According to Liebig, the characteristic ingredients found in bark are excrementitious—“substances evidently expelled by the living organism.” True wood yields only ·25% to 2% of ash; whilst the bark of some trees give 6, 10, to 15 times more; and these, like the organic constituents, differ materially in their composition and characters.
The uses of different species of bark in medicine and the arts are well known. Cinchona-bark is invaluable in fevers; OAK-BARK furnishes the tanner with one of the most important materials of his trade; and the tenacious fibres of other varieties are manufactured into cordage and textile fabrics.
Barks should be collected at that season in which they can be most easily separated from the wood, which, with a few exceptions, is late in the spring; because at this time the active principles deposited in their cells are most abundant. Oak-bark, collected in spring, contains four times as much astringent matter as that collected in winter.
Bark. (In medicine.) See Cinchona.
Bark. (In tanning.) See Oak.
Bark, Jes′uit’s. Cinchona-bark.
Bark, Salt of (Essential). See Extracts and Salts.
BAR′LEY. Syn. Hor′deum, L.; Orge, Fr.; Gerste, Ger., Anglo-S. A well-known grain, the produce of several species of the genus hordeum.
Var., Cult., &c. Those principally cultivated in England are—TWO′-ROWED, LONG′-EARED, or COMM′ON BARLEY (hor′deum dis′tichon, Linn.); SPRING′-BARLEY, SQUARE′-B., or BERE (h. vulga′′re, Linn.); and SIX′-ROWED BARLEY, WINTER B., Scotch BERE or BIGG (h. hexas′tichon, Linn.). Put′ney, SPRAT, or BATT′LEDORE B. (h. zeocriton, Linn.), is another species less frequently met with. Of each of the above there are several varieties. In Spain and Sicily, two crops of barley are obtained in a year; but, in countries so far north as Britain, it produces only one, and is a delicate species of grain. In England it is generally adopted as a succession crop on light lands, following turnips or green crops. (Loudon.) The ‘yield’ per acre varies from 28 to 64 bushels, and is usually from 28 to 40 bushels. The average weight per bushel is 50 to 51 lbs.; but the best Norfolk and Essex samples weigh 53 to 54 lbs. per bushel.
Comp. The leading constituents of barley are nearly similar to those of wheat, but it is scarcely so rich in nitrogenised matter. According to Einhof, the ripe SEEDS or GRAINS are composed of—