SKINLESS BARLEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1559, 24 September 1881, Page 6

SKINLESS BARLEY.

I forward you today a sample of Bkinleea barley grown by Mr Alex. Young, of Pleasant Valley. Mr Young got eight grains in a letter from a friend in Sydney three years ago, whioh he planted, and saved the product, and sowed again ; last year's harvest he had 1181b as the result. I forward the above, with a request from numerous settlers that you will state in an early issue any particulars about the barley you may be > 'able— viz,, Of what plaoe is it a native?. Is it suitable formatting purposes, also for making pearl barley? Is the climate of New Zealand adapted for its successful cultivation? And other particulars you may have regarding it." So wrote our correspondent last week.

The native country of this, grain oannot , be positively determined, barley being one of the earliest or most ancient cultivated of the cereals. It is, however, generally accepted on the authority of Mr Lawson that it is a native of Siberia, and consequently goes undelete name of Siberian barley. The first record ofi its introduction as a distinctive species into British cultivation dates back about the year 1768, when Mr Haliday records his experiments with it, which may be of interest to our readers. About a quart of seed was sown in that year by him in drills, whioh when threshed out yielded nearly a bushel of grain. This was sown on the 19th April of the following year, reaped on the 16th August, and the produce was 36 bushels of clean corn. Two bushels, weighing 661b each, were sent to the mill, and yielded 801b of fine flour, 401b of coarse, and 121b of bran. Two bushels of it being malted, were brewed into a half. barrel of ale and another of small beer, both of whioh yfcto good. _

Another variety, called in the trade Old Sootoh Four-rowed Naked, has been ia a great measure superseded by the Siberian, although it is still grown in'some parts of .Sootland. The^ origin of this sort is lost in obscurity. Again, another variety was- introduced to Britain in 1817 from the Himalaya Mountains, where it grows near the line of perpetual snow, under the name of Nepaul wheat - This differs from the common naked in that its awns are very short— about half as long as the graingenerally bent down on or covering the grain. This characteristic is found, however, to be by no means permanent : for, being cultivated for some time in Britain, the awns occasionally became elongated, and on the same ear "were often to be seen the two extremes, long and of awns. It ia { however, easily distinguished from the Siberian by its larger, rounder, and darker coloured grains. The Earl of Lonsdale reintroduced to notioe in 1847 a very superior six-rowed naked barley, a native of Peru, and whioh was for a time a great favourite, bearing the character of being very proliiio, and possessing very exoellent malting properties. These four descriptions are either four or sixrowed, the Nepaul, having, however, this additional peculiarity, that specimens exhibited by Laweon and Sons, of Edinburgh, in their celebrated agricultural collection at -the, .Great Industrial Exhibition ia London 'of 18513 a further transformation into a t^o-rowea was shown with all the intermediate forms, thus showing that cultivation has a tendency to alter its permanency of character and toshowit to be an offspring of the vulgare or common variety. Another variety supposed to be of Siberian origin is the naked two-rowed, whioh was cultivated pretty extensively in Saffordshire about the end of last century, having the charaoter of " making good bread, good malt, and yielding a good increase.'' -Mr Louden, the noted agriculturist, introduced some of this abr't from iha North of Europe into Scotland about 1830, and Mr Gorrie, the discoverer of the celebrated Annat variety in the Carse of Gowrie, triad ita growth, but it was discarded, as its Btraw was found to be so brittle and tender towards the period of ripening as to be unfit to support the I ears and completely incapable of forming straps to bind the sheafs. / ' I . ; ' ; -', The first introduction of naked barley into Otago is at the credit of Mr Robert Charterer, of Wry Farm, Taieri, who some years ago grew a few bushels and disposed of them to a Dunedin brewery. i , 1 < • y.' The question of suitability for malting pur. poses can hardly be absolutely determined as yet from want of proper trials being made.' In the remarks under the previous query the decisions pronounced on the. ale and beer brewed was " good." In our province so far aa we have ascertained, only one trial has been made,, viz., at Messrs Marshall's brewery, Dunedin, ' from the produce of Mr' Charters' growth. The malster'a opinion is certainly aa adverse one, and he grounds the opinion from the facts that from the want of the husk the grain, after being steeped and laid on tHfi floor, gets sodden together in , muoh the? tome manner as wheat does, thus not' allowing the aorospire fair play in its germination, and that in the process of turning on the floor the aorospire is liable to. he broken off, not being protected, by the hus& aa in the common barley, the result being a sufficient chemical aotion is not undergone by the grain in 'its conversion into malt, so that when it comes off the kiln instead of being free and powdery, it is hard and flinty. . Anyone interested in the experiment may easily see the process by plaoing a ft^jferaina of barley and wheat within the folds o. lipieoe of flannel or woollen cloth well wetted at first, and afterwards kept moist until the experiment is complete. The grain sends.out sprouts which form the rootlets of the plant, it at the same time starts away the acrospire whioh form* the first leaves of the corn. In' the case of barley this tender shoot is protected by the husk, whereas in naked barley and wheat it is exposed and liable to be .broken off. /It is this aorospire that converts a portion of the Btarch of the grain into the sugar of )h& malt, rendering it adapted for the brewen For manufacture into common pot barley it would be profitable; b«* hardly so for pearl barley, the size and vilape of the pickle being objeotionable; fat 'too much waste woud be incurred in redoes ifc to the desired regularity and appearan^of the best pearl. For grinding purposes it will suit admirably, and, perhaps, a new denture in trade might be made from the variptta forms in whioh maize is supplied by a p*e'of barley to similar purposes. , That the soil and climate of Otago Ere eminently suited for the growth of this speoiea . of barley is abundantly proved from the faot of the yield Mr Young has had from his experiment. Eight grains to produce in two crops 891,136 pickles is surely sufficient to satisfy the most exacting. The appearance of the sample Bent is also favourable. It was not dressed or pioked for exhibition, as there were some broken, grain as well as black tipped ones in the lot. The discolouration of the latter may ba attri» (rated to causes easily prereatiblc. For %\%

