CHAPTER XXV. 



MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 

 BUCKWHEAT. 



Buckwheat is a native of Northeastern Asia. Its 

 cultivation is of comparatively recent origin. Al- 

 though not belonging to the grass family, but to that 

 of the smart- weeds and the docks, it is generally 

 classified as a cereal. 



It is the least important of the six important ce- 

 reals grown in the United States. It has less than 

 half the acreage of barley and rye. Its gross value 

 per acre has been equal to that of oats. New York 

 and Pennsylvania raise about two- thirds of the crop. 

 In proportion to population it is much less important 

 than fifty years ago. Formerly it was used as a 

 cheaper substitute for wheat, now it is used as a lux- 

 ury. 



The flour of buckwheat contains considerably less 

 albuminoids, about the same per cent of oil and 

 rather more starch than wheat flour; hence it contains 

 less muscle -forming and more- fat forming nutrients 

 than wheat flour. Brewer suggests that inasmuch as 

 plants of the Ijuckwheat family are used for their 

 medicinal properties, perhaps the cultivated species 

 has some such property which affects its physiological 

 value as a food. A constant use of buckwheat is 

 supposed to produce a feverish condition of the sys- 

 tem which manifests itself in eruptions of the skin. 



Buckwheat is often fed to fowls to stimulate their 



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