1 Frs., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 87 
the seed, which destroys the spores when they begin to grow. The mode of 
pickling or steeping seed with copper sulphate is as follows :—The solution is 
mixed at the rate of 1 1b. of copper sulphate dissolved in 1 gallon of water ; 
this will steep 4 bushels of wheat. The grain is then spread out on a smooth 
floor, and the solution poured over it; the grain is afterwards turned over 
once or twice with a shovel and left spread out thinly until sufficiently dry to 
SOW. 
BARLEY-GROWING. 
For several years experiments have been carried out at Wye Agricultural 
College (England), with the object of improving the quality of barley; and last 
November, Professer Hall, principal of the college, delivered a most interesting 
lecture on the subject of barley-growing, much of which may be read with 
profit by Queensland barley-growers. “‘The brewers,” said the professor, 
“contended they could not do without substitutes, as there was not sufficient 
good barley. If they used English barley they must use sugar. He was not 
going to discuss that point ; but he thought there was no doubt that the barley 
was not quite what the brewers required. The question, therefore, was whether 
they could not improve the barley to meet the requirements of the brewers, 
who would, no doubt, give a good price for it. A bag of barley was chiefly a 
bag of starch with albumenoids or flesh-forming substance. It was starch the 
brewer wanted—starch to turn first into sugar and then into alcohol. The 
albumenoids got into the beer, and the result was it would not keep so long or 
be as bright or good. From a chemical point of view, the brewers wanted 
barley composed mostly of starch and with little albumenoids. The brewers 
liked to see barley round and plump, with a thin wrinkled skin, for that 
contained most starch. 
“The long thin barley with a thick skin should not contain so much starch. 
They wanted also a bright-coloured barley. They would find that at the Brewers’ 
Exhibition almost all the prizes for barley were taken by the ‘Chevalier’ 
pe. The ‘Goldthorpe’ and one or two other sorts were good on certain 
land, but it was the ‘ Chevalier’ kind that was prized mostly by the brewers. 
There was the question of kiln-drying the barley before it was sold, and the 
maltster claimed that this improved it, inasmuch as it all germinated at one 
time. It had been tried at Wye, but had not been found to answer well. 
Probably this was because the harvest had been done under favourable con- 
ditions, but perhaps when they got damper seasons the kiln-drying would prove 
to be satisfactory, and the opinion of those who had tried it justified. To grow 
malting barley, one wanted to sow thickly to stop ‘tillering,’ if aiming at 
uality. 
: “The next question was the time to sow. Putting the present year out of 
the question, the best barley produced was sown in February (March to May in 
Queensland.—Ed. Q. A. J.), and those sown later zarely got the prizes. This year 
was an exceptional one, for the barley that secured the gold medal was sown 
on 26th April. To get a crop for malting they must sow early to give the 
seed time to grow, for this kind of barley needed every day possible before 
haryest. Then in sowing early there was the question of ‘tills.’ The usual 
style, in nine cases out of ten, was to grow barley after roots. But by the 
records of the Brewers’ Exhibition they would find that the crop was not so 
good. The reason for this was that the ground was too rich, and the defect 
was that there was too much growth. After a root crop had been fed off there 
was too much manure, and of the wrong sort, and a further reason was that 
after being fed off the ground was not left in that even condition required. 
“They found that the best barley, that most suitable for malting, was that 
obtained after a straw crop. This could not be done on all lands, for the ground 
was not strong enough, and manure would be wanted. After roots they found 
that there were insufficient phosphates,and in theirexperiments they had fed the 
land with superphosphates to bring the manures more in proportion. The 
