1SS9 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



897 



or 20 inches high. You can then plow them entire- 

 ly under by fastening- a log-chain to the plow-beam 

 and to the wbiffietree of the horse that walks in the 

 furrow. That way it will form a loop that will pull 

 the tops in the furrow; and by having the loop just 

 right it will cover every one. I have plowed them 

 under when they were so large that the horses 

 would not walk in the thistles without having 

 leathers on their legs to prevent them from prick- 

 ing them. 



Buckwheat requires a great deal of moisture; 

 and by plowing early the ground gets settled, and 

 holds the moisture; and the result is, it will fill bet- 

 ter. 



Japanese buckwheat is 8 or 10 days later than the 

 silverhull with me, so T sow a little earlier. On 

 good land, 2 pecks is enough; on thin soil, 3 pecks 

 per acre. You can increase the yield a third on 

 thin soil by using 50 lbs. of phosphate and 50 lbs. of 

 plaster, mixed and drilled in. I drill here between 

 the 15th of June and the 1st of July. 



Buckwheat is one of the best crops to subdue 

 rough land. It always leaves the soil in excellent 

 condition for potatoes or oats, or almost any crop 

 except corn. I never could raise good corn after 

 buckwheat— that is, until the ground was re-seeded. 

 I raised 45 bushels of Japanese buckwheat from 

 one bushel, sowing on 1% of an acre. Let me say 

 right here, that the black bees will store just as 

 much buckwheat honey as the Italians, and, in fact, 

 I should prefer the black. J would rather have 

 buckwheat honey to winter bees on than basswood 

 honey. In 1887 I extracted 75 bbls. of buckwheat 

 honey; 10 lbs. per colony is the lightest yield that I 

 ever got from buckwheat, on an average. 



W. L. COGGSHALL. 



West Groton, N. Y., May, 1889. 



other crops. It always gives some honey, and some- 

 times large yields, and of good quality for the bees 

 to winter on. J. M. France. 



Auburn Corners, Pa., April 29, 1889. 



ITEMS FROM ONE WHO HAS RAISED SY 2 TONS OF 

 BUCKWHEAT FLOUR IN A SEASON. 



I have been a farmer for 38 years, and sowed buck- 

 wheat every year, more or less, each year, from 5 

 acres to 30 acres in a season. I have not been able 

 to quite come up to the thousand bushels, but have 

 had enough to make 8' 2 tons of tiour of one year's 

 crop, besides saving for our own use, and seed for 

 next year. 



The best way to prepare the ground for a good 

 crop, according to my experience, is to plow, early 

 in the season, good sod land; and, just before sow- 

 ing, plow again. Drag and pulverize the soil well, 

 and sow broadcast, and drag in the seed well. 

 About three pecks of seed to the acre has given me 

 best results in yields to the acre— from 25 to 40 bush- 

 els. 1 have sown as early as the 2uth of June, and 

 as late as July 17th. The largest yield has been 

 from sowing from the first of July to the 8th. Lo- 

 cation may have something to do as to time of sow- 

 ing. As to risk of frost, we must be our own judge. 



HARVESTING. 



Cut when the grain is nearly all turned brown. 

 When partly cured, rake and set up; twist a few 

 straws around the top; that keeps it standing up 

 better, if exposed to storms during time of curing 

 out. When dry, so as to shell easily, we haul to the 

 barn, and thrash with a machine. We have one 

 standing in the barn, always ready for use. When 

 thrashed we clean it up at leisure, mostly on stormy 

 days. 



The farmers in our county grow buckwheat quite 

 extensively without fertilizers, and believe it to be 

 an average paying crop to grow in rotation with 



BUCKWHEAT AS A SUBDUER OF MARSH GRASS. 



I have had considerable experience in the last 

 few years in breaking up and subduing reclaimed 

 swales, pond-holes, and marshes. I have found 

 that buckwheat has done as much toward subduing 

 the tougli marsh grass as has the plow; and, in 

 fact, there is nothing that can be sown which will 

 yield a crop, and at the same time so effectually 

 subdue such places as this grain. My plan is to 

 plow these places, as well as possible, late in the 

 fall, so as to let the winter's freezing and thawing 

 operate upon the roots of the tough bog grass; and 

 in the spring 1 harrow it down as soon as I can get 

 upon it, and continue harrowing every two or three 

 weeks until sowing time, which is about the 15th or 

 20th of June. The buckwheat should be sown earli- 

 er upon such places, for the frost is more apt to cut 

 it than if sown upon higher ground. I sow about 

 three pecks to the acre, in order that the ground 

 may be well covered with the growing plant. Not- 

 withstanding the plowing, harrowing, and cultivat- 

 ing, considerable of the marsh grass manages to be 

 in a flourishing condition at the time of sowing; 

 but the buckwheat so effectually covers the ground 

 that the grass is killed, the weed choked, and the 

 sod rotted nicely. In the fall, the once tough marsh 

 sod is found to be light nice soil. If I can, I put the 

 same piece into buckwheat the next season. Of 

 course, when sown on such places it does not yield 

 as much as when sown on better ground; but it 

 pays well nevertheless. I' prefer the Japanese to 

 all other kinds. F. N. Hilton. 



Pontiac, Mich., May 4, 1889. 



TWO CROPS OF BUCKWHEAT IN A SEASON. 



As you may remember, I had quite a crop last 

 season, of the Japanese variety. I also raised two 

 crops last season from the same seed, which I for- 

 got to mention. The first was sown some time in 

 April. I remember it was chilled a little by two 

 frosts after it came up, but it came on and filled 

 well, and I gathered some of the seed as soon as 

 ripe, and I sowed a small patch for a second crop, 

 just enough for a test of raising two crops in one 

 season from the same seed. It grew and ripened 

 before the frosts of fall. The early part of the sea- 

 son was favorable for buckwheat. It might not do 

 as well every year; if it would it would be of great 

 advantage to know that fact. That early crop of 

 buckwheat was quite a surprise to some old buck- 

 wheat-growers. I would sow with a drill. Drill in 

 with chemical fertilizer, unless the soil is already 

 very good. Load it on to a wagon, and haul to a 

 thrasher in the neighborhood, if too small a crop to 

 pay to employ a machine expressly for the purpose, 

 and cut with reaper and binder, without tying. 



H. R. Boardman. 



East Townsend, O., April 19, 1889. 



BUCKWHEAT GROWING WHEN EVERY THING ELSE 

 IS DESTROYED BY INSECTS. 



To make a success in raising buckwheat requires 

 moderately rich soil; if too rich it is apt to grow too 

 rank, and lodge down. Fresh-plowed land, harrow- 

 ed down fine and mellow, is needed. In this latitude 

 we sow from the loth to the 20th of June. Sow V/i 

 bushels lo the acre, on rich land, or 3 . t bushel on 

 sandy land. Cut with a cradle, self-rake, reaper, or 



