84: DISTEMPERS OF CORN. Part I. 



Bled- glace, i. e. glazed com. 

 ■ E N fkilled in wheat require that it be heavy, of a fmooth fur- 



■^^^ face, and bright yello .v colour. If it is' of a dead white, they 

 judge it to be watry, mouiUe ; andif of adeep yellow, and inclining 

 to be tranfparent, it is fiid to be glace, glazed. This fault happens 

 to corn that has been ripsn'd by great heats, which have come be- 

 fore the flour was formed. This wheat fprouts well, yields plenty 

 of flour, and makes good bread. I guefs that this flour does not 

 take {q much water to knead it, as the flour of the beft wheat 

 does. This is the only diladvantage attending it, if it really be 

 one. 



Bled avorte, i. e. abortive, or rickety corn. 



jUR author fays he did not know this diftemper in corn, till he 

 had feen M. Tillet's memoir on that fubjed:; but that he has 

 iince obferved it. The following is the fubflance of that memoir, 

 being a diflertation which gained the prize given by the academy 

 of Bourdeaux. 



1. The abortive ears grow on rickety ftalks, of a white colour, 

 with curled leaves. 



2. The ftalks appear rickety as foon as they are three or four 

 inches high. 



3. Whilft the rickety ftalks are yet low, they are weak, and of 

 ayeilowifh hue : their blades are of the fsme colour, and fomewhat 

 crimped or curled, as if they were blighted ; and towards the root, 

 the rickety ftalks look ftronger than others. 



4. As the rickety ftalks grow, they become of a green colour, 

 and afterwards change to that blueifli hue which is their diftin- 

 guifliing charadter : their blades remain curled, become likewife 

 blueifh, and never have the ftrength and confiftence of found 

 blades. 



5. This is not a diftemper peculiar to corn growing in a poor 

 ground. M. Tillet has obferved it in corn growing in a rich foil, 

 and even in the middle of a tuft of fine wheat. He has fometimes 

 fearched for it in vain in poor foils, where the corn was but in a 

 languifhing condition. 



6. The roots feemed to partake of the fame diftemper. They 

 were not entirely covered with their foft fpungy coat, and in fome 

 parts they were grown hard like wood. 



7. Rickety ftalks feldom bear ears, either entirely good or entire- 



2 ly 



