rowed kinds into one class; it burdens itself with 
exceptions and explanations, to account for the 
differences between the six-rowed and the four- 
rowed ; and it groups all the numerous and the 
widely different kinds of two-rowed into one 
undistinguished mass.—Other writers classify all 
barleys into Scotch and English, —calling the 
six-rowed and the four-rowed kinds Scotch, and 
the two-rowed kinds English,—and subclassify 
all the latter, according to their earliness or late- 
ness of ripening, into rath-ripe barleys and late- 
ripe barleys. But any late-ripe sort, which has 
been grown for some years upon strong and cold 
soils, will become rath-ripe by being sown a few 
times upon light dry soil, and will retain its ac- 
| quired early habit for three or four years upon 
its original cold soil; and any rath-ripe sort, 
which has been grown upon light warm soil, will 
be rendered late-ripe after a few years’ cultiva- 
_ tion upon cold heavy soil. 
All these distinctions, in fact, not only exclude 
the whole of the weeds and the mere herbage 
| grasses of the barley genus, but are considerably 
too narrow for the purposes of practical agricul- 
tural classification. The number of species, as 
determined by permanent and well-defined bo- 
tanical characters, and quite irrespective of the 
multitudinous varieties of some of the cultivated 
kinds, is fifteen according to Professor Kunth, 
and eighteen according to Loudon’s Hortus Bri- 
tannicus; and even the number of cultivated 
species, including the cereal grasses of other 
countries, and the useful herbage grasses of our 
own land, is variously stated at not fewer than 
from eight to ten. LHvery intelligent farmer, 
therefore, ought clearly to be acquainted with a 
wider range of classification than most agricul- 
tural writers exhibit. Yet the distinctions of 
winter and spring barley, and of rath-ripe and 
late-ripe barley are of important practical use. 
Winter barley is usually of the four-rowed and 
six-rowed kinds, and is sown principally in coun- 
tries, such as Spain, Italy, and the south of France, 
where winter is mild and the spring is dry, or 
such as Russia, Poland, and some portions of 
North America, where snow lies throughout win- 
ter, and a genial and steady sun-heat usually 
commences with the disappearance of the snow. 
Spring barley seldom yields so large a produce of 
grain as winter barley, and is likewise so much 
later in ripening as to interfere, in some degree, 
with the wheat harvest; yet it incurs far less 
risk, and on the whole is more suitable in a cli- 
mate, like that of Great Britain and Ireland, 
-where the winter is an alternation of frosts and 
thaws, and the early part of spring is usually 
cold and wet. Rath-ripe varieties of spring bar- 
ley generally yield a smaller produce of grain 
than late-ripe varieties; and therefore ought not 
to be preferred to the latter except for cold late 
soils, or with the express design of affording an 
early barley-harvest. 
The Barley-grasses.—The meadow barley-grass, 
i 
BARLEY. 
337 
Hordewm pratense, is perennial, and grows wild 
in the moist meadows of England, but is rare in 
Scotland. Its side florets are barren, and have a 
short beard; its glumes are rough and bristly; 
its culms are kneed, not very straight, and grow 
to the height of about two feet; its foliage is 
scanty ; and its roots are fibrous. It flowers in 
June, and ripens its seeds in August. It is 
adapted to irrigation, has very hardy habits, con- 
tains a large proportion of nutritious matter, and 
often occurs naturally on good rich meadow-land. 
Yet it yields a comparatively small amount of 
herbage ; it is liable to rust ; its seeds cannot be 
very easily procured; its long sharp awns are in 
risk of irritating and inflaming the gums of cat- 
tle; and, on these accounts, it can scarcely claim 
to be worthy of cultivation. 
The wall barley-grass, mouse-barley, or way- 
bonnet grass, Hordeum murinum, is an annual 
weed, of the salt marshes, way - sides, beaten- 
paths, and other waste grounds of Great Britain. 
Its root is fibrous; its culms ascend in numbers 
from one root, to the height of about 15 or 18 
inches, and they have three or four joints, and 
are procumbent at the base, erect’in the upper 
parts, and considerably thicker than those of the 
meadow barley-grass; its spikes are brittle, two 
or three inches in length, of a dirty yellow col- 
our, and less slender than those of the meadow 
barley-grass; and its long, stiff awns, when they 
enter into the composition of hay, are apt to in- 
flict damage on the mouths of horses. It is said 
by Withering to be eaten by horses and sheep ; 
yet is asserted by other careful and competent 
observers to be uniformly avoided by even half- 
famishing animals which feed by the road-sides. 
Its proportion of nutritive matter is exceedingly 
small, and consists principally of mucilage and 
insoluble extractive matter. It flowers from 
April till August, and ripens its seed about the 
beginning of the latter of these months. 
The sea barley, or squirrel tail grass, Hordewm 
maritunum, is also an annual weed of the salt 
marshes, and the sea-shore pastures and maritime 
sandy ground of Great Britain. It resembles the 
wall barley-grass in general habit, but is smaller 
and more glaucous, and has rougher awns, with 
minute bristly teeth. It grows to the height of 
about a foot, and flowers in June and July. It 
abounds in the Isle of Thanet, but, in general, 
is of scattered and comparatively scarce occur- 
rence.—The bulbous barley-grass, Hordewm bul- 
bosum, is an uninteresting perennial of Italy; it 
was introduced to Great Britain in 1770; and it 
grows to the height of three feet, and flowers in 
July—The cape barley-grass, Hordeum Capense, 
is an uninteresting annual of the Cape of Good 
Hope, and was introduced to Britain in 1817; 
and it grows to the height of about a foot, and 
flowers in July and August.—The maned barley- 
grass, Hordewm jubatum, is a curious biennial of 
North America, and was introduced to Britain in 
1782; and it grows to the height of about a foot, 
Y 
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