The New International Encyclopædia/Barley

BAR'LEY (AS. bærlic, from bere, Engl. bear, barley + leac, a leek, plant), Hordeum vulgare. One of the most ancient of cultivated plants, of the natural order Gramineæ, or grasses. Its cultivation is mentioned in the Bible. It was grown by the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, and according to the Waiki, one of the sacred books of the Chinese, it was cultivated in China twenty centuries before the Christian Era. It has been found in the earliest Egyptian monuments and in the remains of the lake-dwellings of Switzerland. Barley is foimd growing wild in western temperate Asia, and this region is considered as its original home. The range of latitude in which barley is cultivated is quite large, and practically equals the width of the temperate zones. It is grown as far north as Alaska, Iceland, and Norway, even reaching latitude 70° N., and it is also grown in Algeria, Egypt, India, and other countries with an almost equatorial climate. In Switzerland and Chile it ripens at an elevation of 5000 feet above the level of the sea, but it rarely ripens on the plateaus of Peru, which have an elevation of 9000 feet.

The preparation of the soil for barley does not differ materially from that for wheat. The land should be plowed fairly deep and thoroughly pulverized to form a well-prepared seed-bed. The soil should be porous, well drained, and of good fertility. Barley grows best on sandy and calcareous loams in northern latitudes, but in southern countries soils containing a little more clay give the best results. The plant has a comparatively short growing period, and the tilth and fertility of the soil should be such as to enable it to make a rapid growth. An excess of nitrogenous manures in the soil is injurious. When barnyard manure is applied directly to the crop it should be well rotted. The best method, however, is to apply it to a previous crop, preferably corn. For illustration, see colored plate Cereals.

In the United States and Canada, as well as in the greater portion of Europe, barley is sown in spring, and in the countries along the Mediterranean Sea it is sown in the fall. It is, however, also grown to some extent as a winter annual in the Southern States. The quantity of seed sown per acre varies from 2 to 3 bushels. Barley germinates at about the same temperature as wheat, but the young plant is more susceptible to cold than wheat; and a light frost, shortly after it is up, is often injurious. In the regions of the United States where spring wheat is grown, it is a common custom to sow it after wheat and before oats are sown. It is generally sown broadcast, but many farmers, especially in England, prefer to sow it in drills from 8 to 10 inches apart. The crop is now generally harvested with the self-binder. As soon as the sheaves are dry enough, they are stacked or hauled into barns to prevent exposure to rains or damp weather, which would injure the color of the grain and materially reduce its value. Barley ripens earlier than spring wheat, and is harvested usually just before that crop. When grown for malting purposes, it should not be harvested before it is thoroughly ripe.

The different varieties of barley, considered by many botanists as all belonging to one species, comprise four distinct types, namely, Two-rowed Barley, Hordeum distichon; Four-rowed Barley, Hordeum vulgare; Six-rowed Barley, Hordeum hexastichon; and Naked Barley, Hordeum distichon nudum. These different types have been considered as distinct species. The varieties of barley grown in the United States are generally of the six-rowed type, while in Europe the two-rowed type predominates. The finest varieties of malting barley, including Chevalier barley and the various selections made from it, which are the most popular for malting purposes, belong to the two-rowed type. The four-rowed varieties, frequently called bere or bigg in England, were formerly extensively used for malt, but are now being more and more replaced by the two-rowed varieties. The characters which determine a good malting barley are composition, capacity, and energy of germination, plumpness and weight of grains, mealiness, proportion of husk (glumes adhering to grain), color, smell, and absence of mutilated kernels. In malting, barleys of a high starch content and a low protein content are sought. Quick and even germination produces the best malt, hence the brewer's interest in the state of ripeness and the absence of injured grains, conditions which directly affect germination. Plumpness and weight of the grains and the proportion of husk give indications as to a high or a low percentage of starch. Mealiness is important, as it insures a much more ready transformation of the starch into soluble compounds than when the grains are hard and flinty. A musty smell and a stained or discolored appearance of the grain are evidences of injury, and materially reduce the value of barley from the brewer's point of view. The best malting barleys of the world are produced in eastern and south-eastern England. The well-known chevalier variety was originated in Suffolk in 1819.

From 35 to 40 bushels of barley per acre is considered a good yield, although much larger returns are sometimes obtained. Under very favorable weather and soil conditions, the yield often reaches 60 bushels per acre or even more.

In the United States the production of barley has largely increased during the last 50 years. The total yield of barley in 1899 was 73,381,563 bushels, as against 5,167,015 in 1850. and 87,072,744 bushels in 1895, the largest total crop thus far produced. Of the amount in 1899, more than one-fourth (22,239,776 bushels) was produced in the State of California, the following States coming next in order: Iowa, 12,011,896 bushels: Minnesota, 8,144,125 bushels: and Wisconsin, 7,670,550. The average annual yield throughout the United States for the ten years 1890-1899 was 23.32 bushels per acre, and the average price per bushel 43⅔ cents.

Barley is affected in much the same manner as wheat by attacks of smut and rust. It is, however, much less liable to disease than any other cereal crop. See Rusts; Wheat.

Food and Feeding Value.—Barley grain, hay, and straw, as well as numerous milling and by-products from the grain, are used as feeding-stuffs. The grain, like other cereals, contains a fairly high percentage of proteids (12.4 per cent.) and a large amount of nitrogen-free extract (69.8 per cent.), chiefly starch. The other constituents are: Water (10.9 per cent.), fat (1.8 per cent.), crude fibre (2.7 per cent.), and mineral matter (2.4 per cent.). Barley is a common feeding-stuff in the Old World, having been satisfactorily used for the grain ration of horses, cattle, and pigs. It is not often fed in the United States, its use being confined largely to the Pacific Slope, where it is fed especially to horses. Comparative tests at the American Experiment Station have shown that, either alone or mixed with corn or other grain, it gives fairly satisfactory results with cattle, pigs, and sheep. In experiment with pigs, 80.1 per cent. of the dry matter, 81.4 per cent. of the protein, and 86.6 per cent. of the nitrogen extract of barley was found to be digestible. Barley is grown quite extensively for hay in some sections of the United States, being cut for that purpose before the grain is mature. The principal by-products are barley bran, barley feed (from pearled barley), screenings, malt sprouts, and brewer's grain (q.v.). The mill products are meal and pearled barley. As a food barley is used chiefly in the form of 'pearled barley,' i.e., barley with the husks removed, ground to a round form and polished. Barley is used for thickening soups, for making cooling drinks for invalids, and for a number of other purposes. The ground grain does not make a satisfactory bread: for, although it contains a fairly large amount of proteid matter, it is deficient in gluten. Combined with cow's milk, barley is frequently used for feeding infants, its carbohydrates and mineral matter rendering it very wholesome.