168 On Mildew. 



stalk, and most where it is slenderest, and there brings 

 on a stagnation. 



But the earth, being deeply warmed by the long and 

 intense heat, not cooling so soon as the stalk, continues 

 the violent ascent of the juices as before ; and if there 

 be an obstruction or stoppage above, in the slenderest 

 part of the stalk, what must, what can be the conse- 

 quence of this but an extravasation^ or that the vessels 

 burst ? 



That in fact mildews in New- England always come 

 in cool nights, after intense and continued heats, I am 

 sure from near 40 years observation, and from these 

 symptoms I have often known a mildew prognosticated 

 by observing persons, in the evening preceding. 



Such a cold, succeeding heat, every philosopher, and 

 almost every man, knows will occasion a great dew\ 

 And this no doubt is the reason why this rust has been 

 ascribed to the deiv and called nielderv or mildew. 

 Whereas I suppose it was the cold, properly speaking, 

 which occasioned both ; and that the dew had no other 

 effect in occasioning the rust than, as by hanging on the 

 stalk, it may incrccise the chill. 



Another fact which, I think, confirms this hypothesis 

 is this : that the thin leaves and the slenderest parts of 

 the stalk are si ways first affected : on the stalk the spots 

 first appear just below the ear. Here the stalk being 

 smallest and the vessels narrowest, is the first stoppage 

 by the chill, as might be expected. x\nd accordingly 

 just below this the first eruption appears ; and so lower 

 and lower, till, without relief, it covers the w-hole and 

 entirely ruins the grain if not already filled. 



