GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 161 



early seed is blighted, as is often the case, the plant may be 

 left till these last have matured. As it is liable to heat, 

 it should be placed in small stacks of two or three tons 

 each, but it is better to thresh out the grain at once. If not 

 perfectly dry, the straw may be stacked with layers of other 

 straw, and when well cured, it will be a valuable fodder for 

 cattle. Sheep will feed and thrive as well on this straw as 

 on good hay. 



Uses. This grain is ground and bolted and the flour is 

 much used for human food. Before grinding, the hull or 

 outer covering should be removed. When thus prepared, 

 the flour is as white and delicate in appearance as the best 

 rye, it is equally light and digestible, and is scarcely inferior 

 to wheat in its nutritive properties. The grain is used for 

 fattening swine, but is most profitable when mixed with 

 corn. Poultry thrive upon it. Buckwheat was formerly 

 employed as a fertilizer, but for this object it is inferior to 

 the clovers, in all cases where the soil is capa- 

 ble of sustaining them. Its rapid growth 

 will insure the maturing and turning under 

 of two crops in one season. There are other 

 varieties than the one specified, but none of 

 equal value for general cultivation in this 

 country. 



CANARY GRASS (Phalaris canariensis, 

 Fig. 40). This, like the millet, is an annual, 

 and is used like many other species of 

 the family of grasses, both for the seed and 

 forage. Its chief use, however, is as a food 

 for the canary, and other feathered pets. 



It is sown quite early in the season, in drills, 

 12 to 18 inches apart, at the rate of two or three 

 pecks per acre, in a rich, well-pulverized loam ; 

 lightly covered, and kept clear of weeds by 

 the cultivator and hoe. It is cut when fully 

 ripe, and allowed to remain for some time ex- 

 posed to the dews or rain, to loosen the chaff, 

 which otherwise is very difficult of removal. 



Fio. 40. 



