22 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
January  o,  1901. 
The  Pore  Beer  Question. 
Considerable  agitation  is  apparent,  in  agricultural  circles  all  over 
the  country  in  connection  with  this  matter,  and  it  certainly  is  natural 
that  farmers  should  snatch  at  any  straw  that  seems  to  offer  them  the 
least  support  in  their  struggle  with  adversity  ;  but  we  fear  that  unless 
the  consumer  throws  his  weight  into  the  scale  the  unaided  efforts  of 
farmers  may  prove  of  little  avail,  even  if  with  the  best  of  intentions 
they  do  not  bring  about  more  harm  than  good. 
Petitions  are  being  numerously  signed  at  all  the  agricultural 
centres,  having  for  their  object  the  prevention  of  all  malt  substitutes 
beiDg  used  in  the  brewing  of  beer,  and  we  mu3t  say  that  there  is  good 
reason  for  asking  that  a  beverage  which,  as  its  name  implies,  has  been 
for  centuries  made  from  Barley  should  continue  to  be  so  brewed  or 
should  bear  some  other  name.  Bere  has  long  been  the  alternative 
name  for  Barley,  and  we  suppose  that  the  word  beer  has  originated 
from  it,  though  the  old  name  in  this  country  for  malt  liquor  was  ale. 
“  Nut  brown  ale.”  “  JAiy  good  ale  and  old.” 
As  beer  and  ale  are  both  used  in  connection  with  the  same  liquor, 
the  latter  being  the  old  r,  why  not  use  it  to  describe  liquor  brewed 
entirely  from  milt  and  Hops,  and  leave  the  sugar  brewer  to  call  his 
concoctions  anything  else  he  likes  ? 
That  legislation  preventing  the  use  of  sugar  can  be  passed  is 
utterly  absurd.  For  after  all  Barley  malt  is  only  another  form  of 
sugar,  though  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  form  of  brewing,  but 
a  long  way  from  being  the  cheap-st.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  cost,  and 
here  lies  the  crux  of  the  whole  question.  Tha  brewing  trade  has  had 
such  a  monopoly  of  late,  and  by  using  sugar  freely,  has  been  able  to 
beat  down  the  price  of  malt  so  that  the  initial  cost  of  brewing,  apart 
from  duty,  has  been  very  much  reduced. 
Increasing  profits  have  encouraged  brewers  to  fall  one  over  the 
other  in  the  effort  to  acquire  licensed  property,  and  in  many  ca-es  they 
have  given  such  high  prices  for  the  same  that  their  invested  capital 
has  become  a  heavy  charge  on  the  profits.  A  reversion,  therefore,  to 
the  old  conditions  of  brewing  would  be  disastrous  to  the  trade,  and 
the  whole  weight  of  the  brewing  interest,  which  is  probably  one  of 
the  most  powerful,  and  certainly  the  best  organised  of  all  the 
indusi  ries  of  the  kingdom,  will  be  thrown  intp  the  scale  against  any 
such  proposals. 
We  therefore  trust  that  farmers  will  not  ask  and  hope  for  too  much 
from  the  opportunity  that  is  given  them  at  the  present  time,  but  aim 
at  having  malted  liquor  put  in  the  same  position  as  articles  of  food 
are  with  regard  to  adulteration.  They  must  attempt  to  obtain  the 
co-operation  of  beer  cousumeis  in  obtaining  guarantees  that  the  latter 
shall  be  supplied  with  pure  beer  when  they  ask  for  it,  and  we  have 
been  glad  to  notice  large  numbers  of  non-agricultural  beer  drinkers 
signing  the  petitions  above  referred  to. 
We  have  lately  noticed  frequent  references  in  the  Press  to  the 
difficulties  entailed  on  brewers  by  the  use  of  unsuitable  water,  and  the 
consequently  absolute  necessity  for  the  use  of  malt  substitutes  if 
drinkable  beer  is  to  be  produced  in  conjunction  with  the  use  of  such 
waters.  But  this  is  a  begging  of  the  whole  question,  for  there  are 
other  places  besides  Burton-on-Trent  where  good  water  can  be 
obtained,  and  it  may  l  e  of  use  in  the  future  to  place  certain  restric¬ 
tions  on  the  character  of  the  water  to  be  used  by  brewers  in  their 
business  if  the  use  of  unsuitable  water  is  shown  to  lead  to  the  use  of 
undesirable  material  in  the  mash  tub. 
Christmas  Prices, 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  providers  of  Christmas  meat  have, 
taking  things  all  round,  had  a  very  disappointing  trade,  and  been 
poorly  paid  for  all  their  trouble  and  expense.  Gjese  and  ducks  have 
been  the  only  articles  to  realise  a  really  satisfactory  prkv,  and  that  on 
account  of  scarcity,  owing  to  the  ill  fortune  which  during  last  season 
dogged  the  footsteps  of  rearers  of  those  birds.  It  is  not  often  that  we 
get  a  season  which  is  equally  suitable  for  turkeys  and  ducks,  arid  this 
season,  as  usual,  the  former  have  done  as  well  as  the  latter  badly. 
We  never  saw  turkeys  so  plentiful  in  country  markets,  a  choice  of 
the  finest  birds  being  easily  obtainable  at  9J.  per  pound,  and  many 
birds  could  be  had  at  7d. 
