444 Dr. R. D. Thomson [June 



to xfo^j an( * this was generally in favour of the grain 

 which had heen kept longest. 



If we inquire into the natural history of these different 

 species, we shall be able to throw some light upon the 

 causes of the difference in the value of their grain. 



Bigg and bear are susceptible of exposure to greater 

 vicissitudes of climate than barley is. They require also 

 less time to attain to maturity. Thus, the average time 

 in which they usually remain in the ground is from ten to 

 fourteen weeks ; while barley lies from fourteen to twenty 

 weeks. An instance is recorded where the interval between 

 seed time and harvest, in the case of bear, was only nine 

 weeks ; and another, on the contrary, where barley was 

 twenty-six weeks of ripening. Bear and bigg in common 

 years are malted by the Highlanders, but in those seasons 

 which are unpropitious for the ripening of oats, they form 

 the chief article of food. Hence, the legislature have been 

 induced to charge a duty of 2s. 7d. per bushel on malted 

 barley, and 2s. only on malted bear and bigg. In 1789 

 and 1799, which were late years, the whole of the barley 

 sown in Aberdeenshire was destroyed, a circumstance 

 which operated so powerfully upon the farmers, that in 

 1803, little more than 100 quarters were raised, while 

 from 35,000 to 50,000 quarters of bear and bigg were 

 produced. 



Now, Aberdeenshire consists of 832,000 English acres 

 and possesses a mean temperature of 41°* 14. 



Mr. Forbes Royle observed barley growing on the Hima- 

 lah mountains, at an elevation of 8000 feet, the mean tem- 

 perature of the place being 55° F. But some very important 

 deductions have been obtained by M. M. Edwards and 

 Colin,* from their interesting experiments upon the ger- 

 mination of different kinds of grain. They exposed barley, 

 wheat and rye to a cold equal to that at which mercury 

 freezes or — 38*6° F. for 15 minutes, and found that their 

 vegetative powers were not in the least deteriorated. They 

 ascertained that if barley, wheat, French beans or linseed 

 were immersed for a quarter of an hour in water at the 

 temperature of 154°, the power of germination was com- 

 pletely destroyed, and it was not till the heat of the water 

 was reduced to 122°, that these kinds of grain after being 



* Ann de Scien. Nat. for May, 1834. 



