Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

42 BRITAIN AT WORK. of the skill required for good turning, one maltster differing from another even after many years’ experience. Let us suppose that the piece is lying from one side of the floor to the other, and occupying about a quarter of the length of the floor. The maltster begins turning at the forward edge of the piece, that is to say at the edge farthest from the steep. With a flat wooden shovel, he throws upwards and forwards a small quantity of the corn, at the same time giving a peculiar twist with his wrist which scatters the grain, and sepa- rates every corn from its neighbour. Having begun at one side, he works his way across the front edge of the piece till he reaches the other side of the floor. On the part of the floor immediately in front of him there now lies a thin layer of corn evenly distributed at a depth of but a few grains. He now works his way back again across the floor, turning the next few inches of the piece forwards in the same manner, and so on to the end. This may appear simple, but the difficulty lies in the even turning of the piece over any amount of floor space that the fore- man maltster may have directed. A piece turned by a skilful maltster has a perfectly even surface and is of the same depth throughout, while the work of the novice can easily be detected by undulations on the surface, or a gradual deepening of the corn from one encl to the other. Of course, the result of either of these faults is uneven growth. Our piece has now been out of the steep two clays, and is known to the maltster as two days old ; it has just been turned for the first time on the morning of the third day. In the evening the foreman maltster, judging by the temperature of the piece and of the atmosphere, will perhaps consider that plough- ing will be sufficient to keep the piece cool till the next morning. The “ plough ” of the maltster is merely a small piece of board attached to the end of a stick, similar to a broom-stick, which serves for a handle. The maltster pushes the plough through the piece, holding it at an angle, so that the corn is forced upwards and outwards, like the earth from an agricultural plough. This process serves to supply fresh air to the piece, and to cool it temporarily, though a ploughed piece should not be left long unturned, as its surface is furrowed, and un- even growth would soon result. During the first three or four days the white shoots on the grains have developed into rootlets, each corn having from two to four of them, though they are at present quite short. On closer examination another change is visible. The young plant has not only put out