54 



On the Malt Tax, Feb. 



ference between English and Scotch barley appears in the fol- 

 lowing particulars : 



J St, English barley is generally weightier per bushel than 

 Scotch barley is, by 3 or 4 pounds. 



idljj A certain number of grains, 100 grains for example^ 

 (from the size and better quality of each grain, or pickle, as it 

 is called) of English barley, are, in proportion, more weighty 

 than the same number of grains of Scotch barley, above what 

 the comparative weights of a bushel of each kind amount to. 



^d/y, In the process of malting, there is more hull, or sur- 

 face, exposed to the water in the cistern, and less farina in the 

 Scotch than in the English barley — more of its substance is 

 extracted by the steep water, or exhausted by the shooting of 

 the acrospire in the lean, and more oblong grain of Scotland, 

 than in the rounder, and more plump grain of England, on any 

 given quantity, suppose a bushel, in proportion to the weight 

 of each kind. 



/^thly, Owing to the English grain, in most cases, growing 

 under a warmer sun, on a better soil, above a better, or more 

 open subsoil, and either in a better exposure, or better shelter- 

 ed by woods or hedges than Scotland is, even in the southern 

 counties, there is not only more meal, or more pot, or pearl 

 barley in a bushel of Er.glish, than in a bushel of Scotch grain, 

 but when barley is malted, and made into ale or spirits by the 

 brewer or distiller, there is much more saccharine, or extrac- 

 tive matter, consequently, more beer, or ardent spirits of a given 

 strength, in a quarter of English, than in a quarter of Scotch malt. 

 Sihlj/y The price of Scotch barley is at a medium much in- 

 ferior to the price of English barley, which is a decisive proof 

 of the inferiority of the former. 



6th/y, Scotland being a narrower country than England, 

 and in a m.ore northerly climate, has more rain, less sun, 

 or dry weather, more bad harvests, consequently produces 

 barley of inferior quality. It is owing to this that bear, or 

 big, in many of the higher or more elevated districts of the 

 lowlands, and in most of the Northern counties must be sown 

 in place of barley, which does not ripen in time in those di- 

 stricts, except in very early seasons. 



In every view, the barley raised in England is, ta- 

 king the medium quality of the whole country, on an average 

 of seasons, much superior to the barley which is raised in 

 Scotland, compared in tlie same manner. 



But if Englisli barley be much superior to that raised in 

 Scotland, it is still more superior to the four, or six rowed spe- 

 cies of that grain, which is called bear, or big, and v/hich 

 is the only one that can be raised to advantage in the 

 northern counties, and Highland districts of Scotland. Between 

 the geographical situation and climate of England, and that of 



the 



