FIELD CROPS 519 



tinguish it from wheat flour. The first flour on the market after 

 harvest brings a high price, but the price rapidly declines as the 

 supply increases. The grain must be well dried and the grinding 

 performed in cool dry weather to secure best results in milling. 

 The yield of flour per bushel of buckwheat is usually about twenty- 

 five pounds, though twenty-eight or more may be secured if the 

 grain is plump and very dry. The middlings, a by-product of the 

 flouring process, is much sought by dairymen as food for dairy cows 

 on account of its high content of protein. The hulls have little 

 or no value. Sometimes they are ground and used as an adulterant 

 for black pepper. Buckwheat grain is much relished by poultry and 

 has a reputation of being of special value in egg-production. In 

 recent feeding experiments this reputation is scarcely sustained. 



Enemies, The buckwheat crop is unusually free from inter- 

 ference from weeds or plant-diseases. It starts so quickly and grows 

 so rapidly that most weeds get no chance to make headway against 

 it. In fact, buckwheat is one of the best crops for cleaning land by 

 smothering out weed growths. Wild birds as well as domestic are 

 fond of the grain and when abundant sometimes cause consider- 

 able loss. No insect or fungus troubles have been sufficiently de- 

 structive to attract much attention. (Cornell U. A. E. S. 238.) 



POP CORN. 



In earlier times pop corn was very commonly grown in small 

 quantities on many farms and in gardens for home consumption 

 for it has long been a favorite food or food accessory with Ameri- 

 cans. In recent years there has been a tendency to depend on the 

 larger growers for pop corn and this crop is now raised in some 

 regions to a very large extent. 



As regards the culture of pop corn it may be said in brief 

 that it is much the same as for sweet corn. When grown on a 

 large scale it is drilled in and is not planted in checks. It is usually 

 harvested by hand and marketed on the cob or shelled. 



An explanation of the popping of corn is furnished as the 

 results of experiments which lead to the conclusion that the great 

 enlargement of the kernel and change in form and texture is caused 

 by an expansion of moisture in the starch cells. Each individual 

 cell is a miniature sealed bomb, the walls of which are sufficiently 

 dense to retain the moisture until it has been converted to steam 

 under pressure. 



If the residual moisture is sufficient and the conversion into 

 steam is uniform and rapid, the greater number of cells of which 

 the kernel is composed will be exploded and the result will be a 

 large, dry, mealy mass of converted cornstarch. If the corn is old 

 and dry it will at best only split open from a number of cells near 

 the center of the corn kernel. If the application of heat be made 

 slowly it is possible to dry the kernels of corn, parch, and even 

 char them without rupturing the outer coat in any way. 



It was also noted that at the base of the kernels, or at the 

 point of attachment to the cob, the cells were less compact and 

 were seldom, if ever, ruptured by the generated steam. It is from 



