Barley from a Maltster's Point of View. 
493 
There are possibilities in barley wbich I say emphatically 
have not been realised, and, indeed, speaking generally, I do not 
scruple to add that the most obvious means for their realisation 
are lamentably and wilfully neglected. As a rule we have stood 
still or retrograded whilst foreign and colonial growers have 
steadily improved their methods of cultivation, and consequently 
the quality of theii' produce. The main object of the present 
paper is to point out, in the plain language of a business man, 
the causes which tend to the production of so large a proportion 
of inferior barley in this country, and the means of improvement 
which suggest themselves. I shall also add information which 
will, I think, be instructive as well as interesting, as to what be- 
comes of the barley after it reaches the maltster's hands. There 
can be no question as to the importance of the subject, and I am 
aware that it is one upon which great diversity of opinion is sure 
to arise. But I shall depend chiefly upon facts and figures that have 
come under my own observation, though for the pui*pose of this 
article I have sought the assistance of various authorities to whom 
allusion will be made later on. 
It is indisputable that whilst during the last thirty years 
rapid progress has been made in every other branch of industry 
in this country by the adoption of new and improved processes 
dictated by scientific discoveries, agriculture has not made a 
proportionate advance. So far as barley for malting purposes 
is concerned, I am of opinion that the average quality of the 
season's crop was better twenty or thirty years ago than it is now. 
Of course I do not refer to the exceptionally bad prospect of this 
year for quality, as it is due to climatic causes, nor do I pre- 
tend to discuss agricultural chemistry or the results of scientific 
farming. But in the matter of barley growing there are certain 
plain means to the desired end which have been, to an almost 
incredible extent, neglected. The general absence of care in the 
selection of seed is perhaps the most radical defect. Buyers of 
grain are not usually backward in pointing out the shortcomings 
of samples submitted to them, and therefore the growers can 
scarcely plead ignorance as to what is required in a malting 
barley. They know at all events that amongst the first condi- 
tions looked for are that the grain should be well matured and 
evenly ripened ; and yet it is a fact that thousands of acres of 
good arable land in this country are regularly sown with such 
samples of barley as the farmer finds unsaleable to the maltster 
in consequence of their inferior quality or condition, or with the 
cheapest lots that can be bought on the markets. Worse still, 
there are large quantities of " screenings " purchased from the 
maltsters and dealers at a low price, and then dressed and sown. 
