Chap. II. BY M. DE CHATEAU-VIEUX. 263 



" Both the one and the other fuftered on the 23d of May, by a vio- 

 " lent north-eaft wind, which broke a great number of tJhe ftalks of 

 " the rye, and tore others up by the roots. The flalks that were 

 •' not quite broke, recovered perfedlly, and the lofs v/as not great 

 •* with refpedl to them. The cafe was different in regard to the 

 " plants that were broke afunder or torn up. I reckoned the damage 

 " fuftained by thefe lafl:, equal to a tenth part of the crop. 



" Of the 47 furrows of this field, 1 8 fowed with Maflin yielded 

 " me (exclufive of the tythe which is an eleventh part) 60 of our 

 *' meafures. This grain is the fineft of its kind in the whole coun- 

 " try, and is equal to common wheat. It weighed in the driefl 

 " and coldeft feafon, 27 pounds ; which is a ninth part more than 

 " the common Maflin. 



" The 29 furrows fowed with wheat, feemed to have efcaped 

 " the violent frofls of the winter : but I was greatly furprized in 

 " April, to fee large fpaces in which the plants periflied daily; and 

 " others wherein the wheat feemed to have disappeared, to make 

 " room for a prodigious quantity of fenvy which looked extremely 

 " well *. 



" I was not at all pleafed with this change of crop; and though I 

 " no longer expefted any thing from thefe damaged places, which' 

 ** amounted to the value of nine furrows, I would not give up the 

 •' good plants which I thought might fhill be in them ; and therefore 

 " ordered them to be weeded carefully and feveral times over, by 

 " women who defired only the weeds for their labour. This opera- 

 " tion was not ufelefs : the furviving plants gathered new ftrength : 

 *• they branched confiderably in June ; and yielded me, at harveft, 

 «* about a third part of what I reaped from the places which had not 

 <* been damaged. Thefe laft feemed but indifferent during all the 

 *' fpring. Every one judged this corn inferior to that of the 

 «* fields which had been fown in equally diltant rows and dunged : 

 ** but from the beginning of June, when the other wheat began to 

 " decline, my rows throve fo well, that fome parts of them were 

 " very greatly fuperior, both in the length of the flraw, and the big- 



<' nefs 



* Great part of this field feems to have fufFered exaftly the fame accident which 

 happened to the whole field of the experiment. No. 8. It was not perceived in either 

 of them, till April ; and the efFecS was the fame upon the plants in both cafes, tho' 

 they were more affe6ted in one than in the other. In both cafes too, the plants re- 

 covered and yielded % good crop. 



