THE GENESEE FARMER. 



203 



In England, where, on account of the coolness of 

 the climute, buckwheat is rather a precarious crop, 

 it is fa*qaently sowi in drills one foot apart, and hand 

 hoed; and some experienced farmers sow it in drills 

 two feet apart, in order that the horse cultivator may 

 be employed. In this country, audjn most parts of 

 Europe, it is sown broadcast. The quantity of seed 

 per acre varies somewhat with the character of the 

 soil and climate, and the purposes for which the crop 

 is grown. When raised for seed on soil of medium 

 quality, the rule is to sow about half the quantity of 

 seed used in sowin? wheat — say from three pecks to 

 a bushel. The richer the land, the less seed is re- 

 quired, as a general rule; if too thick, on rich land, 

 it runs too much to straw. 



Buckwheat is very susceptible of cold. It must 

 not be sown till all danger of the slightest hoar frost 

 is past. The usual time of sowing, in this State, is 

 the first week in July. If sown too early, say the 

 middle of June, it is liable to blast ; if too late, it is 

 frequently injured by early autumn frosts. The seed 

 should not be covered too deep. Tuaer mentions the 

 curious fact, that he has found the use of the roller 

 in covering the seed injurious. 



An experienced German writer says: "The suc- 

 cess of buckwheat is remarkably afi'ected by the 

 weather to which it is exposed in the several stages 

 of its growth. In this respect it is more susceptible 

 than any other kind of grain. It requires dry weather 

 immediately after sowing, and springs up during the 

 time of greatest drouth; but after putting forth its 

 third leaf' it requires rain, in order that its leaves may 

 be developed before the appearance of the flower, 

 which soon follows. During the long time for which 

 it continues in flower, this plant requires alternate 

 rain and sunshine, to facilitate its growth and enable 

 the flowers to set. The flowers drop off" during thun- 

 der storms, or even on the occurance of electric phe- 

 nomena unaccompanied by rain. Buckwheat is also 

 incapable of withstanding violent easterly winds, which 

 cause it to wither before its flowers are set. After 

 flowering, the plant again requires dry weather, to 

 bring all its seeds to maturity at the same time, and 

 insure an early harvest The success of buckwheat 

 is, therefore, very precarious. It depends not only on 

 the general state of the weather throughout the sea- 

 eon, but also on the particular time which may have 

 been chosen for sowing. A week earlier or later 

 often makes a very great difference. Hence, those 

 who wish to make sure of their crop of buckwheat, 

 sow it in three or four separate portions, and at dif- 

 ferent times." 



Buckwheat will not thrive on cold, clay land. On 

 all the poor, light, sandy soils of the Atlantic slope, 

 it grows with great luxuriance, when well put in and 

 stimulated with a little manure. On such soils, buck- 

 wheat has been used to a great extent, and with con- 

 siderable success, for plowing under as a green ma- 

 nure. The plant possesses many qualities which ren- 

 der it valuable as a renovator. It can be sown late 

 in the season; requires little cultivation; is of rapid 

 growth; will grow on the poorest soils, and, in fact, 

 succeeds best on light, poor soils, which are destitute 

 of the organic matter needed for other crops, and 

 which the buckwheat, when plowed in, supplies in 

 considerable quantity. Nevertheless, we think buck- 

 wheat will not enrich land so rapidly as clover, peas 

 and other leguminous plants. Where these can be 

 grown, we would never grow aud plow in buckwheat 



solely for its fertilizing effect. On soils which are too 

 poor to grow clover and peas, buckwheat may be 

 employed for the purpose of enriching the soil in or- 

 ganic matter, and, by its judicious use, the land will 

 in a few years be capable of growing clover, peae, <.tc. 

 Buckwheat is often sown on land infested with wire 

 worms. Two crops, sown in succession, M-ill some- 

 times starve out these pests. We should be glad of 

 the experience of our readers on this point. 



CTTITING AND CTJRmG CLOVER AND GBASS FOE 

 FODDER. 



Red Clover is raised with much greater care and 

 certainty in many parts of this country than in Great 

 Britain, yet it is held in far less esteem as a forage 

 plant This is probably owing, in some degree, to 

 the manner in which it is cured. In England it is 

 never spread out, but is allowed to remain unbroken 

 in the swath, to prevent the leaves from falling off; 

 and after being turned in the swath, is put into small 

 cocks, and afterwards into large ones. Cured with- 

 out much exposure to the sun, it is sweet and green, 

 and horses prefer it to English meadow hay. The 

 objection so often made against it in this country, 

 that it. is dusty and induces heaves in horses, is sel- 

 dom heard in England. 



It is important that clover should not be too ripe. 

 It should be cut when in full bloom. A few days' 

 delay often injures the crop, as the flowering stems 

 rapidly grow tough and unpalatable. We are aware 

 that a less quantity of hay is obtained — in fact, it has 

 been proved that there is a gain of ten per. cent in 

 weight of hay by allowing the clover to form its 

 seeds before it is cut — but in this case much of the 

 saccharine matter is changed into woody fibre, and 

 the quality of the hay is impaired more than the in- 

 crease of quantity will counterbalance. Clover may 

 be allowed to stand without loss till the lower leaves 

 show symptoms of decay, but' it is better cut too 

 early than too late, especially if the after crop is in- 

 tended for seed. 



If the weather is favorable, and the crop not too 

 heavy, clover may be cured advantageously as fol- 

 lows: Mow in the morning, as soon as the dew is off; 

 turn it carefully in the swath about noon, and put it 

 into neat small cocks before the dew comes on. 

 When sufficiently cured — say in three days — turn the 

 cocks upside down, when the sun is well up, and 

 draw in during the afternoon. If the crop is heavy, 

 and the weather cloudy, put it into larger cocks, and 

 allow them to stand out a little longer. The opera- 

 tion of curing may of course be expedited by spread- 

 ing out the clover as soon as it is cut, but there is con- 

 siderable loss of leaves — the best portion of the fodder. 



It is possible by chemical analyses to determine 

 with much certainty the best time to cut hay so as 

 to secure the greatest amount of nutritious matter; 

 but the analyses which have been made afford no 

 satisfactory information on this point. In the famous 

 experiments of Sinclair, the amount of nutriment 

 was estimated from the quantity of soluble matter in 

 the various grasses cut at different stages of their 

 growth. Such a method of analysis cannot give 

 reliable results. Much of the crude, imperfectly or- 

 ganized matter of immature plants might be soluble, 

 but no one will contend that it is nutritious. 



More recently, the nutritive value of food has been 

 estimated by the proportion of nitrogen it contains. 



