Two Hebridean Corn-kilns

Abstract

INcountries with such an undependable climate as Scotland, the kiln provided an ecpnomically important method of drying corn, either prior to threshing or before grinding. It is probable that drying before threshing only occurred in regions on the northern periphery of corn cultivation, where climatic conditions preclude the ripening of grain, which as a result is still not hardened when required for threshing.! More frequently, however, the kiln was used for preparing corn for milling, and it would be stacked damp until it was needed for grinding. In Scotland in the past corn was generally milled as required in small quantities, and consequently the kiln would be in frequent use during the winter. In the Highlands in the eighteenth century the commonest method of preparing grain for milling-the quern was of course in general use-was by graddaning or parching by burning the straw. Pennant recorded two different methods of graddaning in Rum, which he visited in 1772: the ears of corn would be cut off and dried in a kiln, after which they would be placed on the floor and set alight, the grain afterwards being picked out 'pow as black as coal'. Alternatively the whole sheaf might be burnt without the trouble of cutting off the ears, an extremely wasteful method since the straw was then lost for thatching or manure.2 Johnson, who reported the practice from Skye in the following year, pointed out that when the straw was burnt the cattle were being deprived of potential fodder.3 Although Martin reported in 1703 that the technique was becoming obsolete in the Islands,4 it seems to have been in use as far south as Dunsinnan in Perthshire some seventy years later. 5 One reason for this survival must have been the unusual taste of graddaned bread, which made it so highly esteemed.6 This distinctive taste was retained, however, in other methods in use in the nineteenth century. Thus the ears of bere were plucked and placed in a net (tarran) made of the tough roots of the yellow bedstraw or of bent-grass, and hung over a slow smokeless fire. The ears would be periodically turned until quite dry.7 Rye and oats, on