XX is one of the most important of the cereal grains, and the most hardy of them all. It was grown by the Hebrews, ( Leviticus 27:16 ; 8:8 ; Ruth 2:17 ) etc., who used it for baking into bread chiefly among the poor, ( Judges 7:13 ; 2 Kings 4:42 ; John 6:9 John 6:13 ) and as fodder for horses. ( 1 Kings 4:28 ) The barley harvest, ( Ruth 1:22 ; 2:23 ; 2 Samuel 21:9;10 2 Samuel 10 ) takes place in Palestine in March and April, and in the hilly district as late as May. It always precedes the wheat harvest, in some places by a week, in others by fully three weeks. In Egypt the barley is about a month earlier than the wheat; whence its total destruction by the hail storm. ( Exodus 9:31 )