58 
Tlie Mechanical Condition of the Soil 
policy to sow barley upon a badly-worked soil. In the busy 
time of sprine^-sowin<»- a farmer is tempted to sow barley quickly 
and dispense with extra tillage when the soil appears to be in 
fair condition ; but I have often seen that it is unwise to lessen 
the tillage by being in too much of a hurry, as the superior con- 
dition given by a second ploughing and additional tillage makes 
a very material difference in the crop. The time thus lost in the 
sowing of the land is soon regained by the more rapid growth 
of the young plant, which is often observed to maintain the 
vigour of its early and prosperous career unabated up to the 
time of harvest. 
When a strong loamy soil has to be prepared for barley, 
especially after it has been hardened by the treading of sheep, 
we are often obliged to modify our course so as to secure (if 
possible) the assistance of frost. With this object the land is 
ploughed up as early as may be after the sheep are removed, and 
is laid up so as to catch the frost. If the soil gets thoroughly 
frozen, the after-working of the land becomes comparatively easy, 
provided reasonable care is taken in selecting the proper time for 
cross-ploughing and working the land for the seed. The most 
laborious and difficult preparation for barley is when land of this 
description is ploughed up in a close condition, so as to be 
smeared by the mould-board, and, instead of getting any frost 
upon it afterwards, becomes hardened by exposure. It then 
requires a vast amount of labour in the shape of rolling, dragging, 
and ploughing, before it can be reduced to a fair state for sowing, 
and after all does not afford a satisfactory seed-bed for the barley. 
I do not know any kind of corn which suffers so much in its 
quality as barley, from being sown in an unfavourable seed bed ; 
this is, however, much more evident upon land of a strong and 
adhesive nature than elsewhere, probably because its mechanical 
condition is less under our control. The benefit derived from the 
action of frost enables us to grow, on such soils, barley of fair 
malting quality ; but, if we do not plough in time for the frosts to 
act upon the land, the produce is rarely fit for the maltster, and 
can be only employed for feeding purposes. 
The best qualities of barley, as well as the largest crops, are 
produced from soils very free and open in their character, and 
these indicate the condition to which we should endeavour to 
bring any soil upon which this crop is to be sown. To promote 
the same freedom in the soil, the seed should always be sown 
when the land is dry ; for as we have seen in the preparation lor 
wheat, that a wet seed-time was conducive to that increased 
firmness of the soil which was then our object, so now, when we 
wish to avoid this effect upon the land, we should in every way 
avoid the cause. 
