GRAIN. 



EfTays, publiHicd by Doftor Hunter, the lofs is flated by 

 Mr. Holt to be in the following proportions in different 

 forts of grain : 



In Wheat. 



On being rubbed out in the hot-fun, and lb. ci. tin. 

 weighed the 31ft of Auguft, 1789, 

 foon after being cut, afforded - 0211 



On being weighed again on the i8th of 



Oaober 027 



Lofs ox weight, per bunicl, of 7olbs. 



nearly - - - - - -''83 



Or alnioft one-ten'.h of the whole in forty 



days. 

 Of this wheat, thirty-two grains weighed 



one penny-weight. 

 It is, however, remarked, tJiat thi> is the greatefl pof- 

 fible lofs that the grain can fuftain, as though it was in a 

 full ilate of maturity or ripcnefs, it had neither had the 

 benefit of being dried by expofure to the fun after being 

 cut, nor undergone the procefs of fermentation after it was 

 put together. 



In Wheat. 



lb. 

 o 



Jrs. 



3 



15 



o 15 



Another quantity, weighed on the 2 2d of 

 October, produced 



Weighed again 24 days afterwards, af- 

 forded ..... 



Lofs in that time per bufhel, at the rate 

 of ..... 



A further quantity, weighed on the 8th of 

 January, 1790, produced 



Lofs per bufhel, on being weighed again 

 32 days afterwards, at the rate of 



lu Barley. 



On being weighed on the 2d of September, 



under iimilar circumftances, produced 022 

 On being weighed again on Oclober the 



1 8th, afforded - - - - o l 12 



Lofs of weight /li-r budiol of 60 lbs. 8 4 22 



Or' about one-fcventh of the whole in 47 



days. 

 Twcntv-four grains of this barley were 



found to weigh one penny-weiglit two 



grains. 



In O.its. 



Wlt-i tills icrt of grain no experiment appears to have 

 been made by the writer, but there can be no doubt but that 

 the lofs muft be equally great as in any of the otlier forts. 



The refults of thefe trials render it fulficicntly evident, 

 that the more expeditiously grain is brought to the market, 

 the L-fs is the lofs wliich :s fuftained by the cultivator. 

 Of courfe it fhould never be laid up or kept in any other 

 way longer than circumftances render it neceffary. But in 

 addition to the lofs that has been feen to occur from th.e gra- 



in regard to the prefcrvalion of grain from the depreda- 

 tions of infeCls, and other funilar animals, it may probably 

 be the beft accomplilhed by a timely and frequent ufe of the 

 fcreen, with proper ventilation, as has been noticed above. 

 Where the injury is produced by the weevil, the moth, or the 

 beetle, it has always ceafed at the period when thefe vermin 

 appear, as they are, wlien in this Hate of exillence, merely 

 propagators of their feveral refpoctive kinds of venniculi, 

 which, while they continued in that flate or form, produced 

 the injury. 



In their ultimate or infeft flate they eat or confume very 

 little, their bufinefs being principally that of depofiting their 

 ova or eggs, which they do by a fort of unerring inlfinCt, in 

 fituations where the large coUeftiors of grain are fure to fur- 

 ni(h food for their fucceffors during the period in which they 

 are in the vermicular ftate. It is confequently a matter of 

 great moment to prevent the generation of them, by the 

 deftruftion of the eggs before they are hatched, which is 

 ufually the befl performed by having recourfe to the fcreen, 

 and expofure to a free air, as has been already fliewn. The 

 frequent ftirring of the grain breaks the cohefion of their 

 ova, by which the nidus of inch minute vermiculi is dellroy- 

 ed, as on hatching they collect together, and fpin or weave 

 numerous neils of a cob-web-like fubilance for their own fe- 

 curity and proteftion. And a great number of grains are 

 attached together by them to tliefe neils, by an infinity of 

 fmall threads, both for their fafety and food. Confequentlv, 

 when their habitations are broken and feparated bv the ufe of 

 the fcreen, they fall through its fmall interilices, and are ca. 

 pable of being eafily removed with the dull and other refufe 

 matters : and fuch as efcape the early fcreenings are de- 

 flroyed by thofe that follow, and the grain of courfe little 

 injured by the operation, being only i-endered more clean and 

 free from impurities. See H A kve-stixg o/" Gra;n, Reapixu 

 of Grain, and Stac KING of Grain. 



Gi!.\iN" is alfo applied to tlie fruits or feeds of divers plant.s, 

 as a grain of millet, of pepper, &c. 



Gn.vix is alfo extended to a minute body, or parcel of a 

 body pulverized. In which fenfe we fay, a grain of fand, 

 a grain of fait, a grain of gunpowder, &c. 



Grain' denotes alfo a fmall weight, ufed in eflimating di- 

 vers fubllances. 



The grain is the fmallefl of all weights known in Eng- 

 land. It is taken from the weight of a grain of wheatj 

 gathered out of the middle of the ear, and well dried. By 

 Hat. 12 Henry VII. cap. 7. every iterling or penny-weight 

 was to weigh tliirty-two fuch grains ; but now twenty-four 

 grains make a penny-weight, and twenty penny-weights an 

 ounce. See Pkxny and WEiciirr. 



The grain is troy weight, and ufed in the weighing of 

 gold, filver, jewels, bread, and liquors. 



Among the ancients, the grain was the fourth part of the 

 filiqua, or twelfth of the obolus, and the tvrenty-fecond of 

 the drachma. It coincided with lens. 



Fcrnehus, lib. iv. cap. 6. Method. Mcdend. affirms it as 

 a thing known and certain, that the grain is of the fame 

 weight every where : but he is niillaken. Mr. Greaves, 

 in his treatife of the Denarius., in his Mifcell. Works, vol. L 

 p. 276. has ihewn, that 179 Dutch gi-ains, which Snelllus 

 had found to be the weight of a Philip of gold, only amomit 

 to 134I Englilh grains. Add, that Monf. Perrault has 



dual diminution in the weight of the grain in coniequence of computed the French grain to be lefs than the Englirti, and 



the d'.ffipation of the more moiil particles which it contains, yet bigger than the Dutch; to the Englilh, it is as 158 



there are others that arife occafionally from the ravages of to 134^; and to that of Holland, as 158 to 179. See 



different kinds of vermin, and the effeds of damps, imilli- Weiuiit. 



and feveral other caufes 

 8 



The grain ufed by the apothecaries is the fame with that 



ef 



