FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 



105 



land's meal for invalids. Barley-culture might be carried 

 on in many parts of our Alps. Marly and calcareous lands 

 are particularly fit for its culture. It resists moderate spring 

 frosts. 



Hordeum liexastichon, Linn6. 



Orient. The regularly six-rowed Barley. This includes 

 among other varieties the Bed, the Scotch, the Square and 

 the Bear Barley. Seeds less uniform in size than those of 

 H. distichon. The so-called skinless variety is that in which 

 the grain sej)arates from the bracts. Langethal observes, that 

 it is most easily raised, requires less seed-grain than ordinary 

 barley, has firmer stems, is less subject to the rust disease and 

 to bending down. 



Hordeum secalinum, Schreber. {H. pratense, Hudson.) 



Europe, North and Middle Asia, North America. Perennial. 

 Famed as the best fattening grass of many of the somewhat 

 brackish marsh pastures on the North Sea. It never fruits 

 when kept down by cattle, and suppresses finally nearly all 

 other grasses and weeds. 



Hordeum vulgare, Linn6. 



Orient. The four-rowed Barley, though rather six-rowed 

 vvdth two prominent rows. Several varieties occur, among 

 them : the Spring, Winter and Black Barley, the Russian, 

 the French, the Naked and the Wheat Barley. Pearl Barley 

 is obtained from the Winter variety, which also surpasses 

 Summer Barley in rigour of stems and rich and early yield, it 

 being the earliest cereal in the season ; the straw is copious 

 and nutritious, and the grain is rich in gluten, hence far 

 better adapted for flour than for malt. Summer Barley also 

 passes under the name of Sand Barley; it is inferior in yield to 

 H. distichon, but is content with a less fertile, even sandy soil, 

 and comes in a month's less time to ripeness. In alpine 

 regions with a summer of sixty or seventy days without frost 

 it still ripens. The Naked Barley is superior to many other 

 varieties for peeled Barley, but inferior for brewing ; the grain 

 is also apt to drop (Langethal). Malt is important as an 

 antiscorbutic remedy. Chemical principles of malt : Asparagin ; 

 a protein substance: Diastase; an acid and Cholesterin-fat. 



Hordeum zeocriton, Linne. 



Central Asia. Also a two-rowed Barley. To this species 

 belong the Sprat, the Battledore, the Fulham and the Putney 

 Barley, the Bice Barley, the Turkish Barley and the Dinkel. 

 This species might be regarded as a variety of H. distichon. 

 The grains do not drop spontaneously and this variety is 

 securer than others against sparrows, requires however a 

 superior soil, and is harder in straw (Langethal). 



