244 Report of ihe MaluTax Cot7tmittei^ .^hi^« 



Bi?g, on the other hand, I's defcribed as having a much thicker and 

 ihorter fpik,e than the two-rowed barley; but, at the fame time, a greater 

 nua.ber of grains in an ear or fpike, in the proportion of at leaft from 

 three to two, and often producing even forty-two grains, when common 

 bavlev has but twenty-two. The ear of bigg, it is obftrved, is feldom 

 more than 2 inches in length ; it is fquare, with two rows of grains oa 

 two of the fides, and on the other two, a fingle row of grains runs u^ 

 the middle. 



In (hort, it is a different fpecies of the fame genus. 

 • Bigg, it is wtU known, from its hardinefs, and from its not requiring 

 the fame quantity of heat, nor tlie fame length of time to ripen it as 

 barley, is peculiarly well calculated for cold and mountainous dillrifts 

 in general: but there are circuin (lances which render the cultivation of 

 ihat grain not only proper for, but indifpenfably neceffary to, many very 

 dcteniive trafts of country in Scotland. 



In the firft place, no other forts of grain, but bigg and oats, can be 

 jaifed in them ; and as a rotation of crops is elTential for productive 

 hufbandry, were the cultivation of bigg to be dilcouragcd, the fyftem 

 of agriculture the bell calculated for that part of the country would 

 be at once overturned. In the fecond place, bigg, from its being fown 

 later in the i'eafon than oats, requiring more ploughings and a finer tilth, 

 and remalniug for a fhortcr f^ace of time on the ground, and being lefs 

 afle^tcd by wind and rain, is the fpecies of grain by far the beft calcu- 

 lated for layiag down arable land with fown grafTes ; hence, the artificial 

 Kerbage, and confequently the improvement of the country, and its 

 means of maintaining live ilock, whether for cultivation or food, depend* 

 Vpon the culture of tl.is plant. And, in the third place, the ralfing of 

 bIg«T is the only means by which the northern and mountainous dillriAs 

 ef Scotland can be pn-te6led from the horrors of famine. That grain, 

 from the quicknefs of its growth, can be reaped in feafons where even 

 oats hitve cither totally failed, or are greatly damaged by rainy harvefts : 

 It furniflies food, therefore, in thofe periods of calamity, and with thi« 

 additional circumflar.cc in its favour, that a mixture of bigg with da- 

 vaored oats can be converted into meal, whicb may be made ufe of in 

 tim.es of fcarcity with fafety ; whereas, the meal of fuch oats, without 

 jkiich a mixture, could not be ufed at all, or at leafl without injuring the 

 health of ihofe who might be compelled to live upon it. 



On all thefe grounds, Your Committee are Impreffed, not only witb 

 the necelTity of promoting the cultivation of this fpeci"s of'gram in th^ 

 northern or mountainous diflrids of Scotland, but alfo with the policy 

 of avoiding, as much as poflible, any meafure by which the quantity 

 ufually pror'nced is likely to be diminifhcd ; and m regard to any diffi- 

 culty in d'flinguifhing malt made of bigg, fron malt made of Scotch or 

 Englilh barley, Your Committee beg to refer to an aft pafT^d in the 

 courfe of Inft year (43. Geo. 111. cap. 145.) by which regulation* 

 are already provided * for preventing frauds, by making of malt frorn 

 bear or bigg, in ScotUnd. * In the Appendix, there is an account 



