CEREAL GRASSES. 29 



Tt is left thus until the germ is ready to burst the outer 

 skin, and then all further progress of germination is 

 arrested by the grain being spread on the kiln and 

 moved continually while subject to a moderate and 

 increasing heat, until thoroughly dried. If required of 

 a pale colour the process of drying is not very long, but 

 if required of amber colour, the grain is kept longer 

 on the kiln, and subjected to greater heat • and if re- 

 quired dark, both the time and the heat have to be in- 

 creased. 



If the barley be ripe and good it increases in bulk by 

 malting, but if reaped unripe it loses bulk and makes 

 very inferior malt. 



Pearl barley forms a not unimportant article of diet. 

 It acquires the form used in commerce by being ground 

 in a mill, which removes the husk and outer part, and 

 leaves the grain about the size of small shot. The uti- 

 lity of pearl barley for making barley-water, is well 

 attested in all hospitals and sick-rooms ; it is also good 

 for puddings, and the " cannie Scotch " thicken with it 

 their excellent " barley broth." Fowls lay most eggs 

 and thrive best when fed with barley, and it is very 

 good for fattening pigs. 



Barley is subject to the same diseases as wheat, but 

 to a less degree. 



The Oat is extensively cultivated in all temperate cli- 

 mates ; it grows the most easily in islands, and hence 

 has always succeeded so excellently in the British Isles. 



Avena sativa [Common Oat) is described by Pro- 

 fessor Lindley as " an annual, with a perfectly smooth 

 herbage, and an open panicle of flowers spreading 

 equally all round. Each spikelet contains two florets, 

 which are quite bald, shorter than the glumes, and ad- 



