P^egetable StaUcks. 
the ground, and that being a denfer medi- 
um, it was much hotter than a more rare 
medium. 
And perhaps, the great volume of afccnd- 
ing vapor might make the Sun-beams con- 
verge a little toward the middle of the ground, 
that being a denfer medium , and thereby 
increafe the heat confidcrably ; for I obferv- 
ed, that the courife of the fcorched hops 
was in a line at right angles, to the Sun- 
beams about a 1 1 a clock, at which time 
the hot gleam was : The hop-ground was 
in a valley which run from South- weft to 
North-eaft : And to the beft of my remem- 
brance, there was then but little wind, and 
that in the courfe of the fcorch 5 but had 
there been fomc other gentle wind, either 
North or South, 'tis not improbable but 
that the North wind gently blowing the 
Volume of rifing wreak on the South-fide 
of the ground, that fide might have been 
moft fcorched, and fo %'ice verfa. 
As to particular fire-blafts, which fcorch 
here and there a few hop-vines , or one or 
two branches of a tree, without damaging 
the next adjoining 5 what Ajlronomers ob- 
ferve, may hint to us a no very improbable 
caufe 
