Duseriation on Secale Cormitumy or Ergot, 7 



those ears which have many ergots are never good, but 

 are shrunk, and covered at their superior extremity, 

 with a black powder. 



This production, if exposed to the air, dries readily, 

 and becomes less in size, and very light. A measure 

 of it, that holds fourteen pounds of rye, will weigh but 

 nine pounds. 



It is occasionally found on wheats but on the ears of 

 this grain, it is always short, though thick and well 

 nourished ; the quantity, however, produced by this 

 plant, is very inconsiderable. 



On many ears of rye, there are to be found grains 

 composed of rye and ergot, the portion ergotted makes 

 sometimes one half, and sometimes only one third of 

 the grain, and is that part within the husk, while that 

 part which is rye is most distant from the ear. These 

 grains, if planted, will not vegetate, the germ being de- 

 stroyed. Winter and spring rye are, as far as has been 

 observed, equally liable to this disease. 



Much time and attention have been devoted by dif- 

 ferent naturalists, to ascertain the cause of this produc- 

 tion in rye. Some, from the circumstance that there 

 is more produced in rainy seasons, and in wet grounds, 

 have attributed its formation to the moisture of the air 

 and the earth ; others believe it to proceed from the 

 grains having been pierced by insects ; while others 

 have regarded it as a mole^ occasioned by a faulty fe- 

 cundation. This last opinion is more probably cor- 

 rect, for nothing has been found to contribute so much 

 to its production, if the soil be moist, as a storm of 

 rain falling upon the grain when in bloom. 



There will ahvavs be more of it found on the bor- 



