151

Ian: 31. 1677.

mr. Henshaw the vice president tooke the chair.
vpon reading the minutes of the 24th. the Vice president related that the
reason of the smuttenesse of wheat proceeded from a certaine mildew
or hony Dew falling vpon the same standing corne in the night which
when the sun Riseth is Dryed . . . And fixed vpon the same ^ /and hindreth its growth/ whereby
the corne becomes withered & the corrupted, but And that this is soe
he shewd the /a/ common Method of securing the corne from smutt made
probable wch. was for take a rope and between two men to take
a rope between them and walking along the furrows on each side
the corne to carry the said rope stiff strained along soe as to brush
off the mildew from the eares & blades of the corne.
/of this sr. Iames Longe giues an account & Sr. Hugh plat in his/
Some were of opinion . . . /that/ mildew was an exsudation from a plant
and not a moyssteur precipitated out of the air, by Reason that it
was found more vpon some plants then vpon others and that it seemd
to participate somewt of the nature of the plant. that mildew & honey
were the same that the true name was meldew or honey dew and tht
It falls . . . or is found sticking much vpon the Ash.

Sr. Iohn Laurence Mentioned that he had obserued that the trees about Tunbridg
afforded such a kind of sweet dew and that if it drops vpon any thing
it was of such a nature as that it Left a Staine behind not to be got
out. Dr. mapletoft conceiud that manna was nothing els but
such a Dew gathered from the Leaues of the fraxinus and Ornus -
cheifly, and affirmed that Iohannes Nardius was of the same opinion
in his, as also mr. Ray and Iohn Bauhinus -
/Dr mapletoft Related Thomas Cornelius in mr Rays catalogue mentiond the straining/
mr. Henshaw mentioned that the extract made of Dew by the bees from
plants and flowers was nothing els but this mel or hony dew which
he conceiud to be partly a Dew & partly an exsudation that the
bee wth his long tongue Lett licked vp this substance and filld wth it
a place wthin his body, but that wch. was more properly the gumm of
the plant was the wax wch. he Disposed vpon his thighs on the outside

Ref: CELL/RS/HF_153  © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters