64 THE PRACTICE OF THE 



" ears defends them from the injuries of wefc 

 " weather* when ripe : for the rain is carried 

 " off by their beard and chaff, which like tiles 

 " protect the grain from being dilcoloured, 

 * as fovvn wheat always is by much rain, 

 44 when ripe. 



" This difference was fully fhewn laft har- 

 " vert, when all my wheat was in the fame 

 " pofture : none of the ears reached the 

 '* ground, but fome reached within a foot, 

 " others within half a yard of it, and fome 

 4 not fo low. None of the draws were 

 46 broken by the weight of thefe large ears ; 

 " they only bended round at the height of 

 " about a yard, or higher, in a manner that I 

 never faw in any other wheat but the 

 44 horfe-hoed. In thefe intervals, notwith- 

 44 {landing this bending pofture of the ears, 

 44 one may walk backwards and forwards, 

 4i without doing any damage : for the ears, 

 " when thrufb out of their places, will, by 

 " their fpring, return to them again, like 

 44 twigs in a coppice. 



" If a field of fuch whcr.t t for want of a 

 good change of feed, or by any other caufe, 

 mould be Imutty, the fmurry ears will itand 

 upright over the rows, and may, at the 

 expence of -about a (hilling an acre, be cut 

 off with fciflars by women and children, 

 which is the only perfect cure for that ma- 

 lady, when it happens j an. J the damage is 

 nothing but this imall expence, and the lofs 



44 of 



** 



