354 THE FARMEP AT HOME. 



at the same time, the straw rendered totally unfit for fodder, possess- 

 ing neither strength nor substance in it. The evidence of different 

 places fully confirm the existence of fungi, as injurious in this man- 

 ner ; as from some it is stated, that as the wet weather continued, 

 the rust of fungus made a rapid progress from the ear downwards, 

 until, in many instances, it covered the stem from the ear, as far as 

 it was unsheathed. From others it is said, that the rust or fungus 

 prevented those grains which the maggot had not destroyed from being 

 perfected, in a greater or less degree. From others still it is asserted, 

 that these parasitical plants multiplied so much on the straw, and on 

 the husk and chaff of the ears, that in many cases whole fields put on 

 an universal blackened, rusty appearance. From other different per- 

 sons, various other circumstances of this nature are also related to be 

 met with. 



The best means of preventing and removing affections of this 

 nature in this sort of grain crop, are supposed to be those of cultiva- 

 ting only the sorts of wheat which are the hardiest in point of quality, 

 and the least liable to disease ; the sowing of the wheat earlier than 

 usual in the season ; the introduction of earlier varieties of it ; the 

 giving of a sufficient quantity of seed ; the draining of the land where 

 it is inclined to be wet ; the rolling arid treading of the land by live 

 stock immediately after sowing ; the use of sowing different sorts of 

 saline substances as a manure ; the proper regulation and improve- 

 ment of the course of crops ; the change of seed, by bringing it fresh 

 from other countries ; the extirpation of the diseased sterns, stalks, or 

 blades early in the season, and the instantly cutting down of the crop 

 when it is decidedly affected. 



SADDLE. A seat upon a horse's back, contrived for the conven- 

 iency of the rider. The ancient Romans are supposed not to have 

 made use of saddles and stirrups, and it is thought that they did not 

 come into use till the time of Constantine the Great, A. D. 340, as 

 appears from the Greek historian, Zonaras, who (through his whole his- 

 tory) makes no mention of a saddle for a horse, before such time as 

 Constans, attempting to deprive his brother Constantine of the empire, 

 made head against his army, and entering into the squadron, where 

 he himself was, cast him beside the saddle of his horse. 



SAGO. Sago is a simple brought from the East Indies, of con- 

 siderable use as a restorative diet. It is produced from a species of 

 palm tree, growing in the East Indies. The progress of its vegetation 

 in the early stages is very slow. At first it is a mere shrub, thick set 

 with thorns ; but, as soon as its stem is once formed, it rises in a short 

 time to thirty feet, is about six feet in circumference, and imperceptibly 

 loses its thorns. Its ligneous bark is about an inch in thickness, and 

 covers a multitude of long fibres ; which, being interwoven one with 

 another, envelope a mass of a gummy kind of meal. As soon as this 

 tree is ripe, a whitish dust, which transpires through the pores of the 



