RED 



lowing experiments prove that tlicy will live longer in water 

 than they can when txpofed to the open air. 



Experiments, 



N' I. He put ton red worms into a wine glafs with com- 

 mon fait in it. They were all dead in four hours. 



N° 2. Into a glafs with brine in it he put ten red worms. 

 They were all dead in fix hours. 



N"^ 3. Into a glafs with lime in it, which had been 

 flaked for a long time, and cxpofed to the weather, he put 

 the like number. They were all dead in forty-four hours. 



N° 4. Into a glafs with the above lime, and fome water 

 in it, he put the like number. They were dead in twenty 

 hours. 



N^ 5. Into a glafs with lime newly flaked, and when 

 cold, he put the like number. They were dead in fourteen 

 hours. 



N'^ 6. Into lime water, made with cold water, he put the 

 like Yiumber. They were dead in ten hours. 



N^ 7. Into a glafs with foot in it, he put the like 

 number. They were dead in four hours. 



N^ 8. Into foot and water he put the like number. 

 They were dead in four hours. 



N° 9. Into pure water he put tlie like number. They 

 were dead in fifty-two hours. 



N° 10. Into a glsffs, without any thing in it, he put 

 the like number. They were dead in thirty-two hours. 



It is ftated that by tliefe experiments it is feen that all the 

 articles ufed will kill this infeft in a fhort time, particularly 

 the fait and foot. He thought it necefiary to confider dif- 

 ferent articles, the better to fuit different parts of the 

 kingdom. 



Where lime can be conveniently had, and that it is ufed 

 as manure, he is apt to believe, from the experiments, 

 that no injury can be fudaincd from thefe worms ; but he 

 is afraid a fmall quantity will not effeftually deftroy them ; 

 befides, he fhould fear, if it were not put on before the fow- 

 ing of the corn, that it might finge the blades of the corn ; 

 for, from thefe experiments, it appears that lime newly 

 flaked is more fnddenly deflruftive to them than old lime, 

 and therefore it is to be preferred. 



Where lime is ufed for no other purpofe than to dellroy 

 this worm, he fhould conceive, that about eight barrels, 

 regularly fown by hand on an acre of ground, might be 

 fufficient : it muft be firft flaked and cold before a man 

 can poffibly cafl it upon the ground with his hand, lime 

 being a very Itrong cauftic ; and even when it is cold the 

 man fliould have a thick glove upon his hand. 



Where fait may be ufed to deflroy this worm, it muft al- 

 ways be fown upon the ground before the intended crop ; 

 for although corn will vegetate, and receive benefit from 

 fait as a manure, when it is ufed antecedent to the fowing 

 of the corn, yet if it be added after the corn is growing 

 it will certainly deftroy it : therefore it fliould never be 

 ufed for this purpofe, but before the corn is fown, or at leaft 

 before it vegetates. 



He conceives that where fait is ufed for this purpofe 

 onlv, about four hundred and a half to an acre will an- 

 fwer the purpofe, which is a httle more than one ounce to 

 every fquare yard. 



It is feen by the experiments, that foot kills this worm 

 as foon as fait ; and as in moft places it is to be had at a 

 much lefs price than fait, he thinks there can be no doubt 

 about preferring it ; befides which, it may be fafely ufed 

 after the corn is up. 



He had fome fmall parcels of barley under experiments, 

 vfhich thefe worms began to deftroy ; and in order to con- 



\l E D 



vey the foot as foon as pofliblc to the roots of the plants, 

 he mixed a little of it in water, and poured it on the plants 

 with a garden watering-pot : tlic confequence was that he 

 did not lofe one plant afterwards. 



It will hardly be imagined that he means that the fame 

 method i» to be purfued upon a whole farm : no ; the 

 method he would recommend to the praftice of the farmer 

 is this ; to fpread, or call by hand, as he fows his corn, 

 about fix or eight barrels of foot on an acre, and let him 

 be careful to choofe a calm day for the work, otherwifc the 

 wind will carry away a great part of it : and as what re- 

 mains cannot be regularly difpofed, let him be careful to do 

 it early enough in the fpring, that the rain may wafh in the 

 foot and convey it to the rpots of the plants before the worm 

 begins the niifchief ; if he does this, he is perfuaded his crop 

 will be preferved. 



It is found by the experiments, that thefe worms will live 

 longer in water, by twenty hours, than when expofed to 

 the open air ; but at length, that is in fifty-two hours, 

 they died in the water ; perhaps this might be from the 

 effect of drowning ; but if lo, he might have expefted 

 they would have been totally deftroyed in his two fields 

 in the winter of 1763 and 1764, by the immoderate rains 

 which fell at that feafon for a long continuance, which 

 often flooded the lands. But they furvived that winter, 

 as appeared by the great lofs he afterwards J'jltained by 

 their deftroying his wheat ; and therefore, whether water 

 be an enemy to them or not, it fecms not eafy to deter- 

 mine : but if thofe which died in the glafs of water were 

 really drowned, he thinks we may conclude that water is 

 neceffary to their exiftence in the earth, and probably aids 

 them in getting their food from it : and what feems to 

 confirm this notion is, that when the land is wet, they do 

 not touch the corn, but as foon as ever the land is dry, they 

 begin their mifchief. However, this fpeculation he mull 

 fubmit to the confideration of perfons more capable of dif- 

 cuffing it than he is. 



It is feen by experiment N° 10, that they cannot live 

 in the open air, which feems to prove, that, where they 

 abound in land, the oftener it is ploughed, particularly in 

 the fummer, when they cannot penetrate the ground fo 

 eafily as when it is moift, they muft be, by fuch plough- 

 ing, greatly diminifhed : befides which, the frequent plough- 

 ing gives the crows more opportunities of picking them up, 

 in which, as he has before faid, they are very watchful. 



Frequent ploughing has been recommended by fome 

 writers as the only means of deftroying this worm ; and 

 they have recommended the ploughs being ftuck with nails, 

 urging, that by thofe nails the worms are cut to pieces ; 

 others have recommended walnut leaves being foaked in 

 water, to fprinkle the land, and fteeping feed corn in va- 

 rious liquors, as infallible remedies ; but fuch methods as thefe 

 are founded upon mittaken principles ; they only miflead the 

 farmer, and muft difappoint him. 



Worlidge recommends a ftrong ley made of fixed falls, 

 but that would be imprafticable. Mortimer recommends 

 fea-water, which he believes would anfwer very well. He 

 fays, he ufed foot once with fuccefs, but that it did not 

 fucceed with him afterwards. Mr. Baker is perfuaded he 

 did not ufe the foot early enough to have it wafhed into 

 the ground by rain, or perhaps he ufed too fmall a quan- 

 tity. He concludes by obferving, that he would not be 

 thought to arrogate any merit to himfelf, on account of 

 what he has here offered on this fubjeft, fince it appears 

 that other perfons have ufed the articles which he has 

 recommended, againft this common enemy ; but many per- 

 fons have been difappointed in their expedations from thefe 



remedies, 



