392 



FARMERS' REGISTER-BUCKWHEAT. 



newlv jjround ; the common mills are not fit to 

 extractit from the grain, which requires only to 

 be rubbed to rid the meal of the very tender bran 

 which encloses it. I'he culture of Buckwheat 

 is laborious ; it demands a soil well pulverized, 

 worked carefully, and improved by leached ashes, 

 dry dung, or night soil, [paudrette] burnt litter, 

 and rich mould ; in many cantons, they are forced 

 to pare and burn the turf, and to spread the ashes 

 on the soil — a pernicious operation, which being 

 commonly adopted on lands already dry and fria- 

 ble, acts by removing their adhesive quality, and 

 finishes by exhausting them entirely. Sully, who 

 was acquainted with all the inconveniences of this 

 culture, and knew doubtless how precarious is the 

 crop of buckwheat, which, to speak properly, gives 

 a full harvest scarcely once in five or six years, 

 wished to proscribe this grain, which indeed, does 

 not succeed, whatever may be said of it, but in 

 soils from which we might with more advantage 

 obtain wheat, or some other cereal grain, more 

 useful, and wiiich would serve better for our wants. 



It should be observed that buckwheat weighs 

 from five to six kilogrammes (10 to 12 lbs.) the 

 decalitre (10 pints,) of which the price is 1 decime, 

 (tenth of a frank) the kilogramme, which sells 

 commonly one half less than rye, and that it re- 

 turns also (all quantities being equal,) one half 

 less bread. 



Rozier states that we may sow buckwheat at 

 two periods, according to circumstances, or rather, 

 to the climate — either in May, if late frosts are 

 but little feared, or otherwise, after the harvest of 

 wheat and rye. This last plan, which may suit 

 in the southern departments, is not admissible in 

 the other parts of France, since there the wheat 

 and rye harvest has not generally ended but during 

 the month of August, a period at which it would 

 be impossible to sow buckwheat, which requiring 

 four months to remain on the land, would not ripen 

 before December, or rather, would not ripen at all, 

 the frosts of October being sufficient to destroy it.* 



The land that is to receive buckw heat should be 

 ploughed with care, put in good tilth, and (if not 

 already fertile,) improved either by ashes, dried 

 night soil, or with the dregs of the dung pit; or it 

 is still better to use turf and heath reduced to 

 ashes. Buckwheat requires t\vo-thirds less of 

 seed than rye and wheat. If the season is a 

 little rainy and the earth newly ploughed, the seed 

 will come up quickly and soon cover the earth, in 

 which it ought to be lightly covered by means of 

 the harrow, or by rakes. It is sowed in beds, or 

 in very %vide " lands," in order to make the most 

 of the soil, which has no need (as for winter grain) 

 of ridges and water furrows, since buckwheat does 

 not occupy the land but about an hundred days of 

 the warmest part of the year. 



* Tliis shows an important difference in favor of the 

 climate of Virginia for the culture of buckwheat, whe- 

 ther made for green manure, or as a crop for sale. 

 Its growth is so much more rapid under our more fervid 

 sun, that it may be sown and ripened, not only after 

 ■wheat, but after the main growth of Indian corn, by 

 sowing the buckwheat with the last ploughing of that 

 crop. This rapidity of growth makes buckwheat par- 

 ticularly well suited to form part of a rotation of dou- 

 ble crpos — if indeed, it*culture is in other respects 

 more profitable than other plants, either for grain or for 

 manure — which, is at least, very questionable. — {Trans- 

 lator, 



As this plant is easily hurt by cold dry winds, 

 and by frosts which may occur at the time of itsf 

 flowering, some farmers have thought of raising 

 along the windward side small heaps of l>alf dried 

 grass, which they cover with a little earth, and set 

 on fire; the wind carries the smoke over the sur- 

 face of the field, and prevents the effects of the 

 cold, w hich would freeze the stamina of the flowers, 

 and cause them to perish. 



As soon as three-fourths of the seed are dry, 

 black, and consequently ripe, although the top of 

 the plant may be still in blossom, it is time to reap 

 the crop. If we wait later, part of the grain, de- 

 tached from the stalk, would fall on the ground, and 

 be lost ; even in making the harvest at the time 

 indicated, there is still a considerable loss. In or- 

 der that it may be the less, we should choose the 

 time for reaping buckwheat when the dew, or a 

 light drizzling rain, keeps the seeds in their places. 

 Much heat makes buckwheat shatter rapidly; 

 and is not desirable, except to dry it, and to finish 

 ripening it, when it has been put immediately in 

 sheaves, which are tied around their tops, and made 

 to stand up by spreading the base, so as to manage 

 them the better, and make them dry more quickly. 

 To avoid the loss that shattering occasions, some 

 prefer pulling buckw heat by hand, which shakes 

 it but little, to mowing, which shakes it too much. 



A few days of sunshine suffice to complete the 

 maturing of the grain and the drying of stems. 

 As soon as this time arrives, an area is cleared, and 

 with the flail, like other kinds of grain, the buck- 

 wheat is beaten out. It is prudent not to winnow 

 it immediately : this grain is apt to heat and be in- 

 jured in the granary, when its chaff is not retained 

 with it. It is spread and stirretl every fifteen days 

 to air it; and fanned when it is wanted for use. 

 It should not be ground but when the flour is 

 wanting. 



As after the reaping and beating out, there re- 

 main on the earth jiiany seed (and these are al- 

 w ays the best and most perfectly filled,) it is pro- 

 per to lead to those places the fowls of the farm, 

 which find an abundance of this food, of which 

 they are very fond. We may estimate the loss 

 which this crop sustains from shattering at one 

 fifteenth. 



In good years buckwheat may return an hun- 

 dred grains for one: it would be an excellent pro- 

 duct if these good years were frequent ; but un- 

 fortunately they are rare, and, as we have said 

 abo\ e, they do not return at the oftenest, but once 

 in five or six years. I have seen many consecu- 

 tive years during which the crop not only has not 

 defrayed the expense of culture, but even has not 

 brought a single stalk. 



Independently of the nourishment that buck- 

 wheat provides for hogs, and especially for fowls, 

 to which it gives quickly a delicate fat, it serves to 

 support men when they have no better grain for 

 food. However, it is wrong to make the meal into 

 bread, either alone, or in combination with other 

 kinds of meal ; what is obtained is only an insipid, 

 indigestible mass, and even still more injurious, if 

 it is true, as Cabanis assures us, and as we can 

 scarcely doubt, that it occasions " an almost abso- 

 lute defect of intelligence, a sino;ular slowness in 

 determination and movement." Headds thaf'men 

 are the more stupid and sluggish, according as they 

 live exclusively on this food." M. Parmentier, 

 who has so much improved cookery, and even agri- 



