THE CULTIVATOR. 
March. 
They tend to produce a great flow of milk, but it is 
thought their effect is rather injurious to cows of weak 
constitution, as the grains relax the system, and by 
highly stimulating the lacteal glands may leave the 
animal poor. 
The straw of barley is reckoned preferable for feed¬ 
ing stock to that of any other grain. It is soft and 
sweet, and cattle which are in their prime, and that 
neither give milk nor are required to labor, will winter 
well on this article alone. Sheep will also do well on 
it with the addition of a few roots, and a little grain to- 
wards spring. 
Varieties. —There are many varieties of barley. The 
usual designation is by the number of rows which form 
the head: thus we have the two rowed, the four rowed, 
and the six rowed barley. A kind called the Chevalier 
barley, from the name of the gentleman who first 
brought it into notice, is in great repute in England on 
account of its superior productiveness, weight, and, ac¬ 
cording to the statements of some brewers, its greater 
quantity of saccharine matter. The late Lord Leices¬ 
ter made numerous trials with this kind of barley, the 
result of which proved it to be superior in weight to 
the best of other kinds, by at least ten per cent—its av¬ 
erage weight being fifty-seven pounds per bushel. An¬ 
other advantage, in the opinion of Lord Leicester, 
which this kind of barley possesses, is the habit of tiller¬ 
ing or spreading, by which, he thinks, a saving of half 
a bushel of seed may be made per acre. 
There are likewise two or more varieties of naked 
barley, so called from the grain being detached from 
the glume or chaff. A tivo rowed kind of this descrip¬ 
tion has been known in England many years, and the 
writer remembers to have seen it cultivated in Massa¬ 
chusetts upwards of thirty years ago. The cultivation 
of this kind has been generally abandoned, on account 
of its want of hardiness, &c. A six rowed kind of naked 
barley is also cultivated in Europe, (and we have lately 
heard of it in the hands of a few in this country,) which 
is thought to be greatly superior to the two-rowed 
kind. C. Johnson, in his Farmers’ Encyclopedia, says 
it is greatly esteemed for its fertility. It is also stated 
that its cultivation had been tried in France, where it 
was highly recommended by M. Mazucco, who states 
that “ it weighs as much as the best wheats, and its 
quality resembles them so much that it may be used for 
the purpose of making good bread, and also for pearl 
barley. In mountainous countries its produce is twen- 
tj^four to one.” An extract is also given from a com¬ 
munication to the Board of Agriculture by Warren 
Hastings. He observes: “that it is of the greatest im¬ 
portance to promote the culture of this sort of grain.” 
He adds: “ It is the corn that, next to rice, gives the 
greatest weight of flour per acre, and it may be eaten 
with no other preparation than that of boiling. It re¬ 
quires no dressing when sent to the mill, having no 
husk, and consequently produces no bran. It is gather¬ 
ed into the barn, and may even be consumed, when the 
seasons are favorable, in about eighty or ninety days af¬ 
ter being sown; and there is no species of grain better 
calculated for countries where the summer is short, 
provided the vegetation be rapid. It appears to be this 
kind of barley to which we have several times alluded 
as having been produced by Mr. Spinner, of Herki¬ 
mer. 
Besides the kinds of barley above enumerated, which 
are all spring varieties, there are several winter kinds, 
which, like winter wheat, are sown in the fall. The 
best of these is said to be the Siberian winter barley. 
Whether, however, it would endure the climate of this 
section, can only be determined by trial. At present 
we have not known of this variety having been intro¬ 
duced into this country. 
Preparation of the soil, time of sowing, and quantity 
of seed. —The best soil for barley is a warm loam, in¬ 
clining to sand. If the soil is not too compact, so as to 
break up in lumps, one plowing will be sufficient; but 
if hard lumps appear, they must be reduced with the 
roller and harrow, following each other alternately till 
a good tilth is produced; and in such cases it may be 
expedient to give a second plowing. If the preceding 
crop, (which of course should have been some hoed 
crop,) was well manured, no dressing will be required 
for barley. The quantity of seed varies from three to 
four bushels per acre—the latter quantity has been gen¬ 
erally sown where the best crops within our knowledge 
have been obtained. It should be sown in this latitude 
before the first of May, if practicable. 
We should have observed above, that one of the prin¬ 
cipal recommendations in favor of the culture of barley 
is its exemption from the attack of several insects which 
in many instances so seriously injure wheat—particular¬ 
ly the yellow worm or maggot, the larva of the Cecido- 
myia tritici. 
LAYING DOWN LANDS TO GRASS. 
In connexion with wheat, oats and barley, clover and 
grass seed are usually sown—that is, the land is techni¬ 
cally, seeded down. According to the experience of the 
writer, grass succeeds better with barley than with the 
other grains. Oats, on most soils, are less favorable to 
grass than wheat and barley. The quantity of seed used 
of the different clovers and grasses, varies mueh with 
the nature of the soil, and under the management of dif¬ 
ferent farmers. Some soils are better adapted to one 
kind of grass and some to another. Timothy, for in¬ 
stance, does not succeed on very loose, dry soils, but is 
adapted to those more moist and tenacious. Red clover 
does not do well on cold and wet lands, but will flour¬ 
ish in situations so dry that but few of the true grasses 
would be able to sustain themselves. It should of 
course be the object of the farmer, to adapt the kind of 
plant to the nature of the soil. 
For pastures, there is a great advantage in having a 
variety of herbage plants, as the appetite and health of 
both cattle and sheep is known to be thereby promoted; 
and there is besides a benefit in having plants which, 
from ripening at various times, afford successively a 
fresh growth through a large portion of the season. 
For hay, also, a variety of plants is preferable, as the 
hay is thus rendered more palatable, and probably more 
wholesome, to stock of all kinds; but the kinds of 
grasses sown together should not ripen at different times, 
as recommended for pastures. To make hay of the 
best quality, all the herbage should be in nearly the 
same state of ripeness when cut. 
Where the object is hay, and the soil of a medium 
character as to dryness, we have used with good results 
the following mixture: 
Of red clover, 8 lbs. or 4 qts. ) 
Timothy, ( Phleum pratense,) 8 fits* / f° r ^ acre. 
Red-top, (Agrostis vulgaris,) 1 bushel ) 
If the object is only clover as an ameliorating crop, 
or to occupy the land only one or two years, we should 
sow no grass seeds with it, but should increase the 
quantity of clover seed to twelve or fourteen pounds per 
acre. If the land should be unfavorable to clover, and 
permanent meadows were intended, we should only sow 
timothy and red-top—say twelve quarts of the former 
and a bushel and a peck of the latter. It should be 
borne in mind that clover is only biennial, therefore 
when sown with perennial grasses it interferes with 
their growth only two years; in fact, its growth gene¬ 
rally diminishes considerably after the first crop is tak¬ 
en. Timothy and red-top, when sown with considera¬ 
ble clover, are usually seen but little in the first crop; 
in the second they increase, and after that the clover 
dies out, (except a root is occasionally brought in from 
seed,) and the grasses take its place. 
For pastures, with a soil of medium dryness, the fol¬ 
lowing would be a good mixture: 
Red clover,.^ quarts. 
White do.* “O 
(If this is produced naturally in the soil the seed may be 
omitted.) 
Kentucky blue grass, (Poa pratense,) 8 quarts. 
Timothy,. - 
Orchard grass, ( Dactylis glomerata,) 1 bushel. 
Red-top,. % , , 
On soils too wet for red clover, we should omit tnat, 
and increase the quantity of red-top and timothy. 
Manner of sowing—A very common mode in some 
sections, is to mix the clover and grass seeds together 
4 do 
