J 803. Review of Letter to the Landholders of ^tirringshire. 221 



Letter addrejfed to tl>e Comimfftonevs of Supply and Landholders in 

 the County of Stirling ; cc^itaining an Hif orient Sketch of the 

 Malt Laius ; luith Ohfervations illiflrative of the inferiority of 

 Scots to E>igHJ}j Malt^ and the caiifcs "which produce that inferiori^ 

 ty. J^A'mhmghy^Coffahle. Stirling, — /F. Atiderfony and C. 

 Randal. 



We have received much fatisfacStion from this plain and tem- 

 perate ftatement, and trull that its efFecls will not be loft upon 

 the landed intereft oi Scotland, who, we muft confefs, have ra- 

 ther looked upon the malt tax of lad fefhon with an eye of indif- 

 ference. The author, after giving an hiftorical account of the 

 excife upon malt, and of the zealous oppofition difplayed by the 

 Scots members when an equal tax was originally propofed in the 

 Parliament of Great Britain 17 13, proceeds to ftate fome perti- 

 nent ohfervations on the procefs of m.alting, and thecaufes which 

 render Scots barley inferior in quality to the barley of England. 

 We cannot do better than give this part of the letter in his own 

 words, as it is replete with found fenfe, and folid information. 



* Malting, you all know, is a procef* preparatory to brewing or dif- 

 tilling. Its objecfls are, to ameliorate the quality, and increafe the quan- 

 tity of that faccharine fubftance from which, according to the beft che- 

 mirts, all fpirits are extra^ed. Whatever has a tendency to produce 

 thefe effedls, either whilft the plant is in its natural ftate of vegetation, 

 or after it is fubjefted to the operations of the maltfter, mufl tend to en- 

 hance the value of the malt. Sugar is alniod univerfally produced by 

 vegetables, but it certainly abounds mod under ihe influence of a warm 

 climate. Heat and dry weather always give the promife of a fruitful 

 cane, whilil cold and rain render it aqueous and unproductive. The fame 

 thing happens to the grape. When foflered by the genial influence of 

 the fun, and preferved from an excefs of molfture, it yields a rich return 

 of jxenerous wine ; whereas, where much expofed to rainy weather, the 

 produce is v/eak, and very foon becomes four and vapid. But what hapr 

 pens to plants which yield fugar and alcohol In greater abundance, will 

 in a more limited degree apply to thofe whi.ch afford them in fmaller 

 quaniltles. The grain of a cold and variable climate mull therefore pro- 

 duce lefs of the faccharine fubllance, which is the efience pf malt, than 

 grain which is ralfed under more favourable circumllances. 



* One of the operations of the vegetative organs of plants, is to dlf- 

 engage this faccharine matter, and render It fenfible to the talle. Hence 

 the fweetnefs of potatoes and other vegetables, when they begin to (hoot." 

 The moifture of the earth and gentle heat to which the feed is expofed, 

 very foon aft upon it, and make it tend to decompofitlon. The part? 



VOL, IV. NO. XIV. Y recede 



