[153] But now I suspect this to be a Mistake, it being more likely, that the white Colour of the Rind is owing to the Absence of the Sun and free Air, than to the Chyle, as the Skin of those Parts of our own Bodies that are concealed from them, is whiter than of those which are exposed to them, though no Chyle-vessel comes near our Skin. There is also another Cause of the Blight; and that is, the Wheat’s coming too late into Blossom. The usual Time is the Beginning of _June_; and if it be later, the Days shorten so fast after the Solstice, that the Autumn of the Year hastening the Autumn of the Wheat’s Life, the full Time of its Pregnancy[154] is not accomplish’d; and then its Fruit, which is the Grain, becomes as it were abortive, and not full-grown. This Time betwixt the Generation, Blossoming, and the Maturity of the Grain, is, or ought to be, about Two Months. [154] _Ut enim Mulieres habent ad Partum Dies certos, sic Arbores ac Fruges._ Varro, _Lib._ 1. _Cap._ 44. _Mense Maio florent; sic Frumenta, & Ordeum, & quæ sunt Seminis singularis, Octo diebus florebunt, & deinde per Dies_ 40. _grandescunt Flore deposito usque ad Maturitatis Eventum._ Palladius, _Pag._ 114, 115. _Quindecim Diebus esse in Vaginis, Quindecim florere, Quindecim exarescere, cum sit maturum Frumentum._ Varro, _Lib._ 1. _Cap._ 32. But the different Heat that there is in different Climates, may alter both the Time that Plants continue in Blossom, and the Time betwixt the Blossoming and the Ripening. Therefore ’tis advantageous to hasten, what we can, the Time of Blossoming, and to protract the Time of Ripening: And ’tis observ’d, that the earliest sown Wheat generally escapes the Blight the best, because it comes first into Blossom. Feeding down the Wheat with Sheep prevents the Blight, by doing what the Blight wou’d do, if the Wheat fell down, _i. e._ causes the Ears to be light[155]. [155] Heavy Ears never fall. If they did, that would not make them light. Wheat falls sometimes whilst ’tis in Grass, and before it comes into Ear; so far are the Ears from causing it to fall. This was proved by my whole Crop the last Harvest, and particularly by the _Measured Acre_, the Ears of which, tho’ prodigious large and heavy, were none of them lodg’d, when those of sown Wheat on the other Side of the Hedge were fallen down flat, and lodg’d on the Ground. And we find, that those who practise this Method of feeding their Wheat with Sheep in the Spring, to prevent the lodging of it, have most commonly their Straw weak, and Ears light. These, instead of making the Stalks strong enough to support heavy Ears, make the Ears light enough to be supported by weak Stalks. They know that heavy Ears make the greatest Crop; and yet they still hope to have it from light ones. They _cause_ the _Blight_ by the very means they make use of to _cure_ it.