CEREALS 89 



first time largely because, under the old conditions, 

 consumers did not know whence the barley had come. 



There can, I think, be little doubt that during the time 

 of strong demand and high prices old stocks were pro- 

 duced and mixed with barley of later date. Much of 

 this old stock had been for years in pits and in other 

 receptacles where damage was incurred, and it is probable 

 that the exhaustion of these old stocks is sufficient to 

 account for the improvement in the quality of shipments. 

 At the same time, any marked and protracted restriction 

 of the shipments, with consequent reaccumulation of 

 stocks, might bring about a recurrence of the trouble. 

 For while grain that is stored in pits is comparatively 

 free from weevil there is usually a good deal of rot. It 

 is believed that the decomposition of a certain amount of 

 the grain generates carbonic acid gas in sufficient quantity 

 to prevent the breeding of weevil. But I am informed 

 that in the course of experiments made in recent years in 

 treating grain with carbon dioxide for the prevention 

 of weevil, curious results have been encountered which 

 suggest that protracted treatment with the gas may 

 sterilize the grain in the sense of rendering it incapable 

 of germination. Neither in wheat nor in feeding barley 

 does such sterility matter, but to brewing it is fatal. It 

 is evident from the interest taken by maltsters in these 

 problems that the discovery of India as a source of 

 malting barley is more than an incident, and may prove 

 to be an event. Proposals have already been made for 

 the establishment of such a system of storage and 

 handling as would secure all those conditions that else- 

 where are believed to guarantee uniform germination. 

 But such a system would cost money; and unless there 

 were perfectly unequivocal assurance that the expenditure 

 would be recouped by better prices the system would 

 not be adopted. For there will always be a market for 

 India's barley for feeding purposes. And India, in spite 

 of her amenability to philosophical -sophistry, is sin- 

 gularly sceptical about new propositions of a practical 

 kind. 



There has been some discussion as to whether the 

 condition of Indian barley could be improved by storage 



