As the superiority of malt over barley (if such be really the case) must be chiefly due to the looseness of its texture, which allows the juices of the stomach to act readily upon it, barley in a cooked state might be found quite as nutritious: It would not be fair to institute comparisons between dense hard barley-seeds and the easily soluble malted grains. During the cooking of barley a portion of the starch is changed into sugar, but in this case with only an inappreciable waste of nutriment. When the cooking process is continued for a few hours, a considerable amount of sugar is formed, and the barley acquires a very sweet flavor.
When the malt for cattle question was under discussion, I made a little experiment in relation to it, the results of which are perhaps of sufficient interest to mention:—Two pounds weight of barley-meal were moistened with warm water; after standing for three hours more water was added, and sufficient heat applied to cause the fluid to boil. After fifteen minutes' ebullition, a few ounces of the pasty-like mass which was produced were removed, thoroughly dried, and on being submitted to analysis yielded six per cent. of sugar. The addition of a small quantity of malt to barley undergoing the process of cooking will rapidly convert the starch into sugar.
Barley is naturally a well-flavored grain, and all kinds of stock eat it with avidity. It may be rendered still more agreeable if properly cooked, and this process will, by disintegrating its hard, fibrous structure, set free its stores of nutriment. I incline strongly to the opinion that barley, when well boiled, is almost, if not quite, as digestible as malt.
A serious disadvantage in the use of malt is, that it must be consumed, it is said, in combination with 10 per cent. of its weight of linseed-meal or cake. Now, malt is a very laxative food, and so is linseed; and if the diet of stock were largely made up of these articles the animals would, sooner or later, suffer from diarrhœa. In such case, then, the addition of bean-meal, or of some other binding food, would become necessary, and the compound of malt, linseed, and bean-meal thereby formed would certainly prove anything but an economical diet.
Malt Combs.—I should mention that a portion of the nutriment which the barley loses in malting passes into the radicles, or young roots, which project from the seeds, and are technically known by the term "combs," "combings," or "dust." At present these combs are separated from the malt, but if the latter be intended for feeding purposes this separation is unnecessary, and in such case the barley will not be so much deteriorated. The combs, which constitute about 4 per cent. of the weight of the malt, are sometimes employed as a feeding stuff. I have made an analysis of malt-combings for the County of Kildare Agricultural Society, and have obtained the following results:—
| 100 PARTS CONTAINED— | |
| Water | 8·42 |
| * Flesh-forming (albuminous) substances | 21·50 |
| Digestible fat-forming substances (starch, sugar, gum, &c.) | 53·47 |
| Indigestible woody fibre | 8·57 |
| † Saline matter (ash) | 8·04 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
| * Yielding nitrogen | 3·44 |
| † Containing potash | 1·35 |
| Containing phosphoric acid | 1·74 |
This article was sold as a manure at £3 6s. per ton—a sum for which it was not good value; but as a feeding substance it was probably worth £4 or £5 per ton. Its composition indicates a high nutritive power; but it is probable that its nitrogenous matters are partly in a low degree of elaboration, which greatly detracts from its alimental value.
In conclusion, then, I would urge the following points upon the attention of the farmer:—
1st. Before using malt for feeding purposes, wait until you learn the general results of the experience of other farmers with that article. The manufacture of malt for feeding purposes is rapidly on the decline, instead of, as had been anticipated, on the increase.