i 4 3 O/Bligh t. Chap. XL 



Ripening: And 'tis obferv'd, that the earliefl Town 

 Wheat generally efcapes the Blight the beft, becauie 

 it comes firft into BloiTom. 



Feeding down the Wheat with Sheep prevents 

 the Blight, by doing what the Blight wou'd do, if 

 the Wheat fell down, - *. e. caufes the Ears to be 

 light fa). 



And we find, that thofe who pracTife this Method 

 of feeding their Wheat with Sheep in the Spring, to 

 prevent the lodging of it, have moil commonly their 

 Straw weak, and Ears light. 



Thefe, inftead of making the Stalks ftrong enough 

 to fupport heavy Ears, make the Ears light enough 

 to be Supported by weak Stalks. They know that 

 heavy Ears make the greateil Crop \ and yet they (till 

 hope to have it from light ones. 



They caufe the Blight by the very means they make 

 ufe of to cure it. 



This feeding of Wheat much retards the Time of 

 its blorToming;<and that it may blofibm early, is one 

 chief End of fowing it early, to prevent the Blight. 

 But when it is fed, what the Plants fend up next is 

 but a Sort of fecond or latter Crop, which has longer 

 to ftand than the firft would have required, and is 

 always weaker than the firft Crop would have been ; 

 and the longer time it has to continue on the Ground, 

 the more Nouriihmentis required to maintain it; and 

 yet, as has been fhewn, the longer it has been fown, 

 the more the Earth has loft of its Nonrifhment ; and 



fa) Heavy Ears never fall. I£ they did, that would not make 

 them light. Wheat falls fometimes vvhilil 'tis in Grafs, and be- 

 fore it comes into Ear; fo far are the Ears from caufing it to 

 fall. This was proved by my whole Crop the kit HarvelT, and 

 particularly by the Meafured Acre, the Ears of which, tho' prodi- 

 gious large and heavy, were none of them lodg'd, when thofe of 

 fown Wheat on the other Side of the Hedge were fallen down 

 fiat, and ledg'd on the Ground. 



confe- 



