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It is univcrfally admitted, that the fmut moftiy 

 abounds in cold, wet, inclement feafons. If the 

 fmut then, as thefe gentlennen think, proceed froni 

 corrupt or viti;ited feed, we ihould find moft of it 

 the year following any year in which it much 

 abounded; for if it proceed from fmutty feed as its 

 fole caufe, as they maintain, certainly every iucceed- 

 ing crop would increafe in fmut, as the quantity of 

 fmutty feed Town would in fome degree at lead: be 

 in proportion to the quantity of fmut in the crop of 

 the year preceding; therefore, if this were the cafe, 

 the fmut would annually increafe, till in a very few 

 years we fhould have none that would be free from 

 fmuti that is, it would be all fmut, and we fhould 

 have no wheat at all ; for fmut-balls contain no- 

 thing but an effete {linking powder, totally deftitute 

 of every principle of hfe, and therefore never vege- 

 tate at all. But this is fo far from being the cafe, 

 that a very fmutty year is often fucceeded by one 

 that has little if any fmut. This generally hap- 

 pens as often as a damp, cold, inclement feafon 

 is fucceeded by one that is warm, diy, and favour-* 

 able to the growth and ripening of grain. 



In Ihort; it is not cafy to enumerate the argu- 

 ments that might be adduced in fupport and con- 

 firmation gf the opinion here advanced; I iliall 



tlicrefore 



