8o DISTEMPERS OF CORN. Parti. 



" fometimes cut off whole herds, and for which no remedy has 

 *' yet been found ? Thefe difeafes are fometimes reckoned conta- 

 " gious ; perhaps on too flight an inquiry. 



" This fear of the pernicious effeds of diftemper'd fodder, may 

 *• be groundiefs, though it is founded on plaufible appearances. It 

 " were to be wifhed for the public good, that where fodder is any 

 " way diflemper'd, by ruft, fmut, &c. fome part of it, the moft di- 

 " flemper'd, were fet apart to feed fome cattle with, that we mi2;ht 

 *' be affured whether their health is affefted, or difeafes are brought 

 " on by it. If cattle fed with it for two or three months, continue 

 " in good health, it may afterwards be made ufe of with confidence. 

 " If we find them droop, the remedy is at hand : they mull: be fed 

 " with good wholefome hay, which will carry off the difeafe, then 

 " known to proceed from the bad quality of their food," 



OF BLIGHTS. 



WHAT we exprefs in England by the general term, blight, 

 our author divides into different kinds, appropriating a par- 

 ticular name to each. The firff he fpeaks of, he calls 



Coidure, i. e. Empty-ears. 



/^ORN is faid to be coule, when the ears, inftead of being full of 

 ^-^ plump grains, are entirely deftitute of any in their extremities, 

 or contain only a few fmall grains, in which there is fcarce any 

 flour, and which pafs through the fieve, with the duft and feeds 

 of weeds. 



This may be owing to feveral caufes : 

 ■; I . Heavy and cold rains, when the corn is in bloom, may pre- 

 vent the grains being render'd pregnant, as it happens to grapes, in 

 the fame circumftances, which remain fmall and without juice. 



2. Others impute this evil to lightning, which feems probable 

 from the known and great effedts of eledtricity, with which the air 

 is fo abundantly ftored in ftormy weather. I have feen trees lofe 

 all their leaves after a ftorm, and others die entirely, which could 

 be imputed only to the lightning : as the next neighbouring trees 

 are not hurt when any thing of this kind happens to corn, it can 

 fcarce be of any great extent. 



3. The ears are fometimes hurt by froft, jufl: as they come forth. 

 In this cafe, the ears which are entirely frozen, contain no grain j 



2 and 



