UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 135 



claw, broke the shell by repeatedly striking it 

 with his sharp bill, and then dexterously drew 

 out the kernel. 



My uncle walked with us to-day to Farmer 

 Moreland's, that we might see what out-of-door 

 work was going on in this frosty weather. Be- 

 sides drawing manure into the fields, while the 

 ground is hard, we found his men busy in 

 mending the hedges and fences; and now that 

 the roads are pretty smooth, he will employ his 

 team in carrying hay and corn to market. Af- 

 terwards, if the frost should continue, he says he 

 will draw coals, which will be no great trouble- 

 there are so many coal-pits in the forest. We 

 heard the cheerful sound of the flails as we 

 passed his barn ; he was threshing out all his 

 barley to sell for making malt. As we walked 

 home my uncle told me the process of malting. 



" Beer is, you know,'' said he, " a fermented 

 liquor, made generally from barley after it has 

 been converted into malt ; as in its natural state 

 it would produce but an imperfect fermen- 

 tation. 



"The grain is first steeped for two or three 

 days in water, that it may soak and swell to a 

 certain degree. The water being then drained 

 off, it is laid on the floor in a heap of about two 

 feet high, when, with the warmth of the house 

 and the imbibed moisture, it begins to germinate, 

 and to shoot out its radicle ; which is checked 



