BAR′LEY

Syn. Hor′deum , L.; Orge , Fr.; Gerste , Ger., Anglo-S. A well-known grain, the produce of several species of the genus hordeum . Var., Cult., . Those principally cultivated in England are— TWO′-ROWED , LONG′-EARED , or COMM′ON BARLEY ( hor′deum dis′tich on , Linn.); SPRING′-BARLEY , SQUARE′-B. , or BERE ( h. vulga′′re , Linn.); and SIX′-ROWED BARLEY , WINTER B. , Scotch BERE or BIGG ( h. hex as′tich on , Linn.). Put′ney , SPRAT , or BATT′LEDORE B. ( h. zeocriton , Linn.), is another species le frequently met with. Of each of the above there are several varieties. In Spain and Sicily, two crops of barley are obtained in a year; but, in countries so far north as Britain, it produces only one, and is a delicate species of grain. In England it is generally adopted as a succe ion crop on light lands, following turnips or green crops. (Loudon.) The ‘yield’ per acre varies from 28 to 64 bushels, and is usually from 28 to 40 bushels. The average weight per bushel is 50 to 51 lbs. ; but the best Norfolk and E ex samples weigh 53 to 54 lbs. per bushel. Comp. The leading constituents of barley are nearly similar to those of wheat, but it is scarcely so rich in nitrogenised matter. According to Einhof, the ripe SEEDS or GRAINS are composed of— | Meal | 70·05 | | Husk | 18·75 | | Moisture | 11·20 | | ——— | | 100· | According to Johnston, average fine BARLEY-MEAL contains— | Starch | 68· | | Albumen, gluten, . | 14· | | Fatty matter | 2· | | Ash or saline matter | 2· | | Water | 14· | | ——— | | 100· | According to Payen, dried barley po e es the following composition— | Nitrogenous matter | 12·96 | | Starch | 66·43 | | Dextrin | 10·00 | | Fatty matter | 2·76 | | Cellulose | 4·75 | | Mineral matter | 3·10 | | ——— | | 100·00 | According to Dr Ure, the sp. gr. of English barley is 1·25 to 1·33 (average, 1·235), and the weight of the husk is about 1-6th; that of BIGG , 1·227 to 1·265, and weight of husk, 2-9ths. The analyses of the following varieties of barley, gave as the composition of the ashes of the grains:— | Unknown | Chevalier Barley | From Moldavia | Chevalier Barley | | Potash | 21·14 | 20·77 | 37·55 | 7·70 | | Soda | | 4·56 | 1·06 | 0·36 | | Lime | 1·65 | 1·48 | 1·21 | 10·36 | | Magnesia | 7·26 | 7·45 | 10·17 | 1·26 | | Sesquioxide of iron | 2·13 | 0·51 | 1·02 | 1·46 | | Sulphuric acid | 1·91 | 0·79 | 0·27 | 2·99 | | Silica | 30·68 | 32·73 | 24·56 | 70·77 | | Phosphoric acid | 28·53 | 31·69 | 38·64 | 1·99 | | Chloride of Sodium | 1·10 | | 1·47 | 1·10 | In the ‘Journal of the Agricultural Society’ for 1873 is a report by Me rs Lawes and Gilbert of twenty years’ experiments with barley. The soil of a field at Rothampstead, in which the barley had been grown for twenty years, consisted of heavy loam, with a subsoil of clay resting on chalk, and was previous to the barley being planted almost exhausted by cropping. The produce was found to be greatest during the absence of drought and sudden alterations of temperature, the rather cool but uniform season of 1854 giving the heaviest crops. The yield from farm-yard manure and nitrate of soda was found in dry seasons to be rather larger than that from ammonia salts. Barley manured with phosphates was found to ripen one to two weeks earlier than when the phosphate was omitted. The average produce per acre of a few of the principal plots is given below. The “ammonium salts” are stated to be a mixture of equal parts of sulphate and chloride; the “alkali salts” consist of the sulphates of pota ium, sodium, and magnesium; the “cinerials” consist of alkali salts, plus superphosphate: KEY: A: Dre ed Corn, bushels. B: Straw and Chaff, cwts. C: Total Produce, lbs. D: Corn to 100 Straw. E: Weight per Bushel of Dre ed Corn, lbs. F: Produce of second 10 yrs. over or under first 10 yrs, per cwt. | Manures per Acre. | A | B | C | D | E | F | | Unmanured. | 20 | 113⁄4 | 2454 | 86·6 | 52·3 | -23·6 | | Mixed cinerials. | 271⁄2 | 143⁄8 | 3162 | 96·4 | 53·4 | -20·2 | | Ammonium salts, 200 lbs. | 321⁄2 | 181⁄2 | 3919 | 89·2 | 52·1 | -9·7 | | Ammonium salts, 200 lbs., and alkali salts. | 35 | 203⁄4 | 4317 | 86·3 | 52·8 | -5·3 | | Ammonium salts, 200 lbs., and superphosphate. | 47 | 275⁄8 | 5760 | 86·8 | 53·5 | +2·7 | | Ammonium salts, 200 lbs., and cinerials. | 461⁄4 | 281⁄2 | 5817 | 83·2 | 54·0 | -·3 | | Rape cake (mean 1300 lbs.) | 451⁄4 | 267⁄8 | 5571 | 87·3 | 53·8 | | Farmyard manure, 14 tons. | 481⁄4 | 281⁄4 | 5933 | 88·5 | 54·3 | +14·8 | The authors direct attention to the results obtained by using the cinerial manure alone, as illustrating the unsoundne of the old “mineral theory,” according to which plants were supposed to po e a sufficient source of nitrogen in the atmosphere. They found a greater crop yielded by barley than wheat, when no manures were employed, as well as when cinerials were employed, a fact which they attribute to barley being better able than wheat to supply itself with nitrogen, notwithstanding the deeper roots of the latter. They state that with both wheat and barley the produce is slowly falling off under these circumstances. With ammonium salts alone, and with nitrate of sodium alone, there is much le falling off than when no nitrogenous manure is used. The falling off was least with the nitrate. The nitrate gives a rather larger crop for the same amount of nitrogen supplied, and they found this to hold when both nitrate and ammonia are applied with cinerials. The addition of superphosphate to ammonium salts or sodium nitrate greatly increases the produce; the further addition of pota ium, sodium, and magnesium salts they found almost without effect. The inference was that the barley had obtained an ample supply of potash from the natural soil, but