Note 141 — CHAP. IX. Of Wheat.

Wheat, before Harvest, standing in Rows with wide Intervals betwixt them, may not seem, to the Eye, to equal a Crop of half the Bigness dispersed all over the Land, when sown in the common Manner; and yet there is more Deceit in the Appearance of those different Crops, whilst they are young, and in Grass: We should therefore not judge of them then by our Imagination, but as we do of the Sun and Moon nigh the Horizon, viz. by our Reason.

Imagination often deceives us by Arguments false or precarious; but Reason leads us to Demonstration, by Weights and Measures: Yet this Prejudice will vanish at Harvest before weighing; for then all those wide Intervals that were bare, will be covered with large Ears interfering to hide them quite, and make a finer Appearance than a sown Crop. But ’tis observed, that the Cone-wheat makes the finest Shew, when you look on it length ways of the Rows, both at Harvest, and a considerable time before Harvest.