inestimable value in cattle husbandry, as without them our sheepfarms
would soon be depopulated, and the animals hardly outlive a winter. One
function they, and the like, fulfil in nature, is turning inorganic
matter into vegetable, that the component elements may in this form be
more readily assimilated into animal flesh and blood; while their
introduction as an article of farming is of great importance as
rendering possible and feasible a regular rotation of crops.

4. But I must, as I said, hasten on to another ingredient of the dish we
are compounding; I refer to barley, for that too, as our gracious
hostess would say, is "_intilt_." From this single grain what virtues
have been developed! what mildness, what soothing, what nourishment, and
what strength! What a source it is to us of comfort, of enjoyment, and
of wealth! There is barley-water, for instance, a beverage most
harmless, yet most soothing; meet drink for the sick-room, and specially
promotive of the secretions in patients whose disease is inflammatory,
and who suffer from thirst. Then there is barley-bread, extensively used
in both England and Scotland, than which there is none more wholesome to
the blood and more nourishing to the system; the meal of which is of
service too in the shape of a medical appliance, and, when so used,
acts with most beneficial effect. But its strength is not so pronounced
or decisive either in the form of an infusion or in that of bread, much
as in these forms it contributes to health and vigour: it is not when it
is put into the pot, or when bruised by the miller, that it comes out in
the fulness of its might; it is when it is immersed in water, and
subjected to heat, and metamorphosed into malt. In this form it can be
converted into a beverage that is simple and healthful, and, when used
aright, conducive to strength of muscle and general vigour of life; but
when it has undergone a further process, which I am about to describe,
it evolves a spirit so masterful that the weak would do well to