Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/593

BARLEY. 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 ;.

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.

BARLEY-BREAK. A popular amusement, very common in the reign of James I., and with certain modifications in name and practice still existing among young persons in both England and Scotland. Originally, it was played by six people, three of each sex, who were formed into couples. A piece of ground was then apportioned into three parts; and into the centre one, called hell, a couple was doomed by lot. The sport consisted in the two in the condemned part 'catching' one of the other couples while they were in the act of changing places, when the couple caught had to go into the centre. It was, however, no easy matter for the two in the centre to capture another couple; for, by the rules of the game, they were bound to keep united, while the others, when hard pressed, might sever.

BARLEYCORN,. A personification of the spirit of barley or malt liquor, used jocularly, and also in humorous poetical effusions, as by Robert Burns. There exists a whimsical English tract of old date, under the title of The Arraigning and Indicting of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., printed for Timothy Tosspot, in which Sir John is described as of "noble blood, well beloved in England, a great support of the Crown, and a maintainer of both rich and poor."

BARLEY RUST. See.

BAR'LOW, (1834-96). An American soldier and lawyer, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. He graduated at Harvard in 1855, and was admitted to the New York Bar. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twelfth New York National Guard, and after a three months' term became lieutenant-colonel of the Sixty-first New York Volunteers. He participated in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and was mustered out with the rank of brigadier-general and brevet major-general. From 1865 to 1868 he was Secretary of State for New York, and in 1872-73 was Attorney-General for the State. In the latter capacity he directed the prosecution of W. M. Tweed and his associates. He subsequently practiced law. He was a founder of the Association of the Bar of New York City.

BARLOW, (1860—). An Irish novelist, daughter of Rev. J. W. Barlow, Vice-Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. She was born at Clontarf, near Dublin, October 17, 1860. She has described, with rare sympathy and humor, Irish village life, employing sometimes verse, but usually prose. Bog-land studies, verse (1892), has been followed by Irish Idylls (1892); Kerrigan's Quality (1893); The End of Elfintown (1894); The Battle of the Frogs and Mice (1894); Maureen's Fairing (1895); Strangers at Lisconnel (1895); Mrs. Martin's Company (1896); Creel of Irish Stories (1897); From the East unto the West (1898); From the Land of the Shamrock (1900); and Ghostbereft and other Stories (1902).

BARLOW, (1754-1812). An American poet and man of affairs. He was born at Redding, Conn., March 24, 1754, and was educated first at Dartmouth, then at Yale, developing early great poetical aspirations. In 1780, two years after graduating, he entered the army as chaplain, and after the peace studied law at Hartford, where, in 1786, he was admitted to