a 
338 
and flowers in July and August.—The porcupine 
barley-grass, Hordeum hystrix, is a curious an- 
nual of Spain, and was introduced to Britain in 
1821; and it grows to the height of about a foot, 
and flowers in June and July. 
The Cereal Barleys—All the cultivated barleys 
rank as annuals; yet most of the six-rowed kinds 
are sown toward the close of autumn, and treated 
as slightly biennial, while one of these kinds suc- 
ceeds well to be sown in summer, and treated as 
thoroughly biennial. Great confusion prevails 
in classifying the six-rowed barleys, and distin- 
guishing their species and varieties. Most of 
this confusion arises from mistaken notions of 
the six-rowed and the four-rowed kinds, and 
may be prevented by a little definition. “There 
is no barley,” remarks Professor Low, “to which 
the term four-rowed can be (properly) applied. 
Barley is termed two-rowed or six-rowed, accord- 
ing to the number of its fertile florets. In two- 
rowed barley, one row of florets in each of the 
two sides of the spike is fertile, and consequently 
one row of seeds on each side is perfected. In 
six-rowed barley, three rows on each side of the 
spike are fertile, and consequently three rows on 
each side are perfected. In this sense only, it is 
termed six-rowed barley. But there is no spe- 
cies known to us in which only two rows on each 
side of the spike are fertile. Slightly examined, 
indeed, six-rowed barleys frequently present the 
appearance of four rows; but this is in appear- 
ance only ; for such barleys have always the 
three rows on each side perfect. In poor soils 
and unfavourable situations, two of the rows run 
much into each other, and this has perhaps given 
rise to the mistake; but the two rows which 
thus run into each other in appearance, are on 
the opposite sides of the rachis.” The name 
hexastichon or six-rowed, which has usually been 
restricted to one well-marked species of six-rowed 
barleys, would thus become the proper designa- 
tion of the whole, and is so used by Professor 
Low. Yet the alteration or disturbance of estab- 
lished names is exceedingly undesirable, and in 
this case unnecessary, the mere definition of them 
being quite sufficient. By hewastichon or six- 
rowed, as distinguished from every other kind of 
barley, we mean a species which is always truly 
six-rowed, and whose ears stand out from one 
another in the spreading and characteristic man- 
ner of two-eared sprat or battledore barley ; and 
by all other square or six-rowed barleys—begin- 
ning with Hordeum vulgare, and ending with 
Hordeum Nepalense —we mean barleys which, 
while always six-rowed at the base, are usually 
more or less four-rowed at the top, according to 
soil, culture, and phytological habit, and whose 
ears lie compactly toward one another in the, 
manner of the ears of bere or bigg. 
The common barley, usually, though impro- 
perly, called the four-rowed barley, Hordeum vul- 
gare, seems to have been a native of the south of 
Murope, particularly of Sicily, but was intro- 
BARLEY. 
duced to Great Britain and to the countries of 
central and northern Hurope, at too remote a 
date or in too obscure circumstances to be known 
in record. In common with every other cereal 
species of barley, it ranks as an annual plant; yet 
it furnishes the chief varieties of cultivated win- 
ter barley, and is therefore practically a biennial. 
All its florets are fertile; its middle grains form 
two distinct rows; and its side grains form a 
kind of double row toward the base, but unite in 
such a manner as to form one row toward the 
top; and yet, in some instances, they remain so 
nearly separate from base to extremity as to ren- 
der it a true six-rowed barley. Three of its 
varieties are so conspicuous as to be pretty gen- 
erally treated as distinct species; and many are 
so obscure, so fugitive, or so worthless as to have 
challenged scarcely any notice. 
Bere, bigg, barley-bigg, or rough barley, is one 
of the best known and most extensively diffused 
varieties of common barley. It is cultivated in 
Denmark, in Sweden, in Russia, throughout the 
Scottish Highlands and Hebrides, and on exposed 
light grounds in the hilly portions of the Scottish 
Lowlands. Its ear is about 25 inches in length; 
the number of grains in each ear is about sixty ; 
the grains taper or have a pointed form at both 
ends ; and the awns are about 3$ inches in length, 
and adhere to the grain. Though its grains are 
more numerous than those of the two-rowed 
kinds of barley, yet they have less weight in pro- | 
portion to their bulk. Bere is, in consequence, 
regarded as an inferior crop, fit only for bad cul- 
tivators, or for poor cold lands; but it ripens 
very early when sown in spring, and is therefore 
a great and beneficial boon to climates which 
are too cold and late to ripen the better kinds of 
barley.—The square barley, called in France orge 
carée, differs from bere in having a thinner skin, | 
and in being three or four days sooner ripe; yet 
in other respects so closely resembles it as to be | 
almost identical. It is extensively cultivated in 
some parts of Germany.—The white four-rowed 
winter barley, called in France orge carée dhiver, 
has thicker and longer ears, thicker-skinned, and 
larger grains, and an aggregately coarser appear- 
ance than bere; and the lower three or four tiers 
of its florets are frequently barren. It is exten- 
sively cultivated in the north of France, and has 
the reputation of being very suitable for malting. 
When sown in autumn—as is the usual practice 
with it in France—it ripens before any of the 
spring-sown barleys; but when sown in spring, 
it does not ripen till a fortnight after the latest 
of these barleys.—The Tangier, Morocco, or Afri- 
can barley, is shorter in the ears and the straw, 
and larger, thicker-skinned, and less plump, than 
the preceding variety ; its awns are long and 
spreading, and are not easily separated from the 
grain; and its foliage, when green, is very broad, 
and is greedily devoured by rabbits and hares. 
It was, not many years ago, introduced to Great 
Britain from Morocco.—The Bengal barley re- 
