sprat-barley
Also 6 sprot-, 8 sprack-.
[? f. sprot1 and sprat n.1]
A species of barley, Hordeum zeocriton, with short broad ears and long awns.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §13 There be thre maner of barleys,..sprot-barleye, longe-eare, and beare-barley... Sprot-barley hath a flat eare most comonly [etc.]. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 78 There is not onely the ordinary Barley, but big sprat-Barley, which hath lately been sown in Kent with good profit. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 240 If the Land be rank, [they sow it] with that they call sprat-Barly. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 133 The common allowance of Seed is four Bushels to an Acre, though they say that three Bushels of Sprat Barley will do. 1736 Lewis Hist. Antiq. 15 Sprack-Barley has formerly been pretty much sown in the rich Land in the Marshes. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 314 Barley is apt to lodge, which ruins the seeds, except sprat or battle-door barley is sown. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 83 The sprat or battle-dore barley makes good malt. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 699 H. zeocriton, Sprat or Battledore Barley. |