Pat,
My objection to your random choice of barley grains is the inclusion of
shorter grains from the *end(s)* of the ears.
Try screening out the shorter grains from the ends. e.g. Discard 70
of the shortest grains from a random sample of 100 grains.
Then measure (calculate) the end-to-end length (mm) of the remaining
thirty grains and divide by ten.
My prediction is that the result will be closer to 1 inch = 25.39 mm
(approximating the British definition just before unification in 1959).
.......................................
On Sat, 2001 Sep 8, Pat Naughtin asked:
>
> ... Should I select the longest grains or the fattest grains as the
> *largest grains*?
> ...
...................
*After* screening out the *shortest* end-grains, as approximated above by
a preliminary 70-short:30-long sorting of 100 grains, the remaining 30 grains
do retain a measure of randomness (30 rather than only 3 grains) to smooth
individual variations of barley ears.
The "horses mouth" for this exercise would be a nearby barley field of
maturing (drying) ears. Unfortunately, fields near here are almost all
either "corn" (US definition of corn) or soy beans, and I have no access
to dry barley ears to do a more direct test of the ancient definition.
Gene.
