Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/767

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lion In regard to thofe of the common human fize, have found the giant who poflefied them muff, have been ninety or an hundred foot high ; while much lefs pains in comparative anatomy would have taught them, that they never could have belonged to any human body at all. Mem. Acad- Par. 1727.

WWWhaie, Cetits Dentatus, a name given to a peculiar kind of Whale, called by Johnfton, and many other writers, by the too general name of balezna.

This is diftinguifhed from the common Wiak which yields the Whale-bone-, by having white and ftrong teeth in the lower jaw, which that filh has not. This is the fpecies of Whale from which the fperma ceti was originally taken. It was firft of all difcovered on the coaft of New England, 'being thrown on the fhore there, and fperma ceti formed by the fun and air out of the oil of its head ; but it is far from being pe- culiar to that place ; the northern fcas affbrd it, and it is not unfrequently taken on the weftern coafts of Ireland. One caught there about fifty years fince, meafured feventy-one foot in length, which is nineteen foot more than the length Clufius allows to this fifh.

The fperma ceti originally ufed in medicine was only a part of the oil or liquid fat of this fpecies of Whale. This, in its firft confufed appearance, as drawn from the animal, appears of a whitifh colour like milk, and in this ftate is put into large veffels, in which a clear ycllowifb oil feparates itfclf to the bottom ; the fperma ceti, as it is calk-d, fwims at top in •white flakes or fcales ; thefe foon after precipitatate themfelves to the bottom of the veifel, where they candy together, and form large lumps of fperma ceti ; there requires fome care and trouble to feparate and purify this thoroughly from the ftinking oil that is apt to ftick to it, but the price of the drug very well allows it.

The fat of the body affords the fame fubftancc, but it is ob- tained in larger quantities from that about the head. Several hundred weight of this may be got from one Whale ; But our common practice at prefent is to make it from the lees and fet- tlements of common train oil. Philof. Tranf. N°. 227. p. 508.

WHAME, in natural hiftory, the name given by the people of fome parts of England to the burrel-fly or wringle-tail, a fpe- cies of bee-fly very troublefome to horfes. See the article Wring LE-Tail.

WHEAT {Cycl.) — It has been very juftly obferved by the an- tients, as well as moderns, that Wheat will grow in almoft any part of the world, and that, as it is the plant mod necef- fary to mankind, fo It is the molt general and the moft fruit- ful. It grows well not only in the temperate climates, but in the very hot and very cold ones ; and when fown in places where it never grew fpontaneoufly, fucceeds aa well as where it has been always common.

The fuccefs of cur crops of Wheat in America plainly prove this : And in Peru and Chili in particular, where thofe coun- tries were very well inhabited, it never was known till the Europeans brought it in, it produces as large crops as in any part of England. Dejlandes, Trait. Pbyf. When Wheat is planted early, lels feed is required to an acre than when it is planted late, becaufe lefs of it will die ; and poor land fhculd always be allowed more feed than rich, be- caufe a greater number of the plants will perifh on this land than on the other. The leaft quantity of all of feed is necef- fary for rich land, that is planted early, for in this cafe very few of the feeds will fail to produce a plant that will live and flourifh. The u(e of the hoe caufes every plant to fend out a great number of ftalks from the fame root, and in thefe, more than in the number of plants, confifts the richnefs of a crop, as the ears on thefe are always largeft and fullelt. Another thing to be confidered, in order to find the proper quantity of feed to plant, is, that fome Wheat of the fame fpecies has its grains twice as large as others: in this cafe a bulhel, containing but half the number of grains that it does in the fmall-grained Wheats one bulhel of the fmall-grained will plant jull as much as two bufnels of this ; not the meafure of the k^ds, but the number of the grains being the thing to be confidered in regard to the fowing. Tull's Horfehocing Husbandry.

It is a very natural thing to fuppofe that a large-grained Wheat will produce larger and finer plants, and larger grain than a fmall-grained one ; but experiments have proved, that there is nothing in this ; for the fmalleft-grained Wheat produces fully as large plants as the largeft, and thofe with as great ears, and as big feeds; but the young plants appear fmaller and poorer.