an insufficient supply of phosphoric acid. When ammonium salts are used alone, and the quantity of ammonia does not exceed 50 lbs. per acre, 3·68 lbs. of ammonia will yield an average increase of 1 bushel of corn and 63 lbs. of straw—total, 115 lbs. ; the extremes in 20 years were 2·25-18·05 lbs. When ammonium salts are applied with superphosphate, 2·21 lbs. of ammonia will produce the same result; the extremes were 1·47-5·36 lbs. Silicate of sodium had been applied for eight years and a half to half the barley plots receiving ammonia; no increase has resulted where ammonia and superphosphate are employed; but on the other three plots an increase had taken place, which, in the case of the plot receiving only ammonia and alkali salts, is very considerable. The authors think this irregular reaction seems to show that the silicate has not produced its effect by furnishing silica to the crop, but by some reaction upon the plant-food of the soil. The rape cake supplied much more nitrogen than the ammonium salts, and also some phosphates and potash. Rape cake alone gives a better return than either ammonium salts or sodium nitrate applied alone; but when the three manures are mixed with superphosphate, the results for equal amounts of nitrogen show the rape cake to be decidedly inferior. From the above experiments it is inferred that a supply of carbonaceous matter does not increase the crop of barley. A farm-yard manure containing about 0·64 per cent. of nitrogen supplied far more plant food than any of the other manures. On an average of twenty years it was found that about 8 lbs. of ammonia in the form of dung would produce a bushel of barley, with its equivalent of straw. In all cases which were comparable it was found that barley appropriates more of the nitrogenous manure than wheat, save with farmyard manure. A large amount of nitrogen applied by manure is not taken up by the crop. Experiments in the barley field proved that large residues from ammonium salts and sodium nitrate show a small but distinct effect upon succeeding crops, the influence extending over many years. From an examination of the drainage waters from lands dre ed with the nitrates of ammonium and sodium, the authors conclude that ammonium salts, as well as sodium nitrate, will be more economically applied in the spring than in the winter. Manures containing organic nitrogen are clearly not so liable to lo from drainage. Experiments were made on the growth of barley after turnips, and also in an ordinary four-course rotation. After growing turnips ten years consecutively with purely cinerial manures, and carting off the produce, the yield of barley was much smaller than in the experimental field, where barley was grown after barley. The turnips, though very small crops, had exhausted the soil of nitrogen to a greater extent than corn crops would have done. On one plot where rape cake had been applied to the turnips, the produce of barley was 8 1 ⁄ 4 bushels more than when none had been used. In the rotation experiments barley was grown after turnips (carted off), and was followed by beans and wheat. In one series all the crops were unmanured; in another the turnips received superphosphate; in a third the turnips received an abundant cinerial and nitrogenous manure. The mean produce of the six crops of barley obtained in twenty-four years of rotation was as follows: | Character of Rotation. | Dre ed Corn. | Straw and Chaff. | | bushels. | cwt. | | Unmanured continuously | 383⁄8 | 213⁄4 | | Superphosphate for turnips only | 293⁄8 | 161⁄2 | | Mixed manure for turnips only | 443⁄8 | 251⁄4 | | Mean produce of unmanured barley in barley field during the same season | 211⁄2 | 121⁄8 | The unmanured turnips were so very small in quantity, that the barley in the first series was practically grown after a fallow; this barley, however, was a much larger crop than that grown after turnips manured with superphosphate only, the available nitrogen of the soil in this case being exhausted by the turnips. In the last series the residue of the abundant manure applied to the turnip crop suffices to produce a good crop of barley. Qual., Uses, . Its employment and value as food, and in the manufacture of malt, are well known. It forms good wholesome bread well adapted for persons who live luxuriously; but which, for the abstemious and the delicate, is inferior to that made of wheat, as it is rather le nutritious, and le easy of digestion, and commonly proves laxative to those unaccustomed to its use. Barley-flour and barley-meal are also more perishable than wheat-flour; being very apt to acquire a hot nauseous taste, which even the heat of the oven does not remove. In a medical point of view, barley is regarded as the mildest and least irritating of the cereals. It has always been in high estimation as a demulcent and emollient. The decoction ( BAR′LEY-WATER ), made with pearl barley, is a common and useful drink in inflammatory diseases, particularly in those of the chest and urinary organs. Among the Ancients, decoctions of barley (κραθη) were the principal aliments and medicines employed in acute diseases. Barley was extensively cultivated by the Romans and many other nations of antiquity, as well as by the ancient inhabitants of Gaul. The Greeks are said to have trained their athletes on it. The best tests of the genuinene of barley are its colour, freedom from dust, grit, and insects. The microscope will lead to the detection of any cheaper grains if mixed with it. It is rarely adulterated, although it is said to be extensively used for the purpose of sophisticating wheat, annatto, and roll liquorice. IMG:596405606043057898_i263.png: Barley Starch.