REPORT OF TEE BOTANIST 241 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



BACTERIA INTERFERING WITH MALTING PROCESS. 



The following remarks are extracts from correspondents' letters, and notes on the 

 result of our investigation into the cause of the trouble referred to therein. For 

 reasons it is desirable not to disclose in this report, the identity of the parties con- 

 cerned, but reference is made to the subject because of its general importance in the 

 growing of malting barley in Canada. 



HISTORY OF THE BARLEY. 



' Much interest has been taken during the last three or four years in producing a 

 class of barley suitable for malting purposes, similar to the world-renowned Galatina 

 barley produced under irrigation in the state of Montana. This is contracted for a 

 year at a time and is produced entirely for European export. One or two importa- 

 tions of this barley have been made from Montana, and last year a quantity large 

 enough for an experimental export shipment was produced. The barley in question 



was sent to Messrs , a very competent firm, probably the largest maltsters in 



the British empire.' 



* 



NATURE OF COMPLAINT. 



One correspondent stated : ' It is with the greatest regret that I have to inform 

 you that we met with a very serious misfortune as regards the barley you sent us. 

 We divided a parcel into two lots, one to check the other, and we have had a most 

 ■extraordinary development, something I have never seen before in all my malting 

 experience, and which some experts have put down as a species of yeast, followed by 

 the development of bacteria, destroying the value of the grain; and it is almost dan- 

 gerous to use in brewing operations. It appears at the outside of the grain at one end 

 during the process of malting, with a peculiar pink colour, which gradually develops and 

 stains the rootlets, and also permeates the starchy matter below the skin. So peculiar 

 is it, that I have sent a sample of it to a number of scientific friends, knowing it 

 will be specially interesting, and have asked for their opinion. We have taken the 

 greatest care not to reveal where the barley came from, as I have no desire to givo 

 even the locality a bad reputation. I am rather at a loss to know what to do with it, 

 as I am told the only method of destroying the bacteria is to subject it to excessively 

 high temperature, which reduces its value very considerably as a malt. Can you tell 

 me anything of how the land was treated, where this barley was produced ? I presumo 

 no manure of any kind was used upon it. What was the nature of the soil upon which 

 it was grown? So far as I can learn, they attribute it to a matter of infection, the 

 source of which has to bo discovered. It is most regrettable, as I had prepared the 

 way for one or two of our leading brewers to make practical tests of it, and I am 

 afraid now to submit it to them for the reasons already stated.' 



From this account it would appear that the barley referred to here is not only 

 altogether unsuitable, but even dangerous, from the risk of infesting a brewing estab- 

 lishment with an organism of some kind that renders the process of malting a practi- 

 cal impossibility. It will also be realized that if the barley is really responsible for 

 this trouble, and not any treatment that it may have been subjected to, it would seri- 

 ously compromise any industry interested in the production of a first-class barley. 

 Further correspondence states : — 



' The barley was grown on absolutely virgin prairie; it was put in on first break- 

 ing and was the first crop. The seed was most carefully handled and cleaned and was 

 the second generation from the original importation. The first crop producing tho 

 seed from which the second crop was raised, was also put in on virgin land. The seed 

 was treated with formalin before sowing and the solution was that laid down by the 



16—16 



