WHEAT. > ( J 



sufficient quantity, they languish and die". 

 The salt is considered as acting on the fun- 

 gus which forms the mildew, in the same 

 manner as on weeds.* 



It is said that the Smyrna wheat is less sus- 

 ceptible of blight than other varieties. 



The Sicilian corn has long felt the ven- 

 geance of its goddess. 



" Ceres the token by her grief confess'd 



And tore her golden hair, and beat her breast. 



She knows not on what land her curse should tall, 



But, as ingrate, alike upbraids them all, 



Unworthy of her gifts ; Trinacria most, 



Where the last steps she found of what she lost. 



The plough for this the vengeful goddess broke, 



And with one death the ox and owner struck. 



In vain the fallow fields the peasant tills, 



The seed, corrupted ere 'tis sown, she kills. 



The fruitful soil, that once such harvests bore, 



Now mocks the farmer's care, and teems no more. 



And the rich grain which fills the furrow \l glade, 



Rots in the seed, or shrivels in the blade ; 



Or too much sun burns up, or too much ram 



Drowns, or black blights destroy the blasted plain : 



Or greedy birds the new-sown seed devour, 



Or darnel, thistles, and a crop impure 



Of knotted grass, along the acres stand. 



And spread their thriving roots through all the land. 



It is well known that wheat derives advan- 

 tage from frost, the harvest is generally more 

 abundant after a tolerably severe winter, as 



* Phil. Mae. lvi. p. 395. 



