Chap. 44.] THE DISEASES OF GKAIN. 55 



be the consequence, if the seed is decayed when put in the 

 ground. This may be known, however, the moment it makes 

 its appearance, from which it is quite evident that the defect 

 lies in the root. There is another form of disease, too, which 

 closely resembles the oat, and which supervenes when the 

 grain, already developed to its full size, but not ripe, is struck 

 by a noxious blast, before it has acquired its proper body and 

 strength ; in this case, the seed pines away in the ear, by a 

 kind of abortion, as it were, and totally disappears. 



The wind is injurious to wheat and barley, at three ^° periods 

 of the year in particular : when they are in blossom, directly 

 the blossom has passed off, and just as the seed is beginning to 

 ripen. In this last case, the grain wastes away, while in the 

 two former ones it is prevented from being developed. Gleams 

 of sunshine, every now and then, from the midst of clouds, 

 are injurious to corn. Maggots, too, breed " in the roots, when 

 the rains that follow the seed-time are succeeded by a sudden 

 heat, which encloses the humidity in the ground. Maggots 

 make their appearance,^- also, in the grain, when the ear fer- 

 ments through heat succeeding a fall of rain. There is a small 

 beetle, too, known by the name of "cantharis,"^^ which eats 

 away the blade. All these insects die, however, as soon as 

 their nutriment fails them. Oil,^* pitch, and grease are pre- 

 judicial to grain, and care should be taken not to let them come 

 in contact with the seed that is sown. Eain is only beneficial 

 to grain while in the blade : it is injurious to wheat and barley 

 while they are in blossom, but is not detrimental to the legu- 

 minous plants, with the exception of the chick-pea. "When 

 grain is beginning to ripen, rain is injurious, and to barley in 

 particular. There is a white grass ^* that grows in the fields, 

 very similar to panic in appearance, but fatal to cattle. As to 



10 From Tbeopkrastus, Hist. Plant. B. viii. c. 10. 



1' Tbis but rarely happens in our climates, as Fee remarks. 



1- The grains are sometimes, though rarely, found devoured on the 

 stalk, by a kind of larvaR. 



1^ Some coleopterous insect, probably, now unknown, and not the Can- 

 tharis vesicatoria, or " Spanish fly," as some have imagined. Diosco- 

 rides and Athenseus state to the same effect as Pliny. 



1* The proper influence of the humidity of the earth would naturally 

 be impeded by a coating of these substances. 



15 This plant has not been identified; but none of the gramineous 

 plants are noxious to cattle, with the exception of the seed of darnel. 