, -•■ " ' . ' . "" purpose of, making a comparison with other J '', barleys samples were obtained of a lot of fair <■ * J parley from the Well Park Brewery whioh was •'•' grown at Cave Valley, the weight of the I' I 'measured bushel being ■56flb. Another sample tK.of milling was obtained from Messrs Anderspn j. jand Co., grown at Palmerston, which was cont eiderably lighter in weight. ■, Neither of these .samples were properly cleaned ; both contained, ''.' in addition to a considerable quantity of oats,i & ■!' large portion of "wakes." whioh a- stronger v ' blast of the fanner would We easily removed. • " 'The following is the result of comparisons made :— Cave Valley, 13& pickles, weighed Joz = 561b per 1.1-bushel.1 .1 -bushel. ■ • t •■ v. 145 pickles, weighed Joz = 54Jlb per bushel. . - Skinless, 118 piokles,. weighed Joz- = C6lb per f '-.bushel.' *''„, j the skinless to, weigh equal to fir£tclass samples of wheat. . " it. I • l ltisa'mißtaketocallthe barley skinless, ( as wdt l possesses as good a coat as wheat does, differ. ,],,iag from other barley and resembling wheatin -jh'.K.cspeot .that in threshing common barley the .vWk or chaff adheres;to the grain; in this, as 'in, wheat, it separates. The skinless ia also } \ .knpwn as naked and huskless barley, either of "which is a more appropriate name. j j " v Cultivation in anew climate produces a great habit and oharacter of plants, and may do W in ' this case. Farmers should ovitfot be, as they too often are, tied down by pre i, '.oedents and former experiences. Circumstances ' t alter cases in husbandry as much as among «en, and a fair trial should be given by our fends to this prolific specimen of barley j the result 'may prove of immense advantage. Mr 0 ''Wilson, of Well Park Brewery, will be glad [to l ' 'purchase a parcel and give the malting qualities V'afairtest „ - ' '