BARLEY, PEARL, is the small round kernel which remains after the skin and a considerable portion of the barley have been ground oil: Barley from which only the outer husk or skin has been removed is called Pot Barley.
Both these preparations of barley are made by means of mills constructed for the purpose, and differ only in the degree of grinding which the grain undergoes. In the mill ori ginally used, and still common in Germany and France, the barley is rubbed between a pair of small mill-stones, the upper one of which has several grooves in its lower surface, mounted at such a distance from one another, that they rub without breaking the grains.
This is pot-barley ; and pearl-barley is pro duced by continuing the process until a fur ther portion of the outside of the grain is rubbed off. The powder or meal which flies off through the perforated ease forms excel lent food for cattle, pigs, and poultry.
In another kind of mill, originally intro- , ducal from Holland, and generally used in I Scotland, an ordinary grindstone of about three feet in diameter is made to revolve upon an horizontal axis, while a perforated case, similar to that above described, surrounds it, and revolves in the same direction, but with a much slower motion. The barley is admitted at an opening in the circumference of the case, and the effect is produced by the violent tossing which it receives between the stone and the case. This kind of mill is much
more easily constructed and kept in order than the former, and is well adapted for use with hand-labour.
Pot and pearl-barley are very wholesome and nutritious, and it is to be regretted that they are not more used as food by the labour ing classes of England, as they are in Scot land, Germany, and Holland. The essential oil of barley, which gives it its peculiar taste, resides chiefly in the, skin and adjacent parts of the grain; the interior is a purer farina, more nearly resembling that of wheat. This farina, obtained by grinding marl-barley in a common mill, is called patent barley and is used extensively for making barley-water; but if the essential oil possesses any medicinal pro• pestles, it is evident from what was observed before, that common pot-barley would be pre ferable for making a decoction of barley when prescribed as a remedy. The great use of pot and pearl-barley is in broths, stews, and puddings, as a substitute for lice. It swells, and unites well with the fat and oily matter extracted from meat in boiling. Even the bran, having been steeped in water, and allowed to ferment till it becomes acid, is relished by the bumbler orders in the mess called sowers. In Holland, pot-barley, boiled in butter-milk and sweetened with treacle, is a common mess for children and servants.