MOIMMIOI.OC Y OF THE BARLEY GRAIN. 
27 
brucker, and the Bay Brewing usually represent mere group names for 
general types of barley that are in no sense pure varieties. From each 
of t hem many widely different strains may be isolated. Some of these 
are early and some late, some are large berried and some small ber- 
ried, some germinate quickly and some slowly. When such a mix- 
ture is malted, it is obvious that the malt must be lacking in uni- 
formity. Some of the acrospires will be protruding and some barely 
st art ed. Some of the grain will be overmalted and some undermalted. 
The percentage of extract must necessarily be much lower than might 
be procured from any one (dement of the mixture if the elements were 
separated. 
The purifying of the common commercial varieties will result in a 
more uniform malt and a higher percentage of extract. Any further 
step toward a greater efficiency must fall back on the use of 2-rowed 
barley. For botanical reasons, a 6-rowed variety can never be made 
as uniform in the size and character of its grain as a 2-rowed. Cer- 
tain usages in manufacturing not germane to this discussion may 
demand 6-rowed varieties, but, considered only from the standpoint 
of yield of extract, the 2-rowed sorts will always remain superior. 
AMERICAN BARLEYS. 
The application of the factors of endosperm conversion to Ameri- 
can conditions is more simple than the diversity of production and 
demand might indicate. There are in the United States but three 
main barley-producing areas, the Pacific coast region, the Rocky 
Mountain irrigated sections, and the upper Mississippi Valley. In 
the three Western States, California, Oregon, and Washington, the 
climatic conditions are such that a barley peculiar to that section is 
produced. The dry, sunny ripening season results in a starchy grain 
of very low nitrogen content. This is true regardless of variety, 
: though variety exercises a noticeable influence. As a whole, all vari- 
eties of this district are large grained. Even the common California 
barley, which is 6-rowed, possesses a grain of greater size than many 
of the 2-rowed varieties grown elsewhere. Indeed, even when grown 
in the Plains States it maintains its relatively high thousand-berry 
weight. Regardless of variety, the problem in the West is, therefore, 
to secure all the enzymatic development possible. The large amount 
of starch endosperm to be converted makes this desirable. Although 
any grain possesses enough diastatic power for the conversion of its 
own endosperm, for malting purposes an excess is useful even though 
it is not used for the conversion of additional starch. A more uni- 
form malt can be made by holding back a powerful diastase that 
evenly floods the endosperm than by the action of a lesser quantity 
that must pass from cell to cell in a more fitful attack. 
In the Rocky Mountain area, the starch formation is usually not so 
pronounced as nearer the coast. The secreting surfaces in most vari- 
