1. The seed of plants cannot be put in a fitter place, for perfect vegetation, than when buried under ground, at a depth sufficient to defend the young shoots from the vicissitudes of heat and cold, and the disadvantage of too much moisture. The manuring of the earth, and the steeping the seed into solutions of salts, have been found, in some cases, to increase the strength of the grain, to correct its original defects, and to prevent the noxious impressions of a vicious ground. Plants are made to germinate in water alone, and this experiment so successfully carried on every winter, in warm apartments, may still be improved by dissolving salts in the water.--Could the barley used for malting be put in the ground, its growth would be more natural, and its oils becoming more miscible with water, by the saline nourishment derived from the earth, might yield more vinous, more strong, and more lasting liquors. But as this method is impracticable, would it be impossible to increase the efficacy of that which is used? Consult Home on agriculture: might not either nitre or salt petre be added to the water, with which the grain is moistened? are they not used with success to manure land? Are not solutions of them in water employed by the farmer to steep his sowing seed? I barely mention these as some of the substances, that might be employed in the malting of barley, and am far from thinking there are none other. Perhaps different salts should be used, according to the nature of the soil, from which the corn was produced; but a variety of experiments seems to be required, in order to discover how far art might in this case imitate and improve nature. 2. A small quantity of malt, at all times, but especially when brewed in large vessels, parts too readily with the heat which extraction requires; and, on the contrary, if the quantity of malt be very great, the heat may not be uniformly spread. A forward beer inclinable to acidity is often the result of too short a grist; a thick, stubborn, and rank liquor many times is produced from too large a one. Every advantage may be had in brewing, properly, five or six quarters of malt; it is difficult to succeed if the number exceeds fifty.