Ixviii 



INTRODUCTION. 



BARLEY. 



Itusheh of barley produced in lb 60. 



The climate of the United States is not as well adapted to the production of barley as of wheat. 

 Barley delights in a moist climate and an extended growing season. It is for this reason that English 

 barley is superior to that of any other country. While we can raise wheat of a quality superior to 

 that of England, our best barley would not be used by a London maltster. 



Barley is now used in this country principally for beer-making purposes. With the rapid increase 

 in our foreign population there is yearly an increased demand for barley, and the price has advanced 

 much more than that of any other of our ordinary grain crops. Weight for weight, barley of late years 

 has brought a higher price than wheat, and, where the soil and climate are well suited to its production, 

 there are few crops more profitable. In favorable circumstances it is believed that three bushels of 

 barley can be raised with as little expense as two bushels of wheat. Barley, of all ordinary crops, 

 however, requires good culture. It is only on well-drained and highly cultivated farms that we can 

 depend for raising good crops. 



As compared with Indian corn, wheat, and oats, barley occupies a very subordinate position 

 in American agriculture. In 1860 the total crop of the States and Territories was 15,825,898 

 bushels; while, in round numbers, there were 838,000,000 bushels of Indian corn, 173,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat, and 172,000,000 bushels of oats. As compared with 1850, however, the increase in the pro 

 duction of barley has been greater than in any of these crops. In round numbers, the barley crop in 

 1850 was 5,000.000 bushels, and in 1860 15,000,000 bushels, or an increase of 200 per cent. This is 



