On Malting. 183 



beneficial, but when interrogated as to wherein the benefit 

 consisted, the conclusion almost invariably was, that it .vas 

 better for their masters, meaning that it produced an in- 

 crease of measure. Some of them even admitted that ihey 

 knew of no other purpose it answered, and oiheis could only 

 say that along with an increase it also improved the husk of 

 the malt, bv making it brighter. There was not one, how- 

 ever, who contended that watering madt- better malt for a 

 brewer, and, almost every individual of thtiu, allowed that 

 it threw out more root, and on that account niadeli^h' malt. 



I also enquired of and waited upon several of the most 

 intelligent maltsters, to learn what they had to sav upon the 

 subject of waterintr. Some of them said they had made malt 

 without watering, but that when so madt, it measured less 

 than the original barley, and the trade was this season so 

 bad, that without an increase of measure there viould be no 

 profit ; they all contended for this increase of measure, and 

 one of the princijial maltsters declared he had made good 

 malt with an increase of two bushels in twenty, but cer- 

 tainly the epithet can apply to such malt in no other way 

 than good for sale. The same gentleman declared he was 

 making his malt this season without wateriuff, but the con- 

 dition in which I found his corn on the fioor evidently dis- 

 proved this assertion. The reason he gave for not now wa- 

 tering was, that he made chiefly for a considerable brewer, 

 who insisted on the grain not being watered ; and the brew- 

 er's reason for this was said to be, that watering jo late as 

 the tenth day made the malt finnery (mouldy), and injured 

 the flavour of his ale. Ii is, however, easy to imagine that 

 the true reason of the brewer was, that watering impove- 

 rished the malt. 



The maltsters all complained of being greatlv undersold 

 by what is called ship malt upon the coast, and said they 

 had heard of manv sales below the value of the barley and 

 duty, and they acknowledged that such malt was o* a 

 wretched quality (the expression was " as light as straw") ; 

 and that the injury it received in malting, and the frauds 

 which occasioned its being sold so low, could only originate 

 in the abuse of watering profusely on the floors. I met with 

 M 4 no 



