THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 38.] 
rain-water expressly for the wort. And here let mo urge on 
all private brewers, if they possibly can, to use rain-water. 
If they have been in the habit of using spring, or even river 
water, let them but give rain-water a trial, and I can almost 
venture to say they will never give it up again. 
On the evening previous to brewing-day the copper-fire 
was lighted, and made up before retiring for the night, in 
order that the water might be of a proper temperature early 
next morning. At a few minutes before six a.m. operations 
commenced in real earnest. Ale alone was to be brewed on 
the first day. Four bushels of malt were gradually hut 
thoroughly stirred into forty gallons of water with the mash- 
ing-bar, great care being taken that no “ balls ” were formed 
in the mash-tub. (The malt is apt to form into small round 
balls, if not carefully masked; and as the inner part of these 
balls is not exposed to the action of the water, considerable 
loss may be occasioned.) The temperature of the water 
170° Fahrenheit. 
By half-past six the mash was complete, and then the 
mash-tub was covered over, and all left to stand quietly until 
nine, when the first wort was run off, and poured into the 
boiling copper as soon as possible, in order that no heat 
might be lost unnecessarily. The few first pailfuls will per¬ 
haps contain a considerable portion of malt; these should 
be poured back into the mash-tub until the wort runs toler¬ 
ably clearly. Half-a-hundredweight of sugar, and four 
pounds of hops, were put into the copper with the wort. A 
second mash was then set as before, save that the water was 
180° instead of 170. After leaving this to stand for an hour 
and a-half, it was also run off, and the boiling copper filled 
up, and the wort in it boiled up as soon as possible. After 
boiling rather more than an hour, the copper was emptied, 
the liquid being poured into coolers through a wire sieve, 
that the hops, &c., might be retained, and left till the tem¬ 
perature was reduced to about 70°. It was then put alto¬ 
gether into the working vat, a little yeast added, and so set 
to work, and the brewing of the ale completed. A third 
mash was obtained just as the second, though this was not 
put into the copper, but retained for the morrow’s brewing. 
The grains were then washed with a few pails of water, 
which served for part of the water for the first mash of the 
following day. 
Operations for the second day, on which I brew table-beer 
alone, proceeded just as on the first day, save that as quan¬ 
tity instead of quality was the object, the mashes were made 
with fifty gallons of water each, and I had thus three boil¬ 
ings instead of one : the first boiling consisting of the third 
mash of the day before, and the first mash of the morning; 
the second of part of the first mash, and the greater part 
of the second; the third of the remainder of the second, 
the whole of the third, and the washings of the grains. 
These three boilings were all ultimately put together, and 
will form, I doubt not, when tapped, a very excellent table- 
beer. I should mention that three-quarters of a hundred¬ 
weight of sugar were used on the second, instead of half-a- 
hundredweight, as on the first day. A few camomiles, say 
one pound to the quarter of malt, will give a very pleasant 
bitter, resembling the far-famed bitter ale. The sugar 
should be well dissolved in wort previously to being put into 
the copper. 
The whole outlay, firing and all included, I calculate at 
about TO 10s.: and for this I have upwards of 2-10 gallons 
of sound excellent beer; or rather, 60 gallons of strong ale, 
and 180 gallons of very good table-beer. It will thus be 
seen that the cost of the whole brewing averages about six¬ 
pence halfpenny per gallon; or about what I should pay 
for a single quart of adulterated stuff at a public house. I 
cannot buy it at the brewhouse under lOd. a gallon : thus 
I am in every way a large gainer. The trouble is not much; 
one brewing supplies us nearly for a year. 
Of course, the materials being in the same proportion, a 
much less quantity may be made. Next time I shall, per¬ 
haps, only brew four bushels of malt, and this will serve 
my family, together with the present brewing, for a full year. 
Should any of your correspondents wish for further informa¬ 
tion, I shall be happy to answer their questions as far as I 
am able. Your Correspondent in Kent. 
