JWfprir to tntjirffk tire farmer, % paitter, antr tlje ®arftmr> 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF JlL4A r .-W ashington. 
CONDUCTING EDITOR, PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M. ALLEN &. CO., 189 Water-st., New-York. 
VOL. xiv.—NO. 5.] NEW-YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1855. [NEW SERIES.— NO. 83 . 
Jor prospectus, (forms, $tt., 
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“ Special Notices ,” on last page. 
CULTIVATION OF BARLEY. 
Quantity Raised in the United States. —Bar- 
lev, though coextensive in its cultivation 
with the first settlement of Virginia and the 
other Colonies, has never reached a very 
large crop. The product of the entire Union 
in 1850, but little exceeded 5,000,000 bushels. 
The increasing demand within the past few 
years, owing to the large immigration of 
beer-consuming Germans and other foreign¬ 
ers, has, however, largely stimulated the 
consumption of barley in this country. The 
growth has been increased here about 25 per 
cent, between 1840 and ’50; and its progress 
is still onward, as is shown by the rapid ad¬ 
vance of price in all the American markets. 
Its Uses. —Barley, till within a few years, 
has been almost wholly used as a food for 
our domestic animals. Pigs have had the 
greater share of it, constituting, when mixed 
with Indian corn and ground, a considerable 
proportion of their fattening material, in such 
sections as produced it. It has, to some ex¬ 
tent, been fed to horses and poultry ; but for 
the former, oats are generally preferred, and 
for the latter, corn; as barley is thought to 
increase their inclination to brooding. It 
has never been much used for human food 
among us, albeit it had a great reputation 
among the ancient Greeks, and the neigh¬ 
boring cultivated nations of antiquity. Its 
use in modern times as food, is more gene¬ 
rally limited to the Nomadic and half civil¬ 
ized nations, such as the Arabs, Tartars, and 
other Etstern nations. The most highly 
civilized, as England, Scotland, Germany, 
&c., however, make immense use of it for 
malting and conversion into beer, ale, &c. 
In this mode of consumption, we think the 
cows get the best part of the barley, (little 
as it is,) in the shape of the “ brewer’s 
grains,” which is the residuum after extract¬ 
ing all that is convertible into the fermented, 
vinous, alcoholic mass, which is destined to 
muddle the brains of the beer bibbers. 
When ground, barley is an excellent food 
for fatting pigs and milk cows, producing a 
large flow of milk, though by its stimulating 
properties, some ascribe an injurious effect 
to the lacteal vessels and glands. This grain 
is also much used as “pearled barley” for 
soups, &c., and as a light and wholesome 
diet for invalids. As compared with wheat, 
its nuiritive average is about as 65 of barley 
to 78 of of wheat. 
Varieties. —Three primary varieties have 
been cultivated—the six, the four, and the 
two rowed, with numerous subdivisions of 
the two latter. The former is a fanciful 
type of this grain, and is seldom sown ; and 
the two-rowed has proved itself so greatly 
superior to the four, that it is now almost 
the only kind cultivated. The four-rowed 
is known in many parts of Great Britain as 
Beare or Bigg—a name scarcely introduced 
into the nomenclature of American farmers. 
There are some winter varieties of barley, 
which are hardy enough to withstand the 
severe cold of winter. Among these the 
Siberian is generally esteemed the best. All 
barley, like oats, will bear the light frost of 
our Southern States, and with them, it is 
generally made a winter grain. It is sown 
in October or November, and grows rapidly 
under the genial skies and autumnal rains of 
those warm climes, and afford excellent win¬ 
ter pasturage for sheep, or it may be cut and 
carried off the ground for green fodder. 
Soil. —There is no use in attempting to 
raise a good crop of barley on a poor soil. 
If your field is not in good condition, better 
sow to oats, or manure it and put it in corn, 
or something else. A sandy or hungry 
gravel is not a soil to bear good barley. 
Good, deep mellow loam is the best for this 
grain ; but a strong clay well pulverized and 
dry, will yield an excellent crop. 
Climate. —Barley does best in a temperate 
latitude, say within those States, between 
38° and 43°. But barley is susceptible of 
acclimation in a high northern latitude. It 
has been successfully grown in Europe as 
far north as 72°, and on the Himalaya 
mountains in Asia, 10,000 to 12,000 feet 
above the level of tide-water. The product, 
however, in these instances, is small, and it 
is ofily in a good soil, suitable climate, and 
• with deep and thorough tillage, a large crop 
of barley may be expected. 
Plowing and Preparation of the Ground .— 
Deep and thorough plowing and harrowing 
is absolutely requisite for a luxuriant growth 
of barley. If either cloddy or light soil, the 
heavy roller must also be added. 
Sowing and Quantity of Seed per Acre.— 
Sowing broadcast is the almost universal 
rule in this country; though in the use of 
the seed-drill there would be equal economy 
of seed, with other advantages similar, but 
of not equal extent, as with other grain. 
From 2^ to 4 bushels of seed is applied to 
an acre. The quantity, as in all other cases 
of grain or grass-seed sowing, should de¬ 
pend on the fineness of tilth—a rough, clod¬ 
dy, intractable clay requiring much more 
seed than a well-pulverized, friable soil. 
Crops of 69 bushels per acre, of full weight, 
have been raised in this State with only 3 
bushels of seed. A larger quantity, howev¬ 
er, is generally to be preferred on rich 
lands. 
Cultivation is of course out of the question, 
unless sowed in drills, when the cultivator 
may be used with advantage. The roller 
ought to be run over it after sowing, to com¬ 
pact the earth around the seed, a firm foot¬ 
ing being peculiarly essential to this grain. 
As it is important that the grain be clean . 
hand-weeding is essential where previous 
cultivation has not effectually rid the field of 
obnoxious seeds. 
Harvesting. —Skillful watch should be kept 
of the ripening crop, and the grain should be 
gathered just before it is so ripe as to shell 
in gathering. When gathered it ought to 
remain in the straw 20 to 30 days before 
threshing, to undergo the sweating operation, 
which is essential to preparing it for the 
malters. Too much haste in getting it to 
market greatly impairs its value. Careless¬ 
ness in threshing,by which the grain is brok¬ 
en, is also equally objectionable ; as for malt¬ 
ing purposes, vitality of the seed is essential 
to its sprouting, and when broken it is worse 
than useless, as it really injures the germin¬ 
ating seed. 
Barley Straw is soft, sweet and nutritive. 
All of the domestic herbaceous animals 
greedily devour it. 
CEMENT FOR GRAFTING. 
A very common kind of grafting wax made 
use of by nurserymen, i3 composed of equal 
parts of tallow, beeswax and resin. If a lit¬ 
tle tallow be added, it renders the wax more 
pliable. The French use a composition of 
beeswax, turpentine, and resin, in equal 
parts, which, while warm, is spread on strips 
of coarse cotton or strong paper, and wrap¬ 
ped around the graft. 
Common clay is often employed by farm 
