518 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



Buckwheat leaves the soil in a peculiarly mellow, ashy condition. 

 In the case of rather heavy soils on which it is desired to grow 

 potatoes, this is a decided benefit and in some localities the prac- 

 tice of preceding potatoes by buckwheat, for the purpose of secur- 

 ing this effect, has come to be common. The following rotation 

 is sometimes recommended for such soils: clover, buckw r heat, po- 

 tatoes, oats or wheat with clover seeds. The first crop of clover is 

 harvested early and the land immediately plowed and sown to buck- 

 wheat as a preparation for potatoes. 



Varieties. -There are three principal varieties of buckwheat 

 grown in America the Common Gray, Silver Hull, and Japanese. 

 The seed of Silver Hull is slightly smaller than the Common Gray 

 the color is lighter and of a glossy, silvery appearance. The 

 Japanese is larger than the Gray, of somewhat darker color and 

 there is a tendency for the angles or edges of the hull to extend into 

 a whig, making the faces of the grain more concave. The plant 

 of the Japanese variety is a somewhat larger grower than the others, 

 the fresh stem has a green color and the flowers seem not to be 

 quite so subject to blasting from hot sunshine as the others. On 

 this account it is recommended in some localities to sow the Silver 

 Hull and Japanese varieties mixed, it being said that the later 

 and hardier Japanese will shade and protect the others from hot 

 sunshine, thus avoiding blasting and securing a larger zone of 

 eeed-bearing straw than is furnished by either sort alone, a larger 

 yield resulting. The Silver Hull variety has a red stem and 

 branches more freely than the others. The leaves also are smaller. 



Each of these varieties has produced largest yield in certain 

 tests. It seems that there is adaptation of variety to soil or climate 

 or, perhaps, to weather conditions that has not yet been worked 

 out, that produces these contradictory results. However, the yield- 

 ing quality of the Japanese variety is usually conceded to be superior 

 to that of the others. 



Formerly the flouring qualities of the Japanese variety were 

 pronounced by many millers to be inferior to the other sorts and 

 not infrequently the price of Japanese buckwheat was five or ten 

 cents per bushel less than the others. In some localities this con- 

 dition still prevails; in others the reverse is true. In parts of 

 Seneca Co., N. Y., in recent seasons the millers have offered a bonus 

 of five cents per bushel for the Japanese variety. Whether this 

 change in the estimate of the variety is due to improvement in 

 the quality of the grain due to acclimatization, or to better adapta- 

 tion of the milling methods to the variety has not been ascertained. 



Consumption. Formerly a considerable part of the buck- 

 wheat was used for animal food, only enough flour being manu- 

 factured to meet the requirements of the rural districts during the 

 winter season Of late the demand for the flour in the cities has 

 been such that most of the grain is ground for flour and less of the 

 flour is consumed in the rural districts 



Buckwheat flour is whiter than that made from wheat and has 

 a peculiar mealy feel to the hand that enable one readily to dis- 



