ee es 
is simply Scotch barley grown two or three times 
upon land manured with sea-weed ; and it pos- 
sesses an acquired habit of superior earliness, 
and, on that account, is in request for seed-corn 
by farmers in the later and more inland districts 
of the country.—Thanet barley so very closely re- 
sembles the Scotch as to appear the very same 
subvariety, a little modified by being sown for a 
number of years in a warmer climate. When 
sown early in the season on rich land, it possesses 
much strength and vigour, has a round and 
rather coarse grain, and yields a comparatively 
large produce; but it seldom has a bright colour, 
and does not bring the best price in the market. 
Its grain is plump and thin-skinned, and is in 
request, far less for malting, than for pot-barley 
and barley-meal——tLincoln barley is a late sub- 
variety, with a coarse, ill-working grain, and 
suitable only for sharp soils and warm situations, 
where no better a sort of barley can be obtained. 
It was formerly sown upon land which had been 
summer fallowed; but, since the introduction of 
better husbandry and improved rotations, it is 
not wanted, and has been driven almost entirely 
out of cultivation. 
The Chevalier barley, as to its origin, is only a 
variation of the long-eared subvariety of the 
common English barley; yet it possesses such 
distinctive characters as to constitute a well-de- 
fined variety of itself. Its ears resemble those of 
the common English barley, but usually contain 
two or four more grains in each; its grains are 
rounder, much plumper, and contain a larger 
proportion of sugar; its general character, for 
the purposes of both the miller and the maltster, 
is superior ; and its habit of tillering is so strong 
that a proportion of its seed-corn half a bushel 
per acre less than that of common English bar- 
ley, will be equally productive. Yet it is eight 
or ten days later in ripening than common bar- 
ley, and, on that account, is less suitable for cold 
soils and exposed situations. Its straw also is 
weaker and harder, and therefore more liable to 
be laid, and not so palatable to cattle. But, as a 
whole, it is a very valuable variety, and has, for 
a number of years past, been regarded with gene- 
ral and high favour throughout all the best. agri- 
cultural districts of Great Britain. A gentleman 
|| of the name of Chevalier observed in his field an 
ear of barley of larger size and with plumper 
grain than he had ever before seen ; he care- 
fully preserved it, sowed it in his garden, saved 
the seed, and re-sowed it, till he had a sufficient 
quantity for field-culture and general diffusion ; 
and he thus not only nursed and sent abroad the 
fine variety which bears his name, but practically 
taught all intelligent farmers the important les- 
son of how much profit may be acquired and how 
great good may be done by close and skilful ob- 
servation. The Rev. Mr. Rham, who early put 
the excellence of this variety to the test, and 
lent his powerful aid to bring it into notice, said 
in 1833 or 1834, “ That hitherto it has a decided 
BARLEY. 
o41 
superiority over the cornmon sorts, no one who 
has tried it fairly in well-prepared land seems to 
deny; but unless great care be taken in cultivat- 
ing picked parcels for seed, selecting the finest 
ears and plumpest grain, it will probably share 
the fate of its predecessors,—degenerate, and lose 
its reputation.” 
The Annat barley has grain of a bright yellow 
transparent colour, and observably more round 
and plump than even that of the Chevalier bar- 
ley. “This new and seemingly very superior 
variety,” said the Editor of the Quarterly Journal 
of Agriculture in 1835, “is the produce of three 
ears which were picked by Mr. Gorrie, Annat 
Gardens, in a field on the farm of Flawcraig, Carse 
of Gowrie, Perthshire, in the harvest of 1830 ; 
since which period it has been grown at Annat 
Gardens: hence its name. Last season it was 
sown on a ridge in the middle of a field with 
common barley on the one side and Chevalier on 
the other. In bulk of straw it seemed to have 
the advantage of both these kinds; it was five 
days earlier ripe than the former, and about a 
fortnight before the latter; and it was also 24 
Ib. per bushel heavier than the Chevalier.” This 
variety, however, requires a good soil; and, 
judging from the peculiar situation in which it 
originated, it is not likely to possess near so wide 
a range of adaptation or to exert near so strong 
a resistance to deterioration as either the common 
or the Chevalier varieties. 
The golden, Italian, or Alpine barley, was in- 
troduced not many years ago, from the Italian | 
side of the Alps; and is now somewhat exten- 
sively cultivated in Stirlingshire under the name 
of golden barley, and in Ayrshire under that 
of Italian or Alpine barley. Its ear is short, but 
very close, broad, and compact ; and its grains 
have a bright light yellow colour, and are larger 
than those of the common English barley. It 
appears to be a decidedly superior variety, and 
well worthy of cultivation —Dunlop barley, though 
recently introduced, is pretty extensively culti- 
vated in Perthshire and Forfarshire. Its ear and 
its grains are similar in shape and size to those of 
common English barley ; but, in common with 
the straw, are considerably darker in colour. It 
ripens about a week earlier than common barley, 
and, on that account, is adapted to exposed and 
elevated situations.—Chancellor barley is inferior, 
In aggregate qualities, to some of the preceding 
varieties. Its ear is rather long; but its grains 
are not very closely set.—Royston barley also is 
inferior, and darker in colour; and its grains, 
though large, are rather widely set.—Stain’s bar- 
ley has a slender ear, and is tolerably good in 
quality. It is sometimes called Siberian barley; | 
but this name, as already shown, properly belongs 
to the naked six-rowed barley. he principal | 
other varieties of common two-rowed barley, at 
present known in Great Britain, are Norfolk 
spring barley, Black’s superlative barley, Brown’s 
barley, Bute barley, Lord Western’s barley, Not- 
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a 
