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Show BARLEY ON DRY FARIY Success as Crop In Recent Yean Attracts Attention. No 8lngle Variety, Either Spring oi Winter, $eema Adapted to Entire Semi-Arid Regions Yield Depends De-pends Upon Seeds. By II. IU I'EltK, Agronomist, Unit Btutua Ita'pnrtinrnt of Agriculture.) Ilarley bas generally not been con Idercd a dry land crop, but Us sue cess In the western states during th past few years has attracted attention to Its possibilities for that purpose. In the northern 'Ireat 1'lalns and Hocky Mountalu states, whore corn is an un certain crop, barley will furnish an excellent feed for all kinds of farm animals. This fact bas already given an Impetus to the growing of live stock, especially bogs, throughout the northwest. In the Hocky Mountain and I'uciflc Coast states booded, or beardless, barley bas long been grown or bay, of which Is furnished an ex rellent and highly palatable crop, nearly near-ly equal to alfalfa la feeding value. In Utah. Idaho, eastern Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tex as farmers are beginning to realize the advantages of winter barley over spring sown barley as a grain crop. Winter barley, being fall sown, has tbe advantage of an early start In the spring and will frequently produce a crop where spring sown barley may fall. At present there are but two forma of winter barley grown In tbe west, the square-bead Tennessee wi-ter wi-ter and tbe round-head Utah winter. Tbe olflce of grain Investigations, bureau bu-reau of plant Industry, department of agriculture, has developed a number of other winter forms which were distributed dis-tributed In 1D11, and results will be watched with Interest. No tingle variety, either spring or winter, seems to be adapted to the entire semi arid region. Among tbe winter forms, Tennessee winter, bearded six rowed barley, has so far, given best results, and Hannchen, a bearded two-rowed spring barley leads In yield In the Dakotas. Among the six-rowed spring forms. Manchuria, Oataml and Odessa are the beat. ' Among the bulless varieties Himalaya (Cluy Mayle) Illack Hulless and Ne-paul Ne-paul (Wblte bulless) give tbe best results. re-sults. With the exception of sandy and very alkaline land, barley can be grown on a variety of soils, but tbe best results are generally secured on tbe prairie or alluvial loam soils Ilarley Ilar-ley Is a more certain crop on alkaline soils than la either wheat or oats. Tbe crop requires a mellow seed bed. If tbe land la plowed It should be Immediately harrowed to conserve the moisture. In many localities best results are obtained when the land Is fall plowed and left rough until spring and then disked and harrowed. Where there la a tendency to blowing of the soli, granular soli is preferable to tbe dust mulch generally advised. The yield and quality of barley are considerably Influenced by the kind of teed sown. Tbe seed should be thoroughly thor-oughly cleaned and graded before sowing sow-ing Large, plump seed will produce strong plants which. In the struggle for existence tbat always follows seeding seed-ing dry land crops, will be more likely to survive than will plants produced from small, shrunken seeds. Tbe fanning mill should be found on every farm, but when not available, simple yet highly effective method for rleanlng and grading the seed Is to Immerse It In a tub of water and stir thoroughly. All the light, chaffy and diseased grains, aa well as the larger portion of wild oats and other weed seeds, will come to tbe surface and can be skimmed off and burned. If the seed was smutted, adding formalin form-alin at tbe rate of one pound to 40 gallons of water will be found effective effec-tive In preventing Its further propa-gallon. propa-gallon. Numerous trials conducted throughout through-out tbe dry land area have demonstrated demon-strated the advisability of drilling tbe seed. This Insures a more uniform rate and depth of seeding. If sown broadcast and harrowed In It Is covered cov-ered at various depths or not at all, atid consequently there Is a lack of uniformity uni-formity In germination and survival that generally affects the growth and yield. In a four years' trial In Nebraska Ne-braska tbe yield of barley was Increased In-creased more than seven bushels per acre by using a press drill Instead of seeding broadcast. Taft Eulogizes Grant. Philadelphia President Taft paid honor Saturday night for the second time within a few hours to the memory mem-ory of the Illustrious family of Grant. In New York on Friday he attended memorial exercises for Major Wn-eral Wn-eral Frederick iN-nt Grant and Saturday Satur-day night at a banquet hi eulogized tbe soldier's famous father, who was twice president of the United States and to whom many historians give much of the credit of the north s successful suc-cessful conduct of the Civil war. |