GRAINS. 



GRAIN-WEEVIL. 



grains produced in the United States, collect- 

 ively, and also for each of the states, has been 

 given under the head of AORICULTURAL PRO- 

 DUCTS. Tabular statements under the various 

 heads will show the prices of grain in the 

 United States for a series of years. See WHEAT 

 CORK, OATS, &c. 



GRAINS, BREWERS', are very extensively 

 used in the feeding of live-stock. They con 

 sist chiefly of the husk, and other insoluble 

 matters of the corn employed in the operation 

 of brewing. When speaking of the large dai 

 ries of the metropolis, Mr. Youatt remarks, 

 " The principal food of the cows in all these 

 is grains ; and as the brewing seasons are 

 chiefly in autumn and spring, a stock of grain 

 is generally laid in at those seasons for the 

 rest of the year. The grains are laid up 

 in pits lined with brick-work, set in cement, 

 from ten to twenty feet deep, and of any con- 

 venient size. They are firmly trodden down, 

 and covered with a layer of moist earth, eight 

 or nine inches thick, to keep out the rain and 

 frost in winter, and the heat in summer. A 

 cow consumes about a bushel of these grains 

 daily, the cost of which is from fourpence to 

 fivepence, exclusive of carriage and preserva- 

 tion. The grains are, if possible, fhrown into 

 the pit while warm and in a state of fermenta- 

 tion, and they soon turn sour; but they are not 

 liked the worse by cattle on that account: and 

 the air being perfectly excluded, the fermenta- 

 tion cannot run on to putrefaction. The dairy- 

 men say that the slow and slight degree offer- 

 mentation which goes on tends to the greater 

 deyelopement of the saccharine and nutritive 

 principle, and they will have as large a stock 

 on hand as they can afford, and not open the 

 pits till they are compelled. It is not uncom- 

 mon for two years to pass before a pit of grains 

 is touched : and it is said that some have lain 

 nine years, and been perfectly good at the ex- 

 piration of that period. The grains from a 

 large ale brewery are the most nourishing; 

 those from the porter brewers, not so good ; 

 and those from the little ale brewers hardly 

 worth having. It is found by the distillers that 

 rough clover chaff, mixed with grains and 

 wash, will fatten to any extent." (On Cattle, 



or 12 cwt. of hay to the acre, and the quality 

 very coarse, a good sprinkling of grains was 

 strewed, leaving the other part of the same 

 ground untouched. Where the grains were 

 spread, there is more than two tons of hay to 

 the acre, and the grass is of the finest quality ; 

 where no grains were applied, the crop is as 

 usual, both as to quantity and quality. 



In addition to the abundance of the crop is 

 the advantage of its earliness. On the 29th of 

 May I mowed a field manured with grains. 

 The grass was over-ripe, and might have been 

 ut a week sooner. The neighbouring fields, 

 not so manured, were full three weeks later. 

 This is a matter of no little importance in this 

 3art of the country, where the weather is gene- 

 rally dry about the end of May and beginning 

 of June, when there is no grass fit to cut ; and 

 almost invariably wet about the end of June 

 and beginning of July, when all the farmers 

 are busy hay-making." 



GRAIN, STANDARD WEIGHTS OF. In 

 England the standard and common weights of 

 he most important grains, are as follows : 



Common Weight. Standard Weight 

 Of Wheat - from 58 to 64 Ibs. 60 Ibs. 



Rye - - _ 49 56 56 



Barley - 48 56 48 



Oats - - 30 42 3*2 



Indian corn 54 62 56 



The same standard weights are established 

 n New York, and to a greater or less extent in 

 )ther states. It is observed that the weights 

 )f the different kinds of grain increase in pro- 

 eeding from the Southern towards the North- 

 rn and Eastern States. 

 The grain of each species produces when 

 ipe, nearly the following quantities of meal, 

 r household flour, and bread, per bushel, 

 namely 



It*. lb<. Ibt 



Wheat, if weighing 60 yields of flour 48 bread 64 



Rye 54 42 56 



Barley 48 37^50 



Oats 40 22 30 



(British Husbandry.") 



GRAIN-WEEVILS and MOTHS. In Eu- 

 rope, stored grain is often subject to serious in- 

 jury from the depredations of two little insects, 

 and attacked in the same way, and apparently 

 3B 565 



