54- Of the various Accidents to which 



thaws in the spring. In proper clay and loam soils, the winter frosts, 

 though they retard the growth, do not often kill the wheat plants. 

 But in the lighter sorts of soil, the frost, even in winter, often raises 

 the surface of the ground, so as to turn the plants out of root ; and it is 

 still more injurious, in that respect, in the spring, when the sun thaws 

 the soil in the day time, and the frost binds it up at night. Frost is 

 seldom fatal however, to grain crops, while they are only in their 

 grassy stages of growth. But when the plants are making their prin- 

 cipal shoots, and coming into flower, and when they are then growing 

 faster, and far more luxuriant than at any other stage, the least breath 

 of frost on the tender growth is hurtful. Fortunately, however, frost 

 seldom happens when the grain crops are in that delicate stage. They 

 are more frequently hurt by frost at a later period of their growth, as 

 will be afterwards noticed when the subject of mildew is discussed *. 



5. Hail. In some parts of the Continent, storms of hail do such 

 injury to the crops, as, in many instances, to desolate whole districts ; 

 but in Britain, hail is seldom injurious to any great extent. In the 

 month of July 1733 however, a storm of hail commenced its course 

 on the shores of Kirkcudbright, took its direction northward by San- 

 quhar, ran along the heights that divide the county of Lanark from those 

 of Ayr and Renfrew, and went by Stirling into Perthshire. Heavy 

 rain fell for many miles on both sides of that course; but the hail was 

 so large, and fell in such masses, as entirely to cut and destroy the 

 growing crops, for about a mile in breadth, and through a course of 

 country of more than one hundred miles in length. Nothing nearly 

 equal to this, has ever been known to occur in Scotland, when the 

 crops were in an advanced stage of their growth f. 



6. Snow. When the wheat crops are covered with snow in winter, 

 they are secured against the severity of the frost, and their future 



* It is ascertained, that if early pease, or potatoes, in a garden, have been at- 

 tacked by the frost, any damage may be prevented by watering them before the 

 sun has got up ; for it is the warmth of the sun, acting on a frosted plant, that 

 occasions the damage. r; , 



f In Italy, hail is a formidable enemy to vegetation. In Tuscany, in the 

 spring, and in Lombardy, in summer, it has destroyed, in one hour, the most 



flourishing crops of wheat and rice Professor Symonds' Communication an the 



Husbandry of Italy, in the Annals of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 207. 



In the Buckinghamshire Report, p. 8, there is an account of a hail storm 

 that happened in that county, which did considerable damage ; but the effects 

 of those storms on the Continent are quite terrific. One happened near Rome, 

 on the 23d July 1818, where the hailstones weighed eighteen ounces. Se- 

 veral persons were dangerously wounded ; a number of animals were killed, 

 and the crops, which promised a magnificent harvest, were totally destroyed. 

 See also an account of a dreadful hail storm in Scotland, Statistical Account, 

 vol. iii. p. 70. 



Thirty-three of the unfortunate sufferers by a hail-storm in Essex, signed a 

 declaration, that they were entirely unable to bear the losses which they sustain- 

 ed, and could not go on with their business, unless relieved by the contribu- 

 tions of the charitable. 



At Berne, with the approbation of Government, a society has been established, 

 called " The Hail Insurance Society," for effecting insurances against loss 

 produced by hail, the ravages of which are so destructive in that neighbourhood. 



