910 
THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
long ago have been known to farmers if either of them had 
deserved a more extended cultivation.” 
The common or white here is more cultivated in Scotland 
than in England. It is only fit for feeding purposes. Its 
produce is often larger than other kinds, but its price is 
usually so far below the finer barleys as to make the latter 
more profitable where the soil and climate are suitable for it. 
Where land is cold and poor for want of good cultivation, 
bere may be grown to advantage ; but as it gets in better 
heart by liberal management, there is no doubt the farmer 
will substitute the ordinary English barley for it. This is, 
indeed, now being done in Scotland; where superior cultiva- 
tion prevails the coarser barley is the exception rather than 
the rule, which latter prevailed only in rudely cultivated dis- 
tricts. 
Cultivation . — Throughout England barley is usually made 
to succeed the root crop, and it may be interesting to note 
that though one would think every part connected therewith 
had been long since settled, yet our experience of the growth 
of barley in one of the best barley districts in the west of 
England shows a difference in the simple matter of the 
quantity of seed to be sown, ranging from four bushels or 
sixteen pecks to one bushel or four pecks to the acre. 
During the last seven years we have sown as under, the 
first three being more or less guided by the practice of our 
neighbours, the last four being the results more or less of 
experiments first tried in order to feel our way. 
It should further be noted that each year's crop ranged over 
more than 100 acres. 
In 1864 was sown 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
16 pecks to the acre. 
12 
12 
8 
8 
8, 6 and 4 
6 and 5 
33 
33 
Now, we cannot help thinking that the thinner sowings 
have produced the best crops of head-corn, as since we have 
adopted it the grain is uniformly plump, and little is separated 
by the best processes which we can adopt to make a good 
sample. 
The so-called “ pedigree barley ” has a fine bold grain, and 
to show that this result is mainly due to thin seeding we 
sowed a good sample of our own barley by the side of some 
of the pedigree at the rate of four pecks to the acre. In both 
cases the plants stooled out very much, the straw was stiffer. 
