22!? BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XV. 



under the name of " Dill." It can be grown without difficulty as a spring 

 crop, and thrives best in light, dry, sandy soils, on which it is generally sown 

 broad-cast, sometimes in March or April, at the rate of about a bushel and 

 a-half to the acre. It is more delicate than the vetch ; and, when given in a 

 green state, is considered peculiarly beneficial to ewes with suckling lambs : 

 it is indeed so acceptable to all kinds of cattle, that when the crop is 

 allowed to ripen, the haulm is still eaten with avidity; and the grain is 

 given as food — generally ground and mixed with barley or potatoes — to 

 fatten pigs*. The produce of grain is however not very abundant ; and 

 the haulm, though good in quality, is yet so deficient in quantity, that the 

 cultivation has been abandoned, except upon land which is too poor and 

 \hin to admit of tares. 



Chapter XVI. 

 ON BUCK-WHEAT. 



Although buck-wlieat belongs strictly to the same class of plants as those 

 termed cereal grasses, and its grain partakes of all the essential properties 

 of those already describedt; yet, in consequence of its greater deficiency in 

 the quality of gluten, it is not so generally employed in this country as 

 bread-corn, though used for that purpose in many parts of the continent. 



It is supposed to have been introduced into Europe from Syria in the time 

 of the Crusades, in allusion to which the French call it ble sarrazin ; but 

 we have no account of its cultivation in this country earlier than the latter 

 part of the sixteenth century. The species here commonly cultivated wears 

 in its growth more the appearance of tufted grass than standing corn, its 

 stem being full of knots, and rising only to the height of about two to three 

 feet : the blossoms are white, tinged with red, and the external coat of the 

 grain is of a dark brown colour, hard, small, and triangular ; but the 

 flour is white. It is an annual plant, and the seed is always sown in spring. 

 There is, however, another sort, known as the " Tartarian" or " Siberian 

 buck-wheat,'' which withstands the winter, and is said to bear a crop in 

 the second year ; but tlie accounts given of its produce are not favourablej. 



The soil best suited to buck-wheat is a dry, sandy, and calcareous loam, or 

 moory soils, well adapted to the growth of rye : it is however seldom grown 

 upon any other than the poorest land ; but provided that be light, and un- 

 mixed with clay, heavy crops are frequently produced. It is grown either 

 for soiling or for its grain, and is not unfrequently ])loughed-in while in a 

 green state as manure §. In either case, the land however rarely gets tlie 

 benefit of any dressing; or, if dunged, it is done very sparingly; as, unless 

 the crop is to be cut green, it is found to lessen the product of grain, and 



* Surveys of Berksh. p. 230 ; Oxfordsh. p. 162; Surrey, p. 239. 



•}• See Chapters ix. x. xi. xii. and xiii. 



I We understand that a variety of the buck-wheat has been for some years grown in 

 Wurtemberp; under the name of B/i sahvage (C Italic, which suffers less from tlie atmos- 

 pbere than the common sort, is more productive, and the grain of which affords a more 

 white and savoury meal : the culture being in every respect similar. — Bull, des Sciences, 

 Ajiric. Avril, 1831. 



§ Sue Voung"s Reports of Suffolk, p. 82, and Norfolk, 318: also the observations in the 

 latter part of vol. i. chap. xx. p. 408 ; in addition to which, it should be remarked that buck- 

 wheat, or any green crop, will, on retentive soils, prove useful, but, on light soils, it ren- 

 ders the land too porous and puffy for the production of a following crop of wheat. 



