| deum disticho-zeocriton. 
| ley, sometimes given to it, alludes to the fact of 
| its having at one time been extensively cultivated 
340 
what tapering toward the top; its grains stand 
out from the rachis, in a manner almost resem- 
bling the expanded wings of a bird; its awns 
spread very divergently on both sides; and its 
| entire appearance, with the exception of the 
number of its rows, is precisely similar to that of 
Hordeum hexastichon. Professor Low, as already 
observed, regards the two species as one, with 
| the accidental difference of barrenness or fertility 
in the side florets; and he calls sprat barley Hor- 
The name Putney bar- 
in the vicinity of Putney ; and the names rice 
barley and German rice are given to it, not on 
account of its possessing any resemblance to rice, 
but because, as decorticated or pot-barley, it 
| swells much by boiling, and forms a tolerable 
substitute for rice in broths and puddings. It 
| was at one time in considerable favour with Eng- 
lish farmers, and is still much esteemed in Ger- 
many; but it has gone almost completely out of 
cultivation in England, and is thought by some 
scientific agriculturists to be undeserving renew- 
ed attention. Yet, except for the shortness of 
its straw, it might be found profitable for some 
soils and situations, particularly for marly lands, 
in a bleak or cold district ; it is, at all events, 
both hardy and productive ; and it ought, at 
least, to be kept in view by experimental and 
enterprising farmers. 
Two-rowed or long-eared barley, Hordewm dis- 
tichon, is the species commonly cultivated in 
England and the lowlands of Scotland. It has 
ramified itself into several well-marked, generally 
diffused, and highly esteemed varieties ; and. it 
is also identical, as a species, with very numerous 
varieties of inferior value, local diffusion, or ill- 
defined and fugitive character. All its side 
florets are male and barren, and are more minute 
and less distinct than those of six-rowed barleys ; 
its spike or ear is considerably longer than that 
of six-rowed barleys, and is as broad at the centre 
and the top as at the base; and its grains are 
more imbricated than those of sprat barley, or 
are so situated as to overlap one another instead 
of spreading out from the rachis. The number 
of its grains in an ear usually ranges from twenty- 
four to forty, according to the variety, while that 
of the six-rowed barleys ranges from about sixty 
to seventy; yet, in spite of this great inferiority, 
the two-rowed barley has obtained a very decided 
preference, and a very superior care from farm- 
ers, not only in Great Britain, but in France and 
in many parts of Germany. The greater actual 
produce of the two-rowed barley is the apparent 
reason of the preference, and the greater fineness 
of the sample was probably the inducing or ori- 
ginal reason, but adventitious advantage result- 
ing from better culture, is, perhaps, the only true 
reason, or that which accounts for both the others. 
Were equal care to be bestowed upon the best ex- 
isting varieties of six-rowed barley, as that which 
BARLEY. 
has been so long, so profusely, and so generally 
lavished upon two-rowed barley, in adapta- 
tions to soil, in hybridizing, and in selecting 
specially superior ears, scarcely a doubt can exist 
that eventual varieties might soon be obtained 
which would yield considerably greater produce 
than the best two-rowed kinds at present in cul- 
tivation, and at the same time be not one jot in- 
ferior in the sample. 
The common English two-rowed barley was 
long a favourite variety; but has been so much 
ramified into subvarieties, and blended through 
the medium of these into other varieties, as to 
have, in a considerable degree, lost its distinctive 
character. Its ear, in general, is from three to 
four inches long, and about one-third of an inch 
broad; its grains amount to from twenty to forty 
in the ear, but in the best sorts usually amount 
to from twenty-eight to thirty, and are not very 
closely set on the rachis ; and its awns extend 
about the length of the spike beyond its top. It 
is less prolific, and five or six days later, than 
bere ; and it is less adapted for poor soils and 
elevated situations ; but it is superior in quality, 
and is decidedly preferred by both the millerand | 
the maltster. Its straw is not very long, and 
makes good winter fodder. Some subvarieties of 
it called long-eared, usually have from 24 to 40 
grains in the spike; but they are comparatively 
weak in the culm, and are liable to be much laid 
by heavy rains, or overpowered by the weight of | 
their own ear. A subvariety called the Molda- 
vian was for some time in much favour ; but it 
seems to have degenerated, or at all events was 
driven out of use by the discovery and diffusion 
of newer and better subvarieties. Some other 
subvarieties have run the same round, and shared 
the same fate as the Moldavian. A curious plant 
of common English barley was presented in straw 
to Lawson’s Agricultural Museum in Edinburgh, 
by a gentleman in Fifeshire: it has three stems, 
two of them having ears of the usual form, and 
the other having a compound spike resembling 
that of Egyptian wheat, and containing 63 grains. 
The Scotch, the Thanet, and the Lincoln bar- 
leys, though very frequently mentioned in the 
conversation of farmers and the writings of agri- 
culturists, are mere subvarieties of the common 
English barley. The Scotch barley admits of 
great latitude in the time of sowing, and, though 
usually not sown later than the middle of May, 
has produced a satisfactory crop when sown so 
late as the 12th of June. But when late sown, 
its straw is liable to be soft, weak, and very easily 
lodged ; though when sown early, the strawis as 
strong and resisting as that of most other bar- 
leys. The Scotch barley, previous to the intro- 
duction of the more fertile kinds which are at 
present in chief favour, was very highly esteemed 
by the best Scottish farmers, and was preferred by 
brewers and distillers to almost any barley grown 
from English seeds.— Ware barley, long well 
known in the south-eastern districts of Scotland, 
