60 



experiments for your own satisfaction and information ; 

 tiy a single ridge or two each way, and afterwards 

 act according- to the result of your own practical ex- 

 jjerience. We all sow too much seed of every grain 

 — wheat can hardly be sown too thin — oats may be 

 sown thicker — and barley, perhaps, in a medium 

 l)etween l)oth. 



I must admit (though I do it reluctantly) that 

 Ijarley in England and Scotland is generally sown 

 broadcast. When barley has been up three weeks or 

 a month, rolling- will serve it, by preventing- the sun 

 and the air from penetrating- the ground to the injury 

 of the roots, and by breaking all the clods. If the 

 lilade grows too rank, as is sometimes the case in a 

 warm, wet spring, mowing is a better method than feed- 

 ing it down with sheep ; l)ecause the scythe takes off 

 only the rank tops, but the sheep, being fond of the 

 sweet end of the stalk next the root, y\i\\ often bite 

 so close as to injure its future growth. Barley is ripe 

 when it droops and falls, as it were doubly, against the 

 sti-aw, o^Wng to the brittleness of which, it must be 

 then cut down ^vithout delay, else much loss will be 

 sustained. In England, where labour is dear, it is 

 generally cut with a cradle scythe, and carried home 

 loose after lying in the swarth some days to dry. In 

 Scotland and Ireland, it is generally reaped and bound. 

 There is a kind of hook used in Flanders for reap- 

 ing, which would lie a much Ijetter instrument for 

 you to use than either scythe or common sickle, and 

 of this I perhaps shall yet give you a description. 



Barley is the best grain to sow clover with ; and 

 from the great demand for malting barley, it is gene- 

 rdlly a profitable crop. Its chseases are very few — 

 chiefly smut, which it is found cannot be prevented 

 by pickling- and hming. No seed grain requires to be 

 changed more frequently ; else it becomes coarser and 

 coarser every succeeihng year. Fom'teen pounds of 

 this grain yield 12 bis. of meal. 



The preparation of the soil for oats is less than 



