340 



Mode in which 

 wheat grows. 



An irregularly 

 ripening crop 

 subject to 

 blight. 



Thin and late 

 crops particu- 

 larly so. 



Causes that 

 render wheat 

 weak. 



ON THE BLIGHT IN WHEAT. 



sider the nature of the plant, and the kind of cultivation 

 which usually renders it productive. 



It is well known, that nature has furnished the wheat 

 plant with a double set of roots, so contrived, that the first 

 may be deep enough to enable it to stand the severity of the 

 winter ; and the second so shallow as to admit the genial 

 influence of the spring. It first shoots down a perpen- 

 dicular tap-root, which supports the plant and keeps it 

 steady during the winter; and in the spring it tillers out a 

 number of coronal shoots, each of which has its own proper 

 root, and produces its ozen ear, though still adhering to 

 and dependent on each other for mutual support; and when 

 that operation is complete, the winter root becomes useless 

 and dies. 



If this winter root be imperfect, the side shoots which 

 arc to produce the crop will also be so. A strong solid 

 foothold for the tap-root is therefore necessary for wheat ; 

 and the more complete the winter root is, before the spring 

 tillering takes place, the more perfect will be the crop. If 

 the formation of the young plants be unequal, so will be 

 the ripening of the crop ; and if the ripe ears on one part 

 of the plant are waiting for the green ones on the other, the 

 blight generally attacks the crop. 



A thin crop of wheat, and a late ripening crop, (and a 

 thin crop is usually a late ripening one,) are the peculiar 

 prey of the blight ; and these are generally produced either 

 by sowing land with wheat, which is unfit for wheat, or in 

 an improper state of cultivation, or by sowing it in an im- 

 proper season. In fine, any cause which tends to weaken 

 the plant, will predispose it to receive the blight. 



The causes which tend to weaken the wheat plant are 

 many, but the following are the most obvious : 



1*/. Sowing wheat on land that has been so worn out by 

 cropping, as to have lost that tenacity and cohesion, which 

 are so necessary to a wheat crop, and which even dung, 

 without rest, will not restore. 



Idly. Sowing the land in a light loose state, whereby the 

 wheat plant roots too near the surface, and is liable to be 

 injured by the winter's frost, and to have its roots laid 

 bare by the wind, 



Zdly. 



