500 SaHey from a Maltster s Point of View. 
properly, and in tliat case the maltster would be liable to very 
heavy loss. Consequently, only the selected foreign barleys of 
the finest description were used, and these barleys always com- 
manded high prices, and did not therefore seriously injure the 
English farmer ; and further, at that time there were many 
growths, such as Smyrna, Algerian, and other Southern sunripe 
barleys, that could have been used with great advantage to the 
brewer, but were prohibited by the excessively high duty they 
would have to pay. The Government levied the duty by making 
the charge upon the grain after it had been steeped for fifty 
hours in the cistern, and as the barleys named — being so perfectly 
dry — absorbed such a large amount of water, the increased duty 
would be equal to an additional charge of 7s. or 8s. per quarter. 
Since the repeal, the brewer only pays upon the extract in his 
mash tun. This difference, therefore, now no longer exists, and 
consequently large quantities are regularly used, as well as many 
varieties of sunripe barleys from Southern Europe and the 
East, which certainly have a material effect upon the average 
price of barley. 
The Table on page 499 shows that whilst our imports of foreign 
barley have fluctuated considerably during the last ten years, 
their amount being regulated to some extent by the quantity of 
home-grown barley available, still the total has not materially 
increased, the figures for 1878 being practically the same as 
those of last year, and no rule being observable in the years 
intervening. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly a fact that the 
quantity of foreign barley used in malting has of late years 
steadily increased, and therefore I can only suppose that the 
relative cheapness of maize has affected the consumption of 
foreign barley for distilling and grinding purposes. Un- 
fortunately, there are no means of putting this to the proof by 
statistics, as no record is kept of the sources from which malting 
barley is supplied. It will be observed that Southern Russia 
now sends us fully one-half the total foreign s apply, and that 
Roumanla comes next with about 500,000 quarters, or more 
than double that of any other country except Russia. These 
Roumanian barleys are classified in the trade as Danubian, and 
latterly they, as well as Russian, have been to a considerable extent 
employed in malting on account of the comparatively low price 
at which they were attainable. This year, for instance, Russian 
has actually been selling at half the price of average English 
barley, say 13s. Qd. to 18s. per quarter, and a considerable quan- 
tity of the best qualities have been used for malting purposes. 
Next to Russia and Roumania comes Germany with nearly 
250,000 quarters, then Denmark with over 200,000, then the 
