 

 is fairly successful when a cultivated crop was grown on the 

 land the previous year, but this method is not so generally 

 followed as with oats, while the results which are obtained 

 are not usually as good. For winter barley, plowing should 

 be done some weeks previous to seeding, in order to allow 



