132 OUR FARM CEOPS. 



Malt thus contains more gum (dextrine) and sugar than 

 barley, and less starch and gluten the germinative pro- 

 cess having generated the formation of the peculiar body, 

 " diastase/' already referred to, at the expense of a por- 

 tion of the gluten, and this body having had the peculiar 

 property or power of converting the starch, first into dex- 

 trine (gum), and then into sugar. 



In the soil, the young plant, the produce of the seed, 

 requires for the purposes of vegetation the conversion of the 

 whole of the starch into sugar ; but for our purposes, whether 

 of brewing or of feeding, we only require the germinative 

 process to be set up, and the diastase formed, and then we 

 arrest it at the exact point we consider most desirable, by 

 placing it on a kiln, and applying a heat sufficient to de- 

 prive it of its moisture, without which we know germina- 

 tion or malting cannot be carried on. In this state malted 

 grain may be kept a long time without injury, the 

 addition of water at any time being sufficient to set 

 up the action afresh, and complete the conversion of the 

 starch into saccharine matter. When used simply for 

 feeding purposes the only object to be attained by pre- 

 viously sprouting the grain, is to assist the digestive powers 

 of the animals, by presenting the food (barley) in a more 

 readily assimilable state. In this case it is necessary only 

 to place the barley in a suitable vessel, and just cover it 

 with tepid water (60 to 70), when in about twenty- 

 four to thirty hours the required amount of change in 

 the grain will have taken place, and it may be used as 

 food without having sustained any material loss. In 

 the process of malting barley the " plumula," or spear 

 (acrospire), as it is commonly termed, is carried up un- 

 derneath the "husk," and not outside the grain, as is 

 seen in wheat (p. 21) ; the roots, however, are formed in 

 the same manner, and in cleaning the malt for use after 

 the kiln, are separated from it. These generally amount 



