IISTORY OF BUCKWHEAT 409 



than formerly. It is grown somewhat extensively in portions of 

 Canada. In the United States the area devoted to this crop is 

 one-sixth that of barley, about one-third that of rye and equal to 

 the combined acreage of rice and sorghum grown for its seed. 

 While a secondary crop, its place in the agriculture in the sec- 

 tions where it is grown is more important than the statistics 

 would indicate. New York and Pennsylvania produced two- 

 thirds, and, with Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine, produced 

 more than four-fifths of the crop in 1899. The production has 

 not changed materially in the past twenty-five years, although in 

 i860 the production was somewhat greater. In 1899 about 

 200,000 farms reported an average of about four acres each. 

 There is a small importation of buckwheat from Canada ; there 

 is no export of either grain or flour. 



587. Yield per Acre. — The harvested crop may vary in yield 

 from five to fifty bushels, thirty bushels per acre being consid- 

 ered a rather large yield, and twenty to twenty-five bushels 

 being considered satisfactory. The average yield in the United 

 States in 1899 was, according to the census, fourteen bushels. 

 The average yield for the ten years ending 1903, according to 

 the estimates of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 was eighteen bushels per acre ; the average December farm 

 price per bushel for the same period was fifty-two cents. 



588. History. — ^Although buckwheat is known to have been 

 cultivated in China for 1,000 years, its cultivation is not be- 

 lieved to be very ancient. It was introduced into Europe in 

 the Middle Ages, being unknown to the ancient Egyptians, 

 Greeks and Romans. It was introduced early into the Ameri- 

 can Colonies, having been relatively much more important than 

 at the present time. Formerly it was chiefly used as a substi- 

 tute for wheat ; now it is used as a luxury, although in many 

 farm homes in Pennsylvania and New York buckwhert cakes 

 constitute the principal bread food during the winter months. 



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