_Of the Nature of the Barley-Corn, and of the proper Soils and Manures for
the Improvement thereof_.
This Grain is well known to excel all others for making of Malts that
produce those fine _British_ Liquors, Beer and Ale, which no other Nation
can equalize; But as this Excellency cannot be obtain'd unless the several
Ingredients are in a perfect State and Order, and these also attended with
a right judgment; I shall here endeavour to treat on their several
particulars, and first of Soils.
This Grain I annually sow in my Fields on diversities of Soils, and
thereby have brought to my knowledge several differences arising
therefrom. On our Red Clays this Grain generally comes off reddish at both
ends, and sometimes all over, with a thick skin and tuff nature, somewhat
like the Soil it grows in, and therefore not so valuable as that of
contrary qualities, nor are the black blewish Marly Clays of the Vale much
better, but Loams are, and Gravels better than them, as all the Chalks are
better then Gravels; on these two last Soils the Barley acquires a whitish
Body, a thin skin, a short plump kernel, and a (unreadable) flower,
which occasions those, fine pale and amber Malts made at _Dunstable_,
_Tring_ and _Dagnal_ from the Barley that comes off the white and gravelly
Grounds about those Places; for it is certain there is as much difference
in Barley as in Wheat or other Grain, from the sort it comes off, as
appears by the excellent Wheats that grow in the marly vale Earths, Peas
in Sands, and Barley in Gravels and Chalks, &c. For our Mother Earth, as
it is destinated to the service of Man in the production of Vegetables, is
composed of various sorts of Soils for different Seeds to grow therein.
And since Providence has been pleased to allow Man this great privilege
for the imployment of his skill and labour to improve the same to his
advantage; it certainly behoves us to acquaint ourselves with its several
natures, and how to adapt an agreeable Grain and Manure to their natural
Soil, as being the very foundation of enjoying good and bad Malts. This is
obvious by parallel Deductions from Turneps sown on rank clayey loamy
Grounds, dressed with noxious Dungs that render them bitter, tuff, and
nauseous, while those that grow on Gravels, Sands and Chalky Loams under
the assistance of the Fold, or Soot, Lime, Ashes, Hornshavings, &c. are
sweet (unreadable) and pleasant. 'Tis the same also with salads,
Asparagus, Cabbages, Garden-beans and all other culinary Ware, that come
off those rich Grounds glutted with the great quantities of _London_ and
other rank Dungs which are not near so pure, sweet and wholsome, as those
produced from Virgin mould and other healthy Earths and Manures.
There is likewise another reason that has brought a disreputation on some
of the Chiltern-barley, and that is, the too often sowing of one and the
same piece of Ground, whereby its spirituous, nitrous and sulphureous
qualities are exhausted and worn out, by the constant attraction of its
best juices for the nutriment of the Grain: To supply which, great
quantities of Dungs are often incorporated with such Earths, whereby they
become impregnated with four, adulterated, unwholsome qualities, that so
affect the Barley that grows therein, as to render it incapable of making
such pure and sweet Malts, as that which is sown in the open
Champaign-fields, whose Earths are constantly rested every third Year
called the Fallow-season, in order to discharge their crude, phlegmatick
and sour property, by the several turnings that the Plough gives them part
of a Winter and one whole Summer, which exposes the rough, clotty loose
parts of the Ground, and by degrees brings them into a condition of making
a lodgment of those saline benefits that arise from the Earths, and
afterwards fall down, and redound so much to the benefit of all Vegetables
that grow therein, as being the essence and spring of Life to all things
that have root, and tho' they are first exhaled by the Sun in vapour from
the Earth as the spirit or breath thereof, yet is it return'd again in
Snows, Hails, Dews, etc. more than in Rains, by which the surface of the
Globe is saturated; from whence it reascends in the juices of Vegetables,
and enters into all those productions as food, and nourishment, which the
Creation supplies.
Here then may appear the excellency of steeping Seed-barley in a liquor
lately invented, that impregnates and loads it with Nitre and other Salts
that are the nearest of all others to the true and original Spirit or Salt
of the Earth, and therefore in a great measure supplies the want thereof
both in inclosure and open Field; for even in this last it is sometimes
very scarce, and in but small quantities, especially after a hot dry
Summer and mild Winter, when little or no Snows have fell to cover the
Earth and keep this Spirit in; by which and great Frosts it is often much
encreased and then shews itself in the warmth of well Waters, that are
often seen to wreak in the cold Seasons. Now since all Vegetables more or
less partake of those qualities that the Soil and Manures abound with in
which they grow; I therefore infer that all Barley so imbibed, improves
its productions by the ascension of those saline spirituous particles that
are thus lodged in the Seed when put into the Ground, and are part of the
nourishment the After-Crop enjoys; and for this reason I doubt not, but
when time has got the ascendant of prejudice, the whole Nation will come
into the practice of the invaluable Receipt published in two Books,
entituled, _Chiltern and Vale Farming Explained_, and, _The Practical
Farmer_; both writ by _William Ellis_ of _Little Gaddesden_ near
_Hempstead_ in _Hertfordshire_, not only for Barley, but other Grains.
But notwithstanding Barley may grow on a light Soil with a proper Manure;
and improved by the liquor of this Receipt, yet this Grain may be damaged
or spoiled by being mown too soon, which may afterwards be discovered by
its shrivelled and lean body that never will make right good Malt; or if
it is mown at a proper time, and if it be housed damp, or wettish, it will
be apt to heat and mow-burn, and then it will never make so good Malt,
because it will not spire, nor come so regularly on the floor as that
which was inned dry.
Again, I have known one part of a Barley-crop almost green at Harvest,
another part ripe, and another part between both, tho' it was all sown at
once, occasion'd by the several situations of the Seed in the Ground, and
the succeeding Droughts. The deepest came up strong and was ripe soonest,
the next succeeded; but the uppermost, for want of Rain and Cover, some of
it grew not at all, and the rest was green at Harvest. Now these
irregularities are greatly prevented and cured by the application of the
ingredients mentioned in the Receipt, which infuses such a moisture into
the body of the Seed, as with the help of a little Rain and the many Dews,
makes it spire, take root and grow, when others are ruined for want of the
assistance of such steeping.
Barley like other Grain will also degenerate, and become rank, lean and
small bodied, if the same Seed is sown too often in the Soil; 'tis
therefore that the best Farmers not only change the Seed every time, but
take due care to have it off a contrary Soil that they sow it in to; this
makes several in my neighbourhood every Year buy their Barley-seed in the
Vale of _Ailsbury_, that grew there on the black clayey marly Loams, to
sow in Chalks, Gravels, &c. Others every second Year will go from hence to
_Fullham_ and buy the Forward or Rath-ripe Barley that grows there on
Sandy-ground; both which Methods are great Improvements of this Corn, and
whether it be for sowing or malting, the plump, weighty and white
Barley-corn, is in all respects much kinder than the lean flinty Sorts.