I 



381 



OBSERVATIONS concerning 





9 



verned me in) the ground would be fcanty, and extremely 

 begf^ared for want of feed. I readily concluded the caufe 

 of this to be> that the grain was too much eaten (that is) 

 the maggot was too far advanced in it, and therefore fuch 

 grains perifhed; and indeed for fatisfadion in this point, I 

 twice tried, after wafhing the grain, and drying the light 

 chaffy fluff that fwam at top, to fow thofe grains, and con- 

 ftantly found all that I could fqueeze flat with my fingers 

 never fprouted, fow them how I would. This, I hope, will 

 be looked upon as a very good anfwer to both of thofe hafty 

 affertions, that fuch wheat will neverthelefs grow when 

 fown, and likev/ife make a tolerable flour; for grind it how 

 you will, I muft be bold to fay, it can produce no flour at 

 all ; and the flour imagined to be got from weevil eaten 

 wheat, is only from fuch grains of it that have efcaped the 

 weevil, or are but half eaten, perhaps by the maggot's not 

 having run it's courfc in nature before it was deftroyed; 

 which is the prefumed caufe of that prodigious clamminefs 

 in bread, from wheat that has the weevil in it, as the 

 moifture of the maggots continues in the flour; but in bif- 



that clamminefs may be dried up, by the heat of the 

 oven, as thofe cakes are generally very thin. 



The author of the Complete Body of Hufljandry, vol. 



IV. page 347, of the o£tavo edition, fpeaks of a fly in Eng- 

 land, that fometimes attacks the wheat in it's foft fl:ate; and 



calls it a fmall black fly, noc bigger than a large pin's 

 head. He fays they faften on the ear in numbers, cat in- 

 to the corn, and lay their eggs, vv^hich hatch into mag- 

 gots, and devour part, and fpoil the refl: of the grain. 

 He further fays, the fly may bediflodged whilft it crawls 

 on the ear, for they are fo tender, that a very little force 

 will dertroy them, and that they only appear in dry years, 

 for rains in any quantity dcllroy them; and from thence 

 recommends the Iriih method of rope hauling the wheat in 

 dewy mornings, to brufli the fly off, which will then be 



cults 



deftroyed.. 



I cannot 





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