494
which makes it heavy in proportion to the measure, and con-sequently productive both in meal and pot-barley.
Moldavian barley. —In the Inverness-shire report, it is sta-ted that a gentleman in that county got some barley fromMoldavia , and that the crop produced fourteen fold. Thisvariety has also been cultivated in East Lothian , but the dis-tillers are not fond of it, nor is'it much esteemed even bythose who have used it for other purposes.
Bear or big. —This is a distinct species of the barley genus,known to botanists by the name of hordexnm vulgarc, or te-trastichon, and may be named quadrangular barley, as its earor spike has four rows of grains, while all the varieties hi-therto mentioned have only two rows. Its ordinary Scotchname is rough-bear, or simply bear. This species, of whichperhaps there may be several distinct varieties, is peculiarlycalculated for elevated situations and late climates, as it willadmit of late sowing and yet come early to perfection. It willgrow upon a poorer soil than the two-rowed barley, and willstand rough weather with less damage. Yet, although one ofits ears or spikes often contains a greater number of grainsthan two-rowed barley, the latter, on proper soils, affords afuller-bodied grain and a larger produce per acre. In poorsoils, however, its quadrangular ear is exceedingly short andalmost globular, containing even fewer grains than the two-rowed barley. After all, it is a valuable grain in a late cli-mate, and the only one at present cultivated in the Highlandsthat deserves to be retained. It is peculiarly calculated foraffording a good crop on land which has been dug with thespade, and many farms in the Highlands and isles, owing toinequality of surface nnd intervening rocks, can only be cul-tivated in that manner # . It may be noticed in passing, thoughnerhaps rather out of place, that all cultivable spots in theHighlands and Isles of Scotland ought to be devoted to tur-nips and sown grass, as winter provender for cattle, alternate-
* Inverness Hep. p. 138.