450 



Tmm Mi^EKieMf* be© joyRPiniu. 



fc»4fc*ai-^^*-^-\^fcA< 



h^M^A^A^A^AmtMm^^^^*A 



so I tilled it and gave it to the bees. 

 In an hour or so I said : " Let us go 

 and look at the feeder." We found 

 the feeder empty — clean and dry, and 

 not a dead bee. He looked astonished 

 and said: "Is not that curious?" 

 There is nothing curious about it to 

 one who understands the nature of a 

 bee's foot. 

 Peoria, Ills. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



How 



Should be Oro^vii anil 

 Harresled. 



Written for the Country Oentleman 



BY H. STEWART. 



Buckwheat is not only one of the 

 most useful and productive of crops, 

 considering its short season, but it is 

 only so when it is grown under the 

 best conditions. Its average yield is 

 perhaps under 20 bushels per acre, but 

 I have grown 75 bushels once, and 40 

 to 50 bushels often. 



The grain is one of the best for feeding 

 all animals, but pigs especially ; the 

 bran or refuse after grinding is better 

 food than any other, and while the 

 straw is not adapted for feeding, it is, 

 when used as other straw, as free from 

 objection in any way as other straws 

 are. 



This crop may be grown in the 

 shortest season. It may be sown from 

 June to July. The twelfth of the 

 latter month is the favored time where 

 the grain is grown for making flour for 

 sale, and where its quality is held to be 

 superior to that produced in any other 

 locality. The best soil is a stony 

 gravel ; it thrives best all along the 

 range of the Appalachian mountain 

 from North Carolina to Northern New 

 York through West Virginia and Penn- 

 sylvania. A considerable quantity of 

 limestone in the soil seems favorably 

 to affect the qualit}- of the grain for 

 flour, but I have grown it on the fresh 

 forest lands of Michigan, the slate hills 

 of Pennsylvania, the loose sands of 

 New Jersey, and here on the most an- 

 cient granite hills of Western North 

 Carolina — everywhere without any ap- 

 parent failure in its good quality. But 

 in all cases I have given it as good 

 care as the corn or oat crop, and have 

 never been disappointed by an ungen- 

 erous return. 



I have cut the clover late in June, 

 turned the sod under after a few 

 showers have started a new growth, 

 and sowed buckwheat in Julj% seeding 

 with clover and timothj-, have taken a 

 crop yielding $40 or $50 per acre, and 

 the next year have cut hay. 



The preparation of the land and the 

 sowing of the seed are too commonly 

 thought to be immaterial, but this is a 



great mistake. The principle of " what 

 is worth doing is always worth doing 

 well." applies to this as to every other 

 farm work ; and good plowing and 

 harrowing and covering in the seed are 

 essential to a good yield. As the early 

 fall frosts are most to be avoided, a 

 quick start and rapid growth are neces- 

 sai-y to this end, and will mature the 

 crop before any danger need be ap- 

 prehended. As the grain contains con- 

 siderable lime, phosphoric acid and 

 sulphur, 9J, 6 and 2J pounds in 1,000 

 pounds of fresh substance, superphos- 

 phate of lime, which contains all these, 

 is the best fertilizer, and has a far bet- 

 ter result than yai'd manure, which 

 tends to lu.xuriant growth and stalk 

 and foliage rather than to grain, and 

 delays the ripening of the seed. 



Thin sowing — not more than a peck 

 of seed to the acre — tends to the 

 growth of side branches which bear a 

 profusion of bloom, and largely in- 

 creases the yield. Thick sowing, on 

 the other hand, forces a tall single 

 stem with less bloom and seed. A 

 well-grown crop affords a beautiful 

 sight when the field is covered with a 

 level table of bloom, and the pleasant 

 hum of bees which gather from all 

 quarters, with the pleasant perfume, 

 are additional pleasures which accom- 

 pany it. It is a popular belief that the 

 bees detract from the yield of the crop. 

