The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-12-13
About Barley.

The thorough pulveriZation OF the
soil the year previous is essential to
success with barley. Farmers who have
given their corn extra culture, to de-
stroy quack, thistles or other weeds,
should sow barley. Going through
corn. with a cultivator, Just before it
tassels, is great advantage. 1t may
or may not help the corn, but the ex-
ira working which it gives the soil is
more than paid for in next years bar
ley. For the same reason, barley does
better after q potato crop than after
CORN. The potatoes have to be dug,
and this gives the soil another working.
Late potatoes are better for after crops
than early ones. They are worked later
in the. season; their tops cover the
ground better and keep down the weeds;
and as their roots spread more, they
require a more thorough turning Of the
soil in digging the crop. Early Rose
and Early Vermont potatoes are often
left without any culture after the 1st of
July. The result is that weeds start
between the rows and in the hills, and
as the potato tops. die, weedsrcomplete-
Uncover the field, Aripening innumera-
Bile seeds, which will fill the ground
with weeds for years, after. have
seen, this year, potato fields which had
to be moved before the crop could be
dug. As the early potatoes mostly
grow in a heap; around the stalks, they
require little stirring of the soil in dig
ging.Fy After harvest, the weeds grow
without farther molestation, and COM
pletely mat the ground before winter
1t is impossible for such fields to bring
a good barley crop. Oats are a strong
Ser plant, and will run the race with
weeds much better than will barley.
The least that can be. done, for fields in
this condition is to cut the weeds as
soon as possible. get them partially
dry, and burn, SO, as to destroy the
seeds, and. then pillow the ground. In
this way something may be done to
clean the. soil of foul weeds, ~,
Fall blowing is Of especial advantage
for barley. In freshly-dug potato
field, free from Fwaeds, blowing may
not be necessary, but if, we expect to
sow corn stubble with barley, it is
best to pillow it. Theft pull
verizes the soilm0re thoroughly where
it is newly plowed, and the farrow
ridges are unbroken.s In the spring,
culsivating or blowing the soil three or
four inches deep is allthat is necessary.
Barley roots do not spread far and
hence this grain does not need so deep
a seed-bed as some others. From the
fact that its roots do not run far, bar
ley needs richer soil than oats, and is
especially benefited by having fertil-
izers drilled in with the seed, to give
every plant a vigorous growth from the
first.
Early sowing is important. At the
best, barley comes to maturity quicker
than most grains The old story that
a farmer bought barley, gave his note
for the seed for three months, and har-
vested and threshed the crop in time to
pay the note, has often been proved
to be possible To have large crop
of barley mature in ninety days, pre-
supposes very rich soil, and that the
crop cannot greatly exhaust it. This,
we find, is the fact with barley. 1t
takes less from the soil than the same
quantity of oats or wheat, and is I'M
doubtedly the best spring grain to seed
with Indeed, the chief difficulty in;
getting a fair catch of clover after bar
ley is in not sowing soon enough, and
this is removed by fall blowing, and
putting in the barley as soon after the.
ground is ready to work as is possible.
Cor. Country Gentleman.