Good  table  fowls  have  bcen  very  plentiful  and  cheap,  and  it  would 
really  seem  to  be  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  at  last  the  British 
farmer  is  mastering  the  art  of  producing  first-class  poultry.  Prices 
are  no  <1  ubt  being  adversely  affected  by  the  sad  results  of  the  war, 
many  annud  festivities  having  been  given  up  owing  to  iamily 
bereavements. 
Pork  has  met  an  average  sale,  but  not  as  good  as  was  expected* 
or  rather  as  recent  markets  had  encouraged  feeders  to  hope  for* 
Beef  and  mutton  were  both  equally  stagnant.  Markets  which 
were  expected  to  be  thinly  supplied  were  quite  as  full  as  usual,  and 
butchers  showed  an  increasing  disinclination  to  purchase  big  overfat 
stock.  One  butcher  informed  us  that,  for  the  first  time,  he  was 
without  a  prizs  beast,  and  s  dd  he  preferred  to  buy  polled  Angus 
bullocks,  weighing  about  1000  lbs.  per  carcase,  though  he  had  to  pay 
about  Id.  per  lb.  more  for  them  than  he  would  have  had  to  give  for  a 
prize  Shorthorn.  He  said  he  was  tired  of  subscribing  benefits  to  the 
tallow-chandler. 
Another  butcher  gave  78s.  for  a  prize  wether  (oalf-bred  Oxford) 
which  bumped  the  scale  at  168  lbs.  It  cost,  therefore,  5£fi.  per  lb., 
which  sounds  cheap  for  a  cross-bred  wether,  but  customers  lor  a  21  lb. 
leg  are  not  very  plentiful,  whilst  tha  foreq  larters  from  such  a  sheep 
are  hardly  saleable. 
The  repetition  of  the  disappointments  year  after  year  at  the 
Christmas  markets  is  becoming  utterly  weuisome,  but  we  suppose 
that  as  long  as  prizes  in  the  shape  of  cups  and  medals  continue  to  be 
offered  farmers  will  continue  to  overfped  their  animals  in  the  keenness 
of  competition  for  these  prizes,  and  although  we  should  be  the  last  to 
decry  the  value  of  healthy  competition  we  think  that  fat-stock  show 
committees  would  do  well  to  revise  their  sched  des  still  more  than  has 
been  already  done  in  favour  of  early  miturity  and  saleable  quility. 
Work  on  %  Home  Farm. 
With  the  advent  of  the  New  Year,  bringing  fine  open  weather  with 
it,  farmers  will  be  encouraged  to  think  that  at  last  their  labour  troubles 
may  be  mitigated  by  a  fine  working  season,  and  in  this  connection  we 
may  here  observe  that  a  close  study  of  the  weather  of  the  past  century 
reveals  the  fact  that  weather  such  as  we  have  b^en  having  during 
November  and  December  has  invariably  been  followed  by  a  hot  dry 
summer.  Therefore  it  will  be  advisable  to  get  spring  corn  in  the 
ground  earlier  than  usual.  Sow  the  small  seeds  with  the  grain,  and 
apply  salt  for  Wheat. 
Although  weather  has  been  favourable  little  headway  has  been  made 
with  work  lately.  Carting  roots  and  ploughing  have  been  the  only 
work  in  hand  for  the  horses,  and  as  nowadays  all  the  ploughmen  require 
a  day  or  two  off  about  Christmas  time,  the  only  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
let  them  go  at  as  convenient  times  as  we  can  arrange,  and  give  the 
horses  a  rest.  At  one  time  single  men  never  thought  of  asking  ofE 
except  to  go  home  for  the  village  feast,  but  now  that,  there  are  trips  to 
the  country  towns  for  the  pantomime,  they  all  must  go,  leaving  the 
foreman  or  master  to  do  all  necessary  work,  and,  as  one'  foreman 
remarked,  “  It’s  no  pantomime  for  me  to  have  twenty  horses  to  feed.” 
Threshing  has  to  be  done  in  its  turn,  but  there  is  no  change  for  the 
better  in  either  yield  or  values.  Certainly  there  is  economy  in  the 
threshing  account  this  year,  but  it  is  about  the  only  item  of  expenditure 
in  which  the  farmer  will  be  able  to  make  a  saving. 
We  notice  that  the  use  of  superphosphate  is  blamed  for  the  presence 
of  arsenic  in  beer,  so  we  must  consider  whether  we  should  not  turn  to 
basic  slag,  which  is  not  prepared  with  sulphuric  acid.  We  shall, 
however,  stick  to  the  super  as  a  mainstay,  for  we  think  the  idea  that 
the  small  amount  of  active  sulphuric  acid  iu  superphosphate  can 
possibly  have  the  effect  of  producing  an  appreciable  quantity  of  arsenic 
in  the  grain  of  Barley  is  so  supremely  ridiculous  as  to  be  unworthy  of 
anything  but  a  laugh. 
There  are  complaints  that  Turnips  are  not  keeping  well,  but  sheep 
are  doing  well  on  them,  and  lair  is  now  very  good.  Ewes  must  be 
well  kept  from  the  present  time  to  insure  success  at  lambing  time,  but 
they  must  not  be  kept  too  continuously  on  Turnips.  Saturday  to 
Monday  on  grass  is  a  very  good  plan,  and  one  that  is  practised  by  many 
flockmasters  of  experience. 
