5a On the Malt Tax, Fch, 



the far greater proportion of ardent fpirits when diftilled from 

 Scotch barley, decilive proofs of its fuperiority to bear, or big : 

 and, befides all thefe, do not the prices of each, from the compe- 

 tition at market, afford fufficient data for fixing their rela- 

 tive proportions In fa£l, there are more data for afcertain- 



ing the proportional value of the bear, or big, of the northern 

 counties, to the barlej, either of England or Scoiland, than for 

 afcertaining the difference of the Scotch from the Englilh barley, 

 whether, in point of value, or as being more eafily diftinguiih- 

 «d from the latter in all the proceffes of malting and brewing. 

 But the writer of this paper deprecates the method of dividing 

 Scotland againft itfelf, or of preferring the interefls of one part 

 of the kingdom to the other, and therefore, omits for the prefent, 

 a minute analyfis of the printed refolutions, from which this quo- 

 tation was taken, though he may find it neceifary at a future pe- 

 riod to point out the differences of Scotch barley, as diflin- 

 guifhedfrom bear, or big. 



On the whole of this branch, the proportional value of Englifh 

 and Scotch barley, and alfo of Scotch bear, or big, are not very 

 different from that of white or refined fugar, raw fugar and mo- 

 lafTes ; and it will appear in the Appendix to this paper, that the 

 writer does not ufe this comparifon merely as an allufion, but 

 that he has afcertained the quantity of ardent fpirits which he 

 extracted from Englifh barley, Scotch barley, and three different 

 kinds of Scotch bear, or big, viz. very good, middling, and infe- 

 rior grain. We now proceed, 



In the Hid place, to offer fome remarks on the taxing of malt 

 in general, where that tax is very high on every fpecies of grain 

 malted. 



As malt in Britain is made only from barley and from bear, 

 or big, we ought here firfl to coniider, how far the raifing of both 

 thefe kinds of grain is favourable to an improved agriculture. 



Wheat is a ftrong tap-rooted jDlant ; and being generally ten 

 months on the ground, is a great fcourger of the foil, which is 

 alfo apt to get foul, unlefs it be drilled and hoed, or 

 othervvife kept clean by weeding. Oats are alfo tap-rooted, 

 though not {q deep in tiie foil as wheat is, and remain for five or 

 fix months on the ground. The large leafy flalks prevent the 

 circulation of air, or its free admiffion to the roots of the different 

 fown graffes. On all thefe accounts, barley, or bear, with grafs 

 feeds, is necelTary to an improved agriculture, and fliould be u- 

 fed once in every rotation of crops. No friend to the general in- 

 terefls of the iP.and will be an advocate for fowing barley after 

 wheat, without a green or black crop intervening, though this is 

 often pra£lifed, both in the county of Norfolk, and in the three 

 Lcthians. But no difcouragement fliould be eiven to the fowing 



of 



