270 Bulletin 238. 



and under indifferent cultivation has led to buckwheat being often con- 

 sidered the poor farmer's crop, and to poor and vniskilled farmers being 

 dubbed " buckwheaters." The crop lends itself well to the farmer who 

 lacks capital to secure timely labor or wait for returns on investments in 

 tillage and fertilizer. It may be planted after the rush of spring work is 

 over ; it may be resorted to as a substitute for spring crops or meadows 

 that have failed and it brings quick return for investment in fertilizers. 

 One farmer is reported as saying: " I like to raise buckwheat because it 

 is the only grain for which I can buy fertilizer on a 90-day note and pay 

 for it out of the crop it makes." Buckwheat, however, responds to more 

 generous and intelligent treatment and deserves to be' held in higher 

 esteem than it usually enjoys. 



Preparation of flic soil. — Since buckwheat is not usually planted till 

 the last of June, owing to pressure of other work, the land too often is not 

 plowed till just before seeding and then receives hasty and indifferent 

 fitting. This allows little time for sods and other organic matter to decay 

 and become incorporated with the soil and capillarity is not re-established 

 between the sub-soil and the seed-bed. Under these conditions, the devel- 

 opment of the crop is slow and if drought ensues disaster is the result. 

 Early plowing of the land so as to allow of several harrowings at intervals 

 of two weeks and a thorough settling of the soil nearly insures the maxi- 

 mum crop the land is capable of producing. If early plowing is imprac- 

 ticable, then the greater attention should be given to a thorough fitting of 

 the seed-bed. See Figs. 95, 96 and 97. 



Fertilisation. — Stable manure is not usually applied to land intended 

 for buckwheat, but is reserved for more exacting crops. Moderate appli- 

 cations of manure, however, on poor soils result in largely increased 

 yields. Buckwheat, when grown on poor land, responds well to moderate 

 dressings of even low grade fertilizers, and many farmers who do not use 

 fertilizers on other crops find it profitable to buy for this. 



In experiments conducted at the Cornell Experiment Station in 1901 

 on rather heavy soil, but in a state of fertility to produce a fair crop with- 

 out fertilization, applications of acid rock, dried blood and muriate of 

 potash produced uncertain and somewhat contradictory results. These 

 experiments were conducted on a neighboring farm on land leased for the 

 purpose. In the fall of 1900 the land had been plowed and seeded to rye. 

 Owing to the partial failure of the rye it was decided to seed the land to 

 buckwheat anrl the land was secured for the experiment. The soil is a 

 clay loam and was in a fair state of productivity. On ]\Iay 10, 1901, two 



