1864.] 
that he is being undersold in the 
meat market by foreign mutton more 
cheaply fed than hisown. Will this 
lead to any cheapening of the meat 
manufacture here? I think not. 
What are the circumstances? 
On the one hand, we have the prac- 
tical experience only of the few men 
who, in spite of the duty hitherto, 
have used it forthe purpose of put- 
ting the last finish to the fattening 
process, when the pampered appe- 
tite of the animal intended for exhi- 
bition refuses everything but an 
unusual dainty. Liebig also writes 
to Mr. Bass, M.P., a letter, which 
may, however, be quoted by either 
party to the discussion, but refer- 
ring especially to the greater diges- 
tibility of the malted barley. The 
letter is as follows :— 
“In forming a judgment on the 
feeding properties of malt, when 
given to horses, cattle, and sheep, 
it is obvious that in comparing it 
with barley we must not lose sight 
of the fact that there is a larger 
amount of nourishment in barley 
than in the malt manufactured from 
it; for in the process of malting 
barley suffers a loss in weight 
amounting to from 7 to 11 per cent. 
of dry substance. The ‘rootlets’ 
constitute 3 to 32 per cent. of this 
loss, and as they contain a pretty 
large quantity of blood-forming 
(nitrogenous) matter (25 to 30 per 
cent.), the grain, by their separation 
from it, undergoes a loss of one of 
its nutritive elements. Hence it is 
clear that if in practice the feeding 
qualities of malt are found to be 
greater than those of barley, this 
can only arise from the circumstance 
that the nutritive matter contained 
in malt is present there in a more 
soluble, more digestible state than 
in barley; and that therefore in 
feeding with barley more nutritive 
matter leaves the body in an undi- 
gested state than is the case when 
an equal weight of malt is used as 
food. There can be no doubt what- 
ever that in malt blood-forming mat- 
ter is contained in a more soluble 
form than in barley ; for the process 
of malting occasions a loosening of 
Notes and Correspondence. 
391 
the component parts of the grain in 
so great a degree that 100 volumes 
of dry barley yield (notwithstanding 
the loss of weight) 112 to 114 vo- 
lumes of dry malt. Such a loosen- 
ing of the inner parts of the grain, 
thus enabling the gastric juice in 
the animal body to penetrate it more 
easily and thoroughly, is not to be 
attained in like degree by a mecha- 
nical process. The comparative 
analysis shows finally that the 
amount of readily soluble blood- 
forming elements in barley is 14 per 
cent., and in malt 2°21 per cent. 
By the process of drying in the kiln, 
a part of the soluble blood-forming 
elements is rendered insoluble, and 
from this it cannot add to the feed- 
ing capabilities.” 
On the other hand, there is, in 
addition to the considerations 
against the economy of malt which 
this letter urges, the fact that in the 
case of ruminating animals, for which 
the farmer will principally use it, 
there can hardly be any room for 
the idea that increased digestibility 
will prove advantageous. Indeed, 
the increased solubility of the food, 
especially, mixed, as it will be, with 
linseed meal, will tend to its passage 
with wasteful rapidity through the 
digestive organs. And there is also 
the fact that a very great waste of 
substance takes place in malting. 
If barley after being malted will 
occupy a rather larger space than it 
did, the loss of weight per bushel is 
in great excess of any advantage 
there. The loss of weight on the 
whole does indeed generally exceed 
20 per cent., and this is too large to 
be counterbalanced by any improve- 
ment the substance may have ac- 
quired, whether in digestibility or 
otherwise, during the process. 
Apart, however, altogether from 
the relative merits of barley and 
malt as food for cattle and sheep, 
there are cheaper and better foods 
now in use than either of them will 
ever be. Except in pig-feeding, 
where barley is the chief food used, 
itis of but little service in our meat 
manufacture. Oilcakes of various 
kinds, peas, beans, linseed, carob 