Six gallons of middle-fized feed is the ufual quantity drilled upon an acre ; but on rich lands, planted early, four gallons will fuffice ; becaufe then the Wheat will have roots at the top of the ground before winter, and tiller very much, without danger of the worms, and many other accidents, which the late planted Wheat is liable to. If it be drilled too thin, it will be in danger of falling, and if too thick, it may happen to tiller fo late in the fpring, that fome of the ears may be blighted ; a medium therefore is beft. The depth to plant it at is from half an inch to three inches ; for if planted too deep, there is more danger of its being eaten off

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by worms between the grain and the blado. A Wbeat-y\zx\i that was not fown early, fends out no root above the grain, be- fore the fpring, and is nourifhed all the winter by a fingie thread, proceeding from the grain up to the furface of ths ground : this is the thread of life to the plant during the win- ter, and the longer that is, the greater danger there is of the worm, that creature much more eafily finding a thread that extends by its length to five or fix inches deep, than one which reaches but one inch ; befide, the worms in winter do not inhabit very near the furface of the ground, and therefore they never naturally come in the way of the fhort threads, though the long ones are always in their reach. It is very neceifary to take care againft the rooks, juft at the time when the Wheat is mooting up. Thefe mif'chievous birds perceive it beginning to fprout, before the farmer can fee any thing of it, and are led by the ihoot to pick it up; they muft be carefully kept oft" the ground for a week or ten days at this icafon ; for at the end of that time the blade will be grown up, and the grain fo exhaufted of its flour, that it will be of no value to them, nor will they give themfelves any trouble about ftealing it.

The rooks never moleft fuch Wheal as is fown about Mi- chaelmas time ; for at this feafon there is fo much grain of the late harveft fcattered about the fields where it has grown, that they find it much more worth their while to pick it up there, than to fearch under ground for it in the fown crops, which therefore efcape till too far grown for this animal. Tull's Horfehocing Hufbandry.

Many experiments have been tried to the great purpofe of multiplying grain, fome of which are commemorated, with an account of their different fuccefs, in the Philofophical Trans- actions. Dlgby mentions a plant ,of barley, all rifing from one corn, which, by fteeping in water in which was a fmall quantity of lalt-petre, and afterwards being watered every day with the fame water, brought forth two hundred and forty-fix ftalks, and above eighteen thoufand grains: And the laft edi T tion of Cambden mentions a thing very obfervable of this kind, though from another caufe ; which is, that the corn (own in a field in Cornwall, where a battle had a little time before been fought in the civil wars, brought forth (our or five ears upon every ftalk.

Mr. de da Piimce has fairly tried the common and many other methods, which though they have not had fuch im- menfe produces for their fuccefs as thefe related above, yet may fet the world right as to what they have to expect from the different ingredients generally ufed, and which of them promife moft fairly for fuccefs.

The experiments are thefe : On the 22d of March there were laid to fteep a pea, a barley-corn, a Wheat-coin, and an oat- corn, in brimftonc-water. Thefe were alio ftecped in alum-water, in a folution of fait of tartar, in the folution of the caput mctuum of fal armoniac, in common urine, in a folution of the common nitrum murale or fait of old walls, in a folution of falt-petre in water ; and, finally, in the no- ftoc or flrar-jelly.

When thefe had all ftood fteeping in this manner in their fc- vcral liquors five days and five nights, they were fet in a good foil, in a garden, under a wall, directly facing the fun. They were fet in the morning after a rainy night, and there were fet with them a pea, a Whcat-zoxn, a barley-corn, and an oat-corn, unftecped, and in the common way. This was on the twenty-feventh of March, and on the tenth of April fol- lowing, fome of them were come up, others did not appear. Thofe which had been ftecped in the brimftone- water, all came up together. Of thofe ftecped in alum-water, the three grains were fprouted ; but the pea, though very much fwelled, had made no attempt to fhoot. Of thofe made in the folution of fait of tartar, the barley and oat were above- ground, and the pea had fprouted a little, and the barley fcarce at all. Thofe fteeped in the folution of the caput mortuum offal nrmoniac, in urine, as aifo thofe in the folu- tion of the fait of walls, were all come up. Of thofe fteeped in the folution of falt-petre, the oat and barley were quite up, the others had fprouted a little. Thofe which were fteeped in the noftoc or ftar-jeily, were none of them come up, and fcarce had made any attempt to fprout. The barley and oat fteeped in urine had juft come up ; but the Wheat and pea had fcarce fo much as fprouted ; and finally, thofe which had not been fteeped at all, were all come up as foon, and ap- peared as vigorous as thefe, except the Wheats which ap- peared a little lefs forward than the reft.

All thefe fhoots or young plants were fet about a finger deep in ths ground,' and they had a fine favourable feafon to grow in.

It appears from the whole, that alum-water is particularly bad for peas, tho' it agrees well enough with Wheat and bar- ley, and with oats. That fait of tartar does very well with oats and barley, but is hurtful to peas, and to Wheat. That falt-petre does not appear to have that virtue which has been fo loiiff ^iven it, of promoting the growth of plants ; and in fine, that all thefe fteepings did no vifible fervice to the grain ; but that many of them evidently hurt the feveral kinds. All thefe young plants were digged up, except three of the fhoots of barley; and thefe increafed fo very much, on Hand- ing