240 EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, Part JL 



were fown in 1755, for the crop of 1756. The young plants rofe 

 extremely well, the ground had been properly prepared, and had 

 the degree of moifture neceflary to promote their growth. 



" Though fome flight frofts were felt towards the latter end of 

 October, they did not prevent the growth of the corn, the cold 

 abating from the twelfth of November, to the end of that month. 

 M. de Reaumur's thermometer was, during that time, at from fix 

 to eight degrees above the freezing point. At the fame time we had 

 pretty frequent, and often plentiful fliowers of rain. 



" The corn was in very good condition at the beginning of the 

 winter, during which there was fcarce any frofl, excepting the ten 

 firfl days of December, when the thermometer fell to about fix de- 

 grees below the freezing point. During the months of January and 

 February, it was pretty conflantly above the freezing point : we 

 had little fnow ; but pretty frequent rains. 



" The fpring and fummer of 1756, having been extremely rainy, 

 and the earth too much foaked thereby, the plants were poor, and 

 the fummer plowings could not be given them. For this reafon, I 

 could give feveral of my fields but one fi:irring ; and others had two. 

 I would not plow whilft the earth was fo very wet : it would only 

 have hardened, and as it were kneaded it ; and I judged that fuch 

 bad plowings would have been equally prejudicial to the corn then 

 growing, and to the preparation of the fallow for the next fowing. 

 I found afterwards that I had done right. 



" One could not but expeft that fo unfavourable a feafon would 

 prove fatal to the corn. I had obferved during all the month of 

 April, in which there was no froft, and the thermometer was from 

 five to feven degrees above the freezing point, and towards the end 

 of that month from nine to twelve degrees, that the corn made but 

 little progrefs, and grew yellow. The diftemper continuing to in- 

 creafe, I perceived in May, that the corn was attacked with what 

 is called t/je rickets, fvid. p. 84.^ The bad ftate of the roots of 

 thefe plants, the colour of their blades turned to a blueifli green, 

 and yellow at the point, left no room to doubt what ailed them ; 

 and from that time it was ealy to forefee, that befides the fmallnefs 

 of the number of ftalks which the plants had produced, and by which 

 the crop would certainly be fcanty, it would be diminifhed flill more^ 

 by the ears having but little grain. 



" In June, the healthy plants throve greatly : the ftraw grew 

 long : but yet the {heaves did not yield lb much grain as in the 

 --••■. fore- 



