GRAINS. 



GRAIN-WEEVIL. 



GRAINS. The amount of the different 

 grains produced in the United States, collect 

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

 given under the head of AfsRicui/rrRAi. PRO 

 DTTCTS. Tabular statements under the various 

 heads will show the prices of grain in the 

 United States fora series of years. See WHEAT 

 CORX, OVTS, &c. 



GRAINS, BREWERS', are very extensively 

 used in the feeding of liv-stoek. They con 

 sist chiefly of the husk, and other insoluble 

 matters of the corn employed in the operation 

 of brewing. When speaking of the lar^e 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 

 daily, the cost of which is from fourpence to 

 fivepence, exclusive of carriage and preserva- 

 tion. The grains are, if possible, thrown into 

 the pit \vhile 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 

 developement 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, 



pp. 255264.) Grains fresh from the mash- 

 tub, either alone or mixed with oats or chaff, 

 or both, may be occasionally given to horses of 

 slow work: they would, however, afford very 

 insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker 

 or harder work. Grains, in common with most 

 vegetable substances, are an excellent dressing 

 for grass lands, an application which is thus 

 described in a recent communication to the 

 editor of the Murk Lane E.rprcss, by Mr. W. H 

 Buckland of Glamorganshire. 



" Having observed the remarkable luxuriance 

 of the grass on a small portion of land upon 

 which some brewers' grains had been scattered, 

 was induced to manure several meadows with 

 grains mixed with stable-dung, and a few acres 

 with grains only. The crop of hay is an ex- 

 traordinary one off the land manured with 

 grains and stable-dung together, but from the 

 land manured with zruiiis alone, the crop is pro- 

 digiout. On one part of a steep declivity, 

 where the ordinary produce has been about 10 

 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 

 cut a week sooner. The neighbouring fields, 

 not so manured, were full three weeks later. 

 This is a matter of no little importance in this 

 part 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 hav-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 32 



Indian corn 54 62 56 



The same standard weights are established 

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

 uther states. It is observed that the weights 

 of the different kinds of grain increase in pro- 

 ceeding from the Southern towards the North- 

 ern and Eastern States. 



The grain of each species produces when 

 ripe, nearly the following quantities of meal, 

 r household flour, and bread, per bushel, 

 namely 



Wheat, if weighing 



Rye 



Barley 



Oats 



yields of flour 



Ibt. 



48 bread 

 42 

 37| 



(British Husbandry.) 



GRAIN-WEEVILS and MOTHS. In Eu 



rope, stored grain is often subject to seriois ; n 



jury from the depredations of two little insects, 



and attacked in the same way, and apparently 



3B 565 



