BARLEY Varieties New to United States

All of the many varieties of barley grown in America have been introduced from other countries. This introduction has come about in three ways and these ways correspond to three periods in our agriculture. When America was being settled immigrants brought their own seeds with them. Later State experiment stations and the United States Department of Agriculture were established for the assistance of the farmer. Although these agencies for the most part were not concerned with comprehensive efforts to obtain new things, they became a medium for testing and distributing them. Finally, within these agencies came an organized effort to procure and study plants from all parts of the world.

The varieties brought by the immigrants succeeded only where the new lands were favored with a climate similar to the section from which the farmers came. The Coast barley of the Western States and the six-rowed form grown in the Lake States 30 years ago came to us in this way. In later years Federal and State agencies have played an important part. The Manchuria and Oderbrucker barleys were distributed in the United States and Canada by State and provincial agencies. Club Mariout was sent to the Department of Agriculture from Egypt and is now an important barley in California. At one time an attempt was made to produce a higher grade of barley for malting. Svanhals and Hannchen were introduced during these activities and are now grown to some extent. Possibly the most successful of recent introductions was Trebi. This variety was selected from an importation coming from near the Black Sea.  It is now almost the only barley grown on the irrigated lands of southern Idaho and is grown also in several neighboring States.

At present there is an intensive effort to procure all possible varieties for observation, as it is not possible to tell in advance whether or not a variety will be successful. In 1923 and 1924 selections were made in the barley fields of Algeria, Mariout, and the irrigated lands of Egypt, in northern Africa; of Kashmir, in northern India; and of Abyssinia, in eastern Africa. These selections have been grown in the United States for two years, but their value has not yet been determined. The climate of northern Africa is similar to that of the Western States, and many of the strains should give high yields in the West. Varieties not superior in themselves may possess qualities which are of great importance in crossing. The inherent vigor which causes a variety to be markedly superior under a specific condition is potentially important in a parent.