204 



BARLEY 



BARLEY 



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which will usually put the land in proper condition 

 for barley the following year. As a rule, the far- 

 mer will have more difficulty in supplying his land 

 with the proper food elements as a preparation for 

 i a barley crop than in re- 



ducing them. 



Harvesting. — One of the 

 chief arguments used against 

 J , barley-culture in the past 



I I , ji I has been the many annoy- 



ances experienced because of 

 the beards while binding, 

 threshing and 

 other handling. 

 This attitude dis- 

 played by farm- 

 ers led to the in- 

 troduction of 

 beardless barleys, 

 which have not 

 as yet proceeded 

 beyond the ex- 

 perimental stage. 

 At the Wisconsin 

 Station, through 

 a several years' 

 test, the beard- 

 less barleys were 

 found to be weak 

 in straw and poor 

 yielders compared 

 with the bearded 

 barleys. The ker- 

 nels were much 

 more shrunken, 

 and did not look 

 so healthy and 

 vigorous. The 

 grain of the 

 beardless barleys 

 weighed two to 

 ten pounds less 

 per measured 

 bushel than that 

 of the bearded 

 barleys grown 

 under the same 

 conditions. The 

 yield was fifteen 

 bushels less per 

 acre than that of 

 the Manshury or 

 Oderbrucker barleys oh the Station farm. The ob- 

 jection to the beards by barley-growers is consid- 

 erably lessened since the advent of the harvester 

 and self-feeder. 



Barley is more easily injured by rain, dew or 

 sunshine than the other cereal crops, and is often 

 reduced in value from the maltster's standpoint 

 one-half because of discoloration of the grain. 

 The discoloration of the grain does not cause the 

 feeding elements to deteriorate, to any great ex- 

 tent, and the farmer should feed such grain rather 

 than try to force it on the market. To prevent 

 discoloration, the grain should be harvested before 



Fig. 293. McEvans bearded huUess 

 batley, with lower beaids clipped 

 to show arrangement of kernels 

 from side and edge. Kernel 

 joined to rachis, with beard ex- 

 tended, at right. 



the ripening has advanced too far. If put in round 

 shocks, using about ten bundles in a shock and 

 covering with two bundles as a cap, barley will 

 cure nicely without discoloring unless heavy rains 

 occur. The bundles used for capping can be drawn 

 in and threshed separately from the bulk of the 

 crop, and retained for feed or seed. 



Barley diseases. 



Barley is affected by rust, mildew and smut. 

 No effective remedy has been found for rust and 

 mildew. Smut can be reduced by the formaldehyde 

 method of treatment. Smut is a fungous disease 

 caused by minute spores lodging underneath the 

 hull of the barley grains previous to the ripening 

 period. These little spores remain inactive until 

 the barley is planted, 'when they germinate with 

 the seed and send hair-like threads up through the 

 stem of the plant. Practically all heads growing 

 from a seed which contains the smut spores are 

 smutted and the grain is destroyed. As soon as 

 the smut is matured fully, it is blown by the wind 

 to unaffected heads of barley and finds lodging 

 beneath the hulls of the unripened kernels. The 

 hulls close over the spores at the time of ripening 

 and hold them securely until germination begins 

 when the spores begin their deadly work. 



Two kinds of smut affect barley, the closed or 

 covered smut (Ustilago hordd), and the loose smut 

 {JJstilago nuda). The formaldehyde treatment is 

 satisfactory against the closed smut, but not 

 against the loose or open smut. Hot water is now 

 recommended for both kinds. The barley crop of 

 Wisconsin was affected with smut to the extent of 

 5 per cent in the season of 1905. When barley 

 had been sown on test with and without treatment, 

 a reduction of 4 per cent was reported in favor of 

 the treated seed. 



Treatment. — Make a solution by pouring one 

 pint of formaldehyde into twenty gallons of water, 

 the solution to be placed in barrels or a trough. 

 Sacks of barley should be submerged in the solu- 

 tion for ten minutes, then emptied on a threshing 

 floor or platform to dry. After the treatment, if 

 the seed barley is covered for about two hours with 

 oilcloth or blankets so that the fumes of the 

 formaldehyde can act on the spores, the treatment 

 will be much more effective. 



Extensive experiments have been made at the 

 Wisconsin Station with the hot-water treatment of 

 seed for smut. The hot-water treatment was found 

 thoroughly effective against both kinds of smut, 

 and it is a very simple operation. The grain is 

 placed in gunny sacks and submerged for twelve 

 hours in cold water to soften the hull and berry. It 

 is then removed and allowed to drain for an hour. 

 The sacks are then submerged in hot water at a 

 constant temperature of 130° F., for a period of not 

 over six minutes. Provision must be made to add 

 hot water to keep the temperature constant, as it 

 will be lowered when the grain is put in. It is 

 well to put the grain in another tank of hot water 

 that has a temperature a little below 130° F., in 

 order to heat the grain before putting it in the 

 tank with the constant- temperature. The seed 



