[157]Some Sort of Land is more subject to this Blight than others; in such, Lammas Wheat must by no means be drill’d late, and too thin, lest it should not tiller till late in the Spring; and then, for want of a sufficient Quantity of Stalks to dispense with all the Nourishment rais’d by the Hoe, may become too vigorous and luxuriant, and be the more liable to the Injury of the Blight of Insects.
[158]But this is a very difficult Matter.
[159]Whither those Insects go, or where they reside, from the Time of their eating their Way out of the Straw, until they return the next Year, I cannot learn.
Yet this can only be done in wide Intervals; for, unless the fine Earth can be thrust to some considerable Distance from the Roots after they are cut off, they will soon shoot out again, and reach it, becoming more vigorous thereby.
In dry Summers this Misfortune seldom happens, much Heat, and very little Moisture, being most agreeable to the Constitution of Wheat; for then its Rind is more firm and hard, as it is, on the contrary, made more soft and spongy by too much Moisture.
The most easy and sure Remedy, that I have yet found against the Injury of these Insects, is, to plant a Sort of Wheat that is least liable to be hurt by them; viz. The White-cone (or bearded) Wheat, which has its Stalk or Straw like a Rush, not hollow, but full of Pith (except near the lower Part, and there ’tis very thick and strong): ’Tis probable it has Sap-Vessels that lie deeper, so as the young Insects cannot totally destroy them, as they do in other Wheat: For when the Straw has the black Spots, which shew that the Insects have been there bred, yet the Grain is plump, when the Grey-cone and Lammas Wheat mixt with it are blighted. This Difference might have been from the different times of ripening, this being ripe about a Week earlier than the Grey-cone, and later than the Lammas: But its being planted together both early and late, and at all Times of the Wheat-seed Time, and this White-cone always escaping with its Grain unhurt, is an Argument, that ’tis naturally fortify’d against the Injury of these Insects, which in wet Summers are so pernicious to other Sorts of Wheat; and I can impute it to no other Cause than the different Deepness of the Vessels, the Straw of other Wheat being very much thinner, and hollow from Top to Bottom; this having a small Hollow at Bottom, and there the Thickness betwixt the outer Skin and the Cavity is more than double to that in other Sorts of Wheat; so that I imagine, the Insects reach only the outermost Vessels, and enough of the inner Vessels are left untouch’d to supply the Grain.
This Wheat makes very good Bread, if the Miller does not grind it too small, or the Baker make his Dough too hard, it requiring to be made softer than that of other Flour.
A Bushel of this White-cone Wheat will make more Bread than a Bushel of Lammas, and of the same Goodness; but it gives a little yellow Cast to the Bread.
Another Sort of lodging Blight there is, which some call Moar-Loore, and mostly happens on light Land. This is when the Earth, sinking away from the Roots, leaves the Bottom of the Stalk higher than the subsided Ground; and then the Plant, having only these naked Roots to support it (for which they are too weak), falls down to the Earth.
To remedy this, turn a shallow Furrow against the Rows, when they are strong enough to bear it, and when the Mould is very fine and dry; then the Motion of the Stalks by the Wind will cause such Earth to run through the Rows, and settle about the Roots, and cover them[160].