motion to the gearing actuating the turning screws. These screws do not
quite touch the bottom of the germinating case, but are provided with a
pair of small brushes, as shown in the annexed engraving, Fig. 8, which
just skim it. The apparatus shown has but three of these screws, but the
cases are generally made wide enough for six. The kilns are double,
each possessing two floors, and worked upon the Stopes' system. The
construction of the furnaces is of the ordinary French pattern. The
arrangement of the house permits of great regularity in working. Every
day 130 qrs. of barley is screened, sorted, cleaned, and passed into a
steeping cistern. When sufficiently steeped it runs through piping into
the germinating case, which, in the natural order of working, is empty.
Here it forms the couch. When it is desirable to open couch a small
amount of air is forced through the grain by opening the trap door
connected with the main air channel. This furnishes the growing corn
with oxygen, removes the carbonic acid gas, and regulates temperatures
of the mass of grain. Later the Saladin turner is put in motion about
every eight to twelve hours. The screws in rotating upon their axes are
slowly propelled horizontally. They thus effectually turn the grain and
leave it perfectly smooth. This turning prevents matting of the roots,
the regulation of temperature and exposure to air being effected
by means of the cold air from the _echangeur_. When the grain is
sufficiently grown it is elevated to the kilns. For forty hours it
remains upon the top floor. It is then dropped upon the bottom floor, a
further charge of green corn following upon the top floor. The benefit
is mutual. The bottom floor is maintained at an even temperature, being
virtually plunged in an air bath; free radiation of heat is prevented;
the top surface of the malt is necessarily nearly as warm as that next
the wires, which in its turn is subject to lower heats than would be
necessary if free radiation from the surface was allowed. The top floor
is by the intervention of the layer of malt between it and the fire