[October is the best month for brewing, and we find that 
the foregoing was intended for publication in that month 
last year. It is not at all necessary to use any malt, and we 
343 
can state, that some of the best beer we ever tasted, and 
are still in the habit of tasting, is made from sugar and hops 
only, according to the directions given at page 181 of our 
fifth volume. Even a cheaper substitute for malt than 
sugar may be found in the parsnip ; and Mr. J. Alford, gar¬ 
dener at Bedworth Rectory, near Coventry, says, that a most 
superior beer is made by using one gallon of parsnips to 
every four gallons of water. “ The parsnips must not be 
scraped nor peeled, but be taken fresh from the ground, well 
washed, boiled down to a pulp, the hops added and boiled, 
and then the whole strained, cooled, and worked with 
yeast.”—E d. C. G.] 
THE DOMESTIC PIGEON. 
THE DISEASES OF PIGEONS. 
{Continuedfrom page 248.) 
The Rattling is only the symptom of a hidden disease, j 
which we must try to discover and cure. It most frequently 
indicates an inflammation of the gullets. In this case the ; 
bird must be deprived of all salt, or nitrous food and drink; 
it should be bled a little in the foot by cutting a nail, as we 
have said in the article on apoplexy, and afterwards sub- ! 
jected to a cooling diet, such as barley and pure water. j 
When the rattling comes in extreme old age, it is the ! 
unequivocal sign of death. 
Asthma particularly attacks the Pouters. It is recognised | 
by a difficulty of breathing announced by the very painful j 
heaving of the flanks at every respiration. It may proceed 
from several causes; such as great inflammation caused by 
food too exciting; in this case it may he cured by a cooling 
diet. 2ndly. From venereal exhaustion. We then give 
canary and hemp seed in small quantities, and salt; the 
bird must be kept shut up alone, in a place from whence it 
cannot even see any females. 3rdly. If from an exhaustion 
occasioned by deglutition, after having nourished several 
young pigeons, it is treated in the same manner, but we add 
to its diet a little astringent water, that is to say, slightly im¬ 
pregnated with alum. 4thly. Lastly, the asthma may also 
come from the infirmities of old age, and then is incurable; 
but in all cases its cure is tedious and difficult. 
Worms sometimes attack these birds without our being- 
able to tell the cause that produces them; they are nearly 
an inch and a-half long, and a quarter of an inch thick, the 
body is cylindrical, terminating at both ends in a point, of a , 
livid white; they are gathered together in a packet more or 
less large, near the orifice of the fundament. Some 
amateurs fancy they have remarked that pigeons which 
drink the water from pits or springs, are more subject to I 
them than those which satisfy their thirst with river water. 
The only remedy from which we have perceived the slightest 
efficacy, is to administer repeated injections of sweet almond 
oil (spirit of turpentine is more effectual). 
Contagious Diseases. —It sometimes happens that all at 
once we see the pigeons, not only of one dovecote, but even j 
of a whole town or province, die in succession, without being I 
able to trace it to any cause. These kinds of pestilence 
most frequently result from some pernicious food that chance 
or other circumstances have placed in their way. A few 
years ago people were greatly surprised to see, at Montdidier, i 
almost all the pigeons of the town and its suburbs die 
suddenly. M. Landormy, a physician at Amiens, discovered ! 
the cause of it in some vitriolic ashes that had been scattered 
in a field, which these birds had pecked, because they had a 
little taste of salt in them. The amateur who fears a 
contagious disease, can take no other precaution than that 
of closing his dovehouse, and keeping his birds prisoners. 
The best means to prevent diseases is that on which the 
amateur ought to reckon most, namely, to keep the dove- i 
house clean ; to have it built in a dry and airy place, and to 
give the pigeons cooling food adapted to their nature. It is 
always better to prevent disease than to cure it; for the 
blood of pigeons is very warm; consequently the progress 
of their complaints is very rapid, and, frequently, after only 
a few hours it is already too late to stop their course. 
the dove-house. 
By this word we understand the residence prepared to 
lodge the stock-dove pigeons, with which the profits of a 
farm, or other rustic property, is increased. The aviary 
