282 CHYMISTRY APPl^IED TO AGRICULTURE, 



worth while to introduce the use of a new kind of drink, 

 unless it approached, in taste, those already in use, and 

 could be made easily and at a trifling expense. It is for 

 this reason that I have sought to improve the liquor which 

 is procured at a low rate from the various kinds of bread 

 corn. 



I put into a vat one hundred weight of rye or barley, 

 and pour upbn it a sufficient quantity of water to cover it 

 to the depth of three or four inches; after allowing it to re- 

 main four or five liours, I stir it carefully, and by means of 

 a shovel scrape the grain into that part of the vat which is 

 opposite to the opening formed in the lower part and closed 

 with a tap. I then draw out the tap, and allow the water 

 to flow off; and when the grain is well drained, I close the 

 hole and throw into the vat fresh water enough to cover 

 the grain ; after two or three days the grain becomes so 

 swollen and softened, that it can be crushed by pressing it 

 gently with the thumb and finger ; I then draw off the 

 water, and spread the wet grain upon the pavement or upon 

 planks to germinate ; at first it is thrown down in a heap, 

 but when the mass has become heated, which is the case 

 in twenty or four-and-twenty hours, according to the tem- 

 perature, it is spread in beds of two or three inches in 

 thickness. 



Whilst these beds are heating, they must be constantly 

 stirred ; and this operation is repeated every six hours, and 

 oftener if heat is developed in the mass. 



The first appearance of the radicle is generally perceiv- 

 ed as soon as the second day, in the form of a white point 

 at one end of the kernel, and, a short time after, the plumule 

 shows itself at the other extremity. This is the time for ar- 

 resting germination ; and indeed it must be done sooner, if 

 the radicle should become, as it sometimes does, more than 

 a line or a line and a half in length, before the appearance 

 of the plumule. 



The beds are spread very thin, and often stirred with a 

 shovel, and, to destroy the germs, are formed either in a 

 place exposed to the rays of the sun, or in one which is suf- 

 ficiently heated to produce the same effect. 



The malt thus prepared is thrown into a vat, and water, 

 heated to the temperature of 40°, ( z= 104° or 112° Fahr. 

 according to the scale used, whether of the centigrade or 

 Reaumur. — Tr.) is gradually added to it, the grain being 

 stirred and squeezed by the hands, as the water is poured 



