BARLEY (A. S. baserlic, from bere, barley +leas, a leek, plant); genus Hordeum; our fourth most important cereal. It belongs to the Poacece or grass family, and is one of the oldest of the cultivated members of this family. It was cultivated in ancient Egypt (Exod. ix, 31) by the Greelcs and Romans. Pliny regarded it as the most ancient food of mankind. It has been found in the lalce dwellings of Switzer land in deposits belonging to the Stone Age. Ears of barley are represented plaited in the hair of the goddess Ceres, and are also shown on ancient coins. One of the sacred books of the Chinese claims that it was grown in China 2000 B.C. It grows wild in western Asia, and this is probably its original home. It is adapted to both warm and cold climates, has a wider range of distribution than any other cereal, be ing grown all over the region embraced in the temperate zones, from Alaska, Iceland and Norway in the north to Algeria, Egypt, India and other subtropical countries. The Nepaul or Himalaya barley is very hardy. producing good crops at an elevation of 14,000 feet above the sea. In Chile and Switzerland it thrives at 5,000 feet, but on the plateaus of Peru it rarely ripens.
Barley is divided into several types, of which the following are recognized: Two rowed barley, Hordeum distichon; four-rowed barley, H. vulgare, the common barley, bere or bigg; six-rowed barley, H. hexastichon; naked barley, H. distichon nudum, the scales not ad hering to the grain as in other types; fan, spratt, or Brattledore barley, H. ceocrston, two rowed with wide-spreading awns; this is valued in Germany and is sometimes called German rice. These types are further subdivided into varieties, the most popular for malting belong ing to the two-rowed type. The best known is the Chevalier, which originated in Suffolk, England, in 1819. This variety and selections from it constitute the high-priced barley of California. In Europe the two-rowed type pre dominates. In this country the six-rowed is more common. The four-rowed varieties were formerly used for malting; they are hardy and productive but coarse, and are being replaced by the two-rowed. In northern latitudes well drained and fertile medium or rather light soils, particularly those of a calcareous nature, are best. Strong loams, heavy clays and soils rich in humus, produce heavy crops, but of inferior quality. In southern latitudes medium to heavy loams are best. Climate and season are of more importance than soil in determin ing whether the barley will be a good malting variety or not. A rather dry climate suits well. The climate of eastern and southeastern Eng, land produces the best malting barley. It may be sown broadcast or drilled, but the latter method is more satisfactory. Fall-sown va rieties are handled like fall-sown wheat, but it is generally sown in the spring after spring wheat sowing is over. The amount sown varies from two to three bushels per acre. It ger minates quickly, and late spring frosts may injure it. Fertilizers when applied must be
evenly distributed or an uneven growth will result. It ripens before spring wheat, and should be fully ripe before it is cut. The color and value of the grain is easily injured by damp weather. From 30 to 40 bushels of grain and 1,500 to 2,200 pounds of straw is a good yield. Sometimes this yield of grain is doubled. A good malting variety must have quick, high and even germinating power; the grains must be plump, heavy, thin-husked and uniform in size; of good bright color, not °steely° or bleached, indicating immaturity when cut, nor musty; must contain a high percentage of starch, mealy not flinty, showing that the starch can be readily transformed during malting. Barley is sometimes attacked by rust and smut, but less so than wheat. (See WHEAT). Wireworms are sometimes troublesome. The production of barley in the United States is in creasing. In 1866, 7,916,342 bushels were grown on 492,532 acres. In 1916, 180,927,000 bushels on 7,674,000 acres. The four leading States in 1916 were California, 33,320,000 bushels; Min nesota, 26,125,000 bushels; North Dakota, 26,738,000 bushels; South Dakota, 18,728,000 bushel. The average yield for the year 1916 was 23.6 bushels per acre. The average farm value 88.2c per bushel.
Feeding Value and averne percentage composition of barley is, water, 10.9; proteids, 124; nitrogen-free extract, chiefly starch, 60.8; ether extract, 1.8; crude fibre, 2.7; ash, 2.4. Digestion experiments with pigs showed that 80 per cent of the dry matter, 81 per cent of the protein, 87 per cent of the nitro gen-free extract, and 57 per cent of the ether extract were digestible. Barley is chiefly used for malting, for the preparation of spirits, beer and malted foods. It is also employed in do mestic cookery as °pot or hulled barley° in which only the husks are removed; °pearl bar ley)) is the grain deprived of huslcs and pellicle, then ground to a round form and polished; "patent barley° is flour obtained by grinding pearl barley. It is used in soups, for ma1cing demulcent and emollient drinks for invalids and for other purposes. Barley bread is darlcer in color and less nutritious than that from wheat flour; it does not contain gluten, but is fairly rich in other proteids.
Barley, or decoctions of it, are used to modify cows' milk for feeding to infants. Bar ley meal and the by-products, barley bean, bar ley feed (from pearled barley), screenings, malt combs and brewers' grains are used as stock feeds. Its use for horse feed in the United States is confined to the Pacific coast. For other stock its use is more general. It may be fed alone or with other gram. Barley hay is grown, the crop being cut before the grain is mature. As a forage crop or pasture it may be grcnvn alone or with peas, vetches or other quick-growing legumes. Barley straw is usually considered as not worth feeding, but may be used as bedding.