As the process of malting may not be generally understood by that class of readers for which this work is mostly intended, I shall give a short sketch of it.—­It is a natural principle of vegetation, that every seed undergoes a change before it is formed into the young plant.  The substance of the cotyledons, which when ground forms the nutritious flower of which bread is made, changes into two particular substances, i. e. sugar and mucilage; and whilst mankind form from it the principal staff of life as an edible commodity, the same parts of the seed in barley are by certain means made into malt, which is only another term for the sugar of that grain.  To effect this, the barley is steeped in water, and afterwards laid in heaps, in which state it vegetates in a few days, and the saccharine fermentation is by that means carried on to a certain pitch, when it is put on a kiln to which a fire is applied, and it is by that means dried.  It is then perfect malt, and fit for the purpose of brewing.

Pearl and Scotch Barley, used for soup and medicinal purposes, are made from the grain by being put into a mill, which merely grinds off the husk.  The Pearl barley is mostly prepared in Holland, but the Scotch is made near Edinburgh in considerable quantities.  A description of an improved Mill for this purpose is to be seen in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, p. 283.

78.  Hordeum vulgare.  Bere, Big, or winter barley.—­This is a coarser grain than the Two-rowed Barley, and hence it is not so well adapted to the purpose of malting.  It is grown on cold thin soils, being much hardier than the former.

It is now often sown in October, and in the month of May or June following it is mown and taken off the land for green fodder.  The plants will notwithstanding this produce in August a very abundant crop of grain.  Hence this is a valuable mode of culture for the farmer.

The other varieties of Barley are,

79.  Hordeum hexastichon.  Six-rowed barley.—­This is also a coarse grain; and although it was once in cultivation here, it has been altogether superseded by the Bere, which is a better kind.

80.  Hordeum zeocriton.  Battledore barley.—­This is a fine grain, but very tender, and not now in cultivation in this country.

Naked barley.  The two first species sometimes produce a variety which thrashes out of the husks similar to wheat:  these are very heavy and fine grain, but they are not in cultivation:  for what reason I know not.

81.  PANICUM miliaceum.  Millet.—­Millet is of two kinds, the brown and yellow.  They are sometimes sown in this country for feeding poultry, and also for dressing; i. e. it is divested of the husk by being passed through a mill, when it is equal to rice for the use of the pastrycook.  The seed used is from one to two bushels per acre.  This is more commonly grown in Italy, and on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, from which large quantities are annually exported to the more northern countries.