 I have never found it so, but have been 

 confirmed in the belief that the bees 

 are really benelieial in securing the 

 most complete fertilization of the 

 blossoms with a corresponding increase 

 of grain, and while neighbors liave 

 gathered from my work a plentiful 

 yield of hone}-, this has never been 

 begrudged them from " dog-in-the- 

 manger " objections. 



The harvesting of the crop requires 

 special care. Buckwheat cannot be 

 stored in a barn. The succulent na- 

 ture of the plant prohibits this, for it 

 tends to rapid fermentation and heat- 

 ing, and seriousl}- injures the quality 

 of the gi'ain by decomposing the starch 

 in it. The flour is heavy, and does 

 not rise when made from grain which 

 has been suffered to heat either while 

 in the straw or the granar}-. The crop 

 is cut at the time when the grain is 

 mostly ripe. Some of it will j-et be 

 green, and some bloom on the stalks 

 will remain as long as the plant stands. 

 Hence when frost may be expected, 

 the crop should be cut. Much of the 

 green seeds will ripen in the swath 

 and the gavel. A gavel is a small 

 .sheaf not tied up, and this is necessary 

 to the curing of the straw. A cradle, 

 or a reaper which drops in an even 

 swath, is used for the cutting. The 

 grain lies several days in this way if 

 the weather is tine, and is then raked 

 up in small bundles, which are set up 



in a loose conical form, to admit air 

 through them. 



When the grain is dry, it is threshed 

 at once ; if by machine, the spiked 

 concave is removed, and a smooth one 

 is used in place of it, to prevent break- 

 ing the grain. For the same reason, 

 the feeder should crowd the grain to 

 the full capacity of the machine. The 

 pedicels of the grain are very thin and 

 weak, and are easily broken in thresh- 

 ing, and especially in hauling to the 

 thresher. Hence blankets or sheets 

 should be spread on the rack to catch 

 the loosened grains. 



When threshed, the grain must be 

 cleaned at once, and placed on an airy 

 floor to dry, in a thin layer. Shoveling 

 over to prevent heating is necessary. 

 The grain should be quite dry before 

 it is put in bins, and large bins are not 

 desirable. The gi-inding is best done 

 on a dry, windy day, when the very 

 absorbent grain will not gather mois- 

 ture ; and when the grain is to be sold, 

 it should be floured as early in the 

 season as possible. I have sold the 

 flour for $6 per 100 pounds when it 

 was first in the market, and ten days 

 aftervsfard the price had fallen to ^. 

 Taking time by the forelock is thus 

 desirable in disposing of the produce. 



There are four kinds of this grain in 

 use — the Merino buckwheat or Indian 

 wheat, of Northern New England, 

 which is a prolific, early maturing, but 

 poor flouring kind ; the black and grey, 

 or silver-hull, and the now popular 

 and valuable Japanese variety, which 

 has a large grain, and makes excellent 

 flour, and is the most productive of all. 

 The silver-grey, I think, makes the 

 lightest flour, and the best for cakes, 

 and it is a good yielder. 



Uoolillle on Qiieen-Rearlnj;. 



Queens can be reared in the upper stories 

 of hives used for extracted honey, where a 

 queen-excluding honey -board is used, which 

 are as good, if not superior, to Queens 

 reared by any other process ; and that, too, 

 while the old Queen is doing duty below, 

 just the same as though Queens were not 

 being reared above. This is a fact, though 

 it is not generally known. 



If you desire to know how this can he 

 done — how to have Queens fertilized in up- 

 per stories, while the old Queen is laying 

 below — how you may snfcly introduce any 

 Queen, at any time of the year when bees 

 cay fly — all about the different races of 

 bees — all about shipping Queens, queen- 

 cages, eandy for queen-cages, etc. — all 

 about forming nuclei, multiplying or unit- 

 ing bees, or weak colonies, etc. ; or, iu fact 

 everything about the queen-business which 

 you may want to know, send for"Doolit- 

 tle's Scientific Queen-Rearing;" a book of 

 170 pages, which is nicely bound in cloth, 

 and as interesting as a story. Price, $1.00. 



