1863- Review of Leiief- to the La?idholders if Stirlingshire. 223 



The author then (liews, from meteorological tables, the difFer- 

 cnce of heat in the two countries, whicli he calculates to amount 

 to four degrees. We mud here remark, that the fame degree of 

 heat in September will not have the fame influence upon grain 

 as it would have produced at an earlier period, becaufe the days 

 are fliorter : therefore, as Scotifh barley is feldom harvefted 

 fooner than the middle of that month, and often a great deal lat- 

 er, it mud be deteriorated in a greater proportion than what at 

 fird fight appears to be the cafe from thefc calculations. Engliih 

 barley, at lead in all the counties fouth of Trent, (and it is from 

 thofe counties that importation is made,) is fafely houfed or dack- 

 ed, before a fickle is drawn in one fiftieth part of North Britain. 



After noticing the humidity of the climate in Scotland, which 

 certainly afFcds both wheat and barley materially, the author, 

 with propriety, notices another obdacle of great magnitude. He 

 fays, 



* In the malting, the great defideratum is to malt the grain equally. 

 When the procefs of vegetation is ftopt by the heat of the kiln, if a part 

 of each feed only has vegetated, the remainder of it is unmalted ; and, 

 on the other hand, if the acrofpire has been allowed to fhoot out beyond 

 the huik, the faccharine matter contained in it is likewlfe loft. The 

 inequality of grain, which different foils and fituations muft produce, 

 cannot fail, in feme cafes, to render this difficulty in malting unfur- 

 mountable. In Scotland, the face of the country is beautifully varied. 

 Narrow valleys, with rich but mixed foils, are amongft its charafterif- 

 tics. As the neighbouring mountains are compofed of granite, fchlftus, 

 limeftone, or other rocks, the foil will be a mixture of fand, clay, or cal* 

 careous earth ; and where different ftrata of thefe rocks lye near each o- 

 ther, we find, in the vallies below, dlfFerent foils within the compafs of a 

 few acres. The inequality of the furface, too, creates a difference in 

 the expofure of the field ; fo that a fmall farm often contains perhaps 

 all the varieties of foil, and equal varieties of expofure. The grain pro- 

 duced on thefe farms muft be affefted by thefe circumilances ; and it is 

 impoffible for the farmer to feparate the barley according to Its refpec- 

 tive qualities. In England, on the other hand, the country is flat, and 

 the foil of large dlltrifls uniform. If properly laboured, the grain will 

 be of an equal quality. Now, were the barley of the two countries of 

 the fame value in every other refpec^, the advantage the Engllfh barley- 

 enjoys in this particular alone, would enable it to compete in our mar-^ 

 kets, not only at a high price, but even with the malt-duty in Its origi- 

 nal proportions. ' p. 28, 29. 



We perfe£lly concur with the author in thinking, that Engllfix 

 barley will at any time dand its ground in the market under a 

 liuty double of what !« paid upon the produce of Scotland j and, 



Y 2 ev«a 



