BARLEY, CULTIVATION OF. Barley divas cultivated largely by the Romans, as well as many other nations of antiquity. Though sometimes used as food by the soldiers, it was most generally used as food for horses. The ancient inhabitants of Gaul prepared a spir ituous liquor, a kind of beer, from it. Many of the other western nations latterly applcd it to the same use. and it also became an important article of food. Being a plant which is most productive where the climate is moderately dry and warm, the excessive heats of some parts of Europe are adverse both to the quantity and quality of its grain. It is, however, cultivated to tklarge extent, iq some parts of the continent where the soil is specially suited to it, such as in Belgium, Holland, Prussia, and Denmark. Indeed, while most of the countries of Europe send us wheat, it is chiefly Denmark and Silesia that supply us with barley. For this reason, the prices of 13. have been relatively higher in this country than those of wheat, since the introduction of free-trade in grain. No country seems to possess a soil and climate so well suited to its growth as many parts of Britain. In former times, this grain was largely used in the British islands as human food; but this is not the ease now, except in some parts of Ireland and, in a stray instance, in the highlands of Scotland, where the condition of the population has undergone com paratively little amelioration. In Scotland, however, n considerable quantity is made use of in the making of broth. In this case, the grain is denuded of its husk by the friction of millstones, and goes under the name of pot barley. But the larger proportion of the B. grown in Great Britain, as well as that which is imported, is employed in the distillation of spirits, and in the manufacture of beer, ale, and por ter. The moderate qualities are taken up by the distillers, while the brewers of ale and porter require the finest, which are known by the silvery color of the husk, and the specific gravity of the grain. Fine malting 13., therefore, always commands a ready demand in the London market, as well as a high price. For several years barleyhas not only grown better than any other grain with the British farmer, but has commanded relatively the best prices.
Perhaps the cultivation of B. occupies as prominent a share of the arable lands of Suffolk and Norfolk as of any other part of Britain. Fine malting qualities are grown
on the turnip-soils of these counties, as well as throughout the s.e. counties, where the four-course rotation is adopted. In this rotation, the B. follows the turnip-crop, which is usually consumed on the land by sheep. The ground is carefully prepared by plowings and rollings, to pulverize it thoroughly before the reception of the seed, which is usually sown by a drill machine at the rate of about two bushels to the acre. Ou the strong lands of Suffolk and Huntingdon, the B.-crop is sown after a summer-fallow or a green crop, in which ease the soil is plowed before the frosts of winter sets in, to render it friable by spring. As soon as the weather permits, after the first week of February, the seed is committed to the ground. A fine mold is in this way obtained, and the crops are usually abundant and of good quality. In the s. of England, the grain is allowed to stand till it is fully ripe, when it is either cut with the scythe or most commonly now with the reaping-machine. In some parts, it is not bound up into sheaves, but remains in the swath for a few days, when it is afterwards carted, and stored into barns. A small portion of the B.-crop is still thrashed out by the flail, owing to the maltsters being under the impression that the thrashingmills injure the germinat ing powers. The chief varieties grown in England are the Chevalier, the common. tho early English, and the Norfolk. The first named is the most largely sown, as the quality is superior to any other, and, under liberal treatment, the yield is greater. The produce is more influenced by the seasons than that of wheat, as it is liable to suffer from droughts in the early part of the 3-ear. On well-farmed land, from 48 to 60 bushels and upwards are got to the acre. In the peaty soils of the fens of Lincolnshire, B. is not raised, as it is too liable to lodge with the rain; neither is B. a favorite crop in the moist climate of the w. of England. It does not endure the rains so well as wheat, nor do so well on highly farmed land. In Wales and Lancashire. it is generally- grown after a crop of wheat, and the cultivation and management are not so careful as in the east.