| BARLEY. 347 ; 
_barley. 
it throughout the whole subsequent growths 
of the clover and grasses. For this reason, but 
especially for reasons of far greater importance, 
the practice of sowing clover and grasses with 
barley, is not quite so superlatively excellent as 
-to be above the reach of doubt or question. The 
clover and grasses sustain to the barley the rela- 
tion of weeds; and, as such, they rob it of part 
of its nourishment, and interfere with the free- 
ness of its tillering; and though they possess far 
less of this objectionable character, when sown 
after the barley is above ground than when 
sown at the same time as itself, yet in the latter 
case the clover incurs some risk of being seriously 
curbed or even altogether smothered. In some 
seasons, the clover is so very luxuriant as mate- 
rially to injure the barley ; and in wet seasons, it 
go mixes its succulent stems with those of the 
barley at reaping, as to render it difficult to dry 
the barley in the field or to prevent it from heat- 
ing in the stack. The grand uses of sowing 
clover and grasses with the barley are to obtain 
a profitable and improving crop after the barley 
without further tillage, and to make an easy and 
most effective preparation for wheat; and cer- 
tainly these uses are so very rich as to bear the 
deduction of some little loss from the weight of 
In sandy soils in Flanders, a white car- 
rot is sown along with barley ; and after the lat- 
ter is cut down, the ground is thoroughly har- 
rowed, and sprinkled with liquid manure. The 
| carrots make exceedingly little growth of stem or 
leaf while the barley is growing, and can scarcely 
be observed when it is cut down ; yet they after- 
wards grow with rapidity, and become a good 
crop before the commencement of winter ; and 
they are found to be of great value for feeding 
swine, and for causing large secretions of urine 
in black cattle. 
Weeds.—One principal weed which infests bar- 
ley fields is the corn or way thistle, Cirsiwm ar- 
vense; it is perennial, has creeping roots, takes 
possession of a comparatively large spot of ground, 
and usually grows to the height of about two feet ; 
and it ought to be pulled up by hand as soon as 
it appears, or cut down with a weed-hook be- 
tween the time of its being 9 inches high and of 
its passing into flower; for if not promptly de- 
stroyed, it not only acts detrimentally on the 
plants immediately around it, but wafts its 
plumed seeds over a large extent of circumjacent 
ground. Another chief pest is the annual corn 
charlock, Stnapis arvensis; it is especially trouble- 
some when street or police manure has been used; 
and it ought to be pulled up by hand when the 
barley is broadcast, and hoed up when the bar- 
ley is in drills. Two other principal weeds are 
the pretty annuals, the doubtful poppy and the 
common corn poppy, Papaver dubium and Papaver 
rheeas. The deep scarlet flower of the latter, in 
particular, has a remarkable and brilliant appear- 
ance, and may sometimes be seen at a great dis- 
tance, but never reflects any credit upon the 
condition of the tillage. Another considerable 
annoyance is the cleavers or sticking-grass, Ga- 
dium aparine; it is a climbing annual, of the bed- 
straw kind, growing to the height of about three 
feet; and its seed is exceedingly hard, and does 
not become softened, but feels almost like a mi- 
nute stone, after having been boiled with pot-bar- 
ley. 
Harvesting.—In even the best seasons, barley 
requires more care in reaping and harvesting 
than any other grain; and in unfavourable sea- 
sons, it sometimes cannot be secured in tolerable 
condition without great labour and exceeding 
difficulty. When fully ripe, its straw is extremely 
brittle, and its ears are very liable to break off 
in handling; so that it ought to be cut down 
while the straw retains a considerable proportion 
of sap, and before the grain has lost all its pulpy 
softness. The best marks of due ripeness for 
reaping are a bright golden colour in the straw, 
from the bottom to the middle or upper part of 
the stem, and the disappearance of the purple 
hue, the appearance of a light straw colour, and 
the inclination to a slightly drooping position in 
the ears. If a skilful farmer walk through a 
field of ripening barley, select a few of the green- 
est heads, and finds that the grain of these can 
be separated from the chaff by rubbing them be- 
tween his hands, he knows that even these green- 
est grains are out of their milky state, and that 
the whole crop ought immediately to be reaped. 
Greenness in the upper part of the straw is of no 
consequence; for if the lower part of the straw 
be quite yellow, all nourishing or maturing com- 
munication from the soil is ended, and the whole 
plant is truly and healthily ripe. Yet thorough 
care must be used not to cut the crop a moment 
before true ripeness is attained ; for the increase 
of value during the three weeks preceding real 
maturity amounts to nearly one half of the entire 
produce, and the increase during the last five or 
six days amounts to about four or five per cent. 
Barley is very generally cut in England with a 
cradle scythe, and is deposited by that instru- 
ment in a regular swathe. But when a sufficient 
number of labourers, at reasonable wages, can be 
obtained, it is much more profitably cut with 
the Hainault scythe, or even with the common 
sickle or reaping-hook. The latter instrument, till 
of late, was the only one used in reaping barley in 
Scotland; but the Hainault scythe, after a little 
practice, and in the hands of an expert reaper, cuts 
down, in any given space of time, a much larger 
quantity than the sickle can cut. See the articles 
Scyrun, HarnauutScytHe, Mowine, and Reapine. 
A common practice in England is to rake the | 
swathes into heaps; but this frequently occasions 
the shedding of as much seed as would suffice for 
re-sowing the field. The binding of the barley 
into sheaves, and the placing of these sheaves in 
hooded stooks, not only prevents this great waste 
by shedding, but affords a better protection from 
the effect of rains, and presents a far less expo-_ 
