No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7 



trary to the general opinion, is also a rye growing state with a yield 

 of 1,251,UU0 bushels. The entire rye crop of New York reached but 

 2,119,000 bushels. Pennsylvania rye-flour brings the highest price 

 in the markets, and as a result much of this grain raised in Penn- 

 sylvania is made into flour. There is also, always a good demand 

 for Pennsylvania rye at the highest market prices by distillers who 

 make what they call choice brands of strictly high grade rye whis- 

 key their specialty; so that many thousands of bushels are shipped 

 out of the State. The demand for rye straw and the high price at 

 which it sells on account of its length and pliability, which make it 

 especially valuable for packing purposes and bedding for animals, 

 also adds to the importance of this valuable crop. 



Pennsylvania's buckwheat crop in 1907 reached a total of 4,626,- 

 000 bushels, standing next to New York where the product amount- 

 ed to 5,687,000 bushels. None of the other states grow much buck- 

 wheat, although some of them have the climate and the soil well 

 suited to the production of this crop. The amount of buckwheat that 

 can be produced upon an acre and the price it commands in the mar- 

 ket, make it one of the most valuable cereal crops that can be raised 

 on land adapted to its growth. The supply for good clean buck- 

 wheat is never equal to the demand which is constantly on the in- 

 crease. The greater part of the buckwheat produced in the State 

 is converted into flour by Pennsylvania mills. Much of this flour 

 finds a market in our own State, and many tons of it are shipped 

 annualh' to the large cities of the West and South, always bringing 

 good returns. The middlings, which is a by-product obtained in the 

 manufacture of the flour, is a very valuable article of feed. The 

 high per cent, of proteids this feed contains makes it especially val- 

 uable as a feed for dairy cows and young animals. 



While Pennsylvania always produces a large quantity of buck- 

 wheat, there are good reasons why the quantity should be much 

 larger. The thin gravelly soil so frequently found upon the high al- 

 titudes of the State, when properly treated by the application of 

 commercial fertilizers, seem to be just as well and even better 

 adapted to the production of buckw^heat than the richer soils found 

 in the valleys where corn and wheat grow so luxuriously. It is also 

 a recognized pecularity of the buckwheat crop, that it tames the 

 wild land upon which it is grown and puts it in condition for rais- 

 ing the domestic grasses, where only mountain shrubs and bram- 

 bles seem disposed to grow. The large areas of mountain lands in 

 the State from which the timber has been cut, if they are to brought 

 into subjection for agricultural purposes could, as a first step, be 

 profitably employed in raising buckwheat and in this way the output 

 of the crop could be greatly increased. 



THE TOBACCO CROP. 



The tobacco crop of Pennsylvania was of extra good quality and 

 the general conditions attending its cultivation, housing and cur- 

 ing, were considered favorable. As a result of these favorable con- 

 ditions, it is believed that the prices that the crop of 1907 will 

 command, will exceed the figures paid for last year's crop. The se- 

 ries of experiments recently made in Lancaster county under the di- 

 rection of the Pennsylvania experiment station have demonstrated 

 that Pennsylavnia can produce a very superior quality of tobacco, 



