Dec. 15, 1911 



to those who read the writings of Mr. A. I. Root on 

 the same subject in Gleanings. 



Within the past few years, since our senior editor 

 has taken up his winter residence in Florida, and 

 has had so much to say of Southern opportunities, 

 the attention of a great many readers of ( ;leanings 

 has been directed to this great garden spot, and it 

 is our belief that an opportunity to subscribe to an 

 honest, intelligent, enterprising farm paper like 

 Tlie Southern Planter will be greatly appreciated by 

 a number of our friends. Almost no other farm 

 paper published contains as many pages per issue 

 as Tlte Southern Planter: for instance, in the No- 

 vember issue there are nearly 125 pages — a book 

 almost as large as one of the standard national 

 magazines— and yet the subscription price holds at 

 the fifty-cent rate. Though an arrangement with 

 the publishers of The Southern Planter we are per- 

 mitted to offer this, the leading agricultural jour- 

 nal of the South, with Gleanings both one year, at 

 a combination rate of only si. 25— certainly an offer 

 which will bring a generous response from all who 

 want to know more about Southland opportuni- 

 ties. The price of this combination to Canada is 

 SI. 80; and to all foreign countries, S2.35. 



BUCKWHEAT, BUCKWHEAT FLOUR, ETC. • 



Mr. A. I. Hoot:— In your issue for Sept. 1, page 

 o4G, you ask for information concerning buckwheat 

 and why the Department of Agriculture has never 

 put out a bulletin on buckwheat. It is because the 

 consumption of buckwheat flour in its pure form 

 has practically ceased, only prepared compounds 

 now being sold, and the Department considers 

 buckwheat as a passing and not as a coming crop. 

 Wholesale grocers who formerly handled several 

 carloads of buckwheat flour each winter now han- 

 dle none, what buckwheat they do handle being in 

 the prepared-package form, and even that variety 

 of flour is in decreased demand on account of the 

 breakfast foods which have been introduced in al- 

 most endless variety. 



Concerning the gi-ain, the greatest yield was in 

 Maine, In the great potato section of Aroostook 

 Co., around lloulton. The price per bushel was 

 lowest, but the yield per acre made the net yield 

 the highest of the whole country. The variety 

 sown was neither the Japanese nor silverhull, but 

 a coarser, blacker kind — a Russian sort, I believe, 

 with much adhering chaff or fuzz. 



My last information dates back ten years, and 

 new varieties may be in use there now: but if you 

 can get in touch with correspondents in Houlton 

 you can doubtless learn what variety they used, 

 and wh^ the yield was greater. 



I have grown a little here in Augustine, coming 

 up from chicken feed thrown on the ground: but 

 this summer it was too dry to head I have seen it 

 growing as far south as 20 miles below Miami, Fla.. 

 whei'e it was sown in drills — a poor way, in my es- 

 timation, as it did not shade itself, and shade is 

 what it needs more than any thing else here in the 

 South. 



In 1885 buckwheat was almost a failure in New 

 York, going up to over ?1.00 a bushel: and these 

 scant years of high prices, and the advent of ready- 

 prepared cereals, are the main causes of the de- 

 creased demand for the flour in bulk form, and the 

 prepared form is not pure buckwheat flour, so the 

 present generation has but little idea of what a real 

 old-fashioned buckwheat cake with buckwheat 

 honey and fresh country sausage is like, and that 

 was our winter breakfast in Oberlin, back in the 

 '70's. 



There never was much profit in raising buck- 

 wheat in New York, with a yield around 15 bushels 

 per acre, and the price averaging 45 cts, per bushel. 

 The dark-colored honey it made also brought a low 

 price. But on better land it yields over 50 bushels 

 per acre: and with a demand at a price never below 

 50 cts., it would pay to raise: but I fear the day of 

 the buckwheat cake in its old-fashioned shape has 

 gone, never to return, 



I note that you say in your Sept. 15th issue, page 

 548, that Mr. Harrington's crop of buckwheat on 35 

 acres would be from 1200 to 1400 bushels, worth 

 some SIOOO. The old milling rule was, price of flour 

 four times the price of grain, or, flour per 100 lbs. 

 equals the cost of 4 bushels of grain. Eighty cents 

 for grain would make flour worth S:^.20 per 100 lb.s. 

 by this rule, which is about double the usual price. 

 I think these wide fluctuations have had some- 



2A 



thing to do with the demand for flour. At mill, 

 wholesale, S3.20 means nearly 10 cts. per lb. retail. 



Perhaps with larger crops and no short years 

 buckwheat cakes might come in fashion again, 

 with car-lot price not exceeding 82.00 per 100 lbs., 

 with retail price at 5 cts. per lb. 



St. Augustine, Fla., Oct. 19. C. W. Leonard. 



Friend L., I am glad to tell you that 

 buckwheat cakes and maple molasses are 

 advertised in the windows of the restau- 

 rants in most of our northern cities every 

 year as soon as new buckwheat flour comes 

 in; and your remark reminds us that some 

 good nice honey, perhaps, might be as 

 tempting as the maple molasses. I agree 

 with you in regard to the buckwheat flour 

 put up in cartons. Although we pay a big 

 price for it at the groceries, it is not buck- 

 wheat flour at all. I hope the Pure-food 

 Commission (with Dr. Wiley back of it) 

 may soon get hold of these spurious pack- 

 ages of buckwheat flour. God bless our 

 good friend Wiley. Long may he live, 

 and may our people back him up in his ef- 

 forts to put behind the bars every rascal 

 who is trying to palm off on the unsuspect- 

 ing public fake honey or fake buckwheat 

 flour. 



BUCKWHEAT IN MAINE: THE OLD GRAY AHEAD. 



I see you request results of Japanese buckwheat. 

 I got 4 oz. of you when it was first advertised in 

 Gleanings, and grew it for a number of years on a 

 farm in another part of Maine, but I never got 

 more than half what the old gray sorts gave. It 

 seemed to blight badly, though great bloom al- 

 ways came out. I dropped it and u.sed the small 

 gray sort, and, to my surprise, it was far superior 

 in all respects. It seemed more hardy as to cold 

 nights, and grew in less time. I shall grow it eve- • 

 ry time. Another thing, I will sow earlier than 

 usual — along in July — so as to ripen by cooler 

 weather. I feel sure that, to plant by June 1, the 

 yield may be even heavier, and resist frost, which 

 often destroys nearly the whole crop. Never wait 

 for the stalks to ripen before cutting, and handle 

 when damp with dew, as much as possible. By the 

 way, the straw is one of the best strawberry mulch- 

 es I ever used. It has a good effect on fruit, allow- 

 ing the fruit-stalks to grow right up through it. 

 Such clean fine fruit I never had by any other 

 method, and the soil is improved by using it. Ap- 

 ply just enough to hide the plants as a winter cov- 

 er — no smothering, and yet good wintering, other 

 things being equal. Land need not be extra rich 

 for the grain. Try the good old sort and see for 

 yourself. 



Mechanic Falls, Me., Oct. 26. E. P. Churchill. 



Inclosed you will find one dollar for Gleanings. 

 I take it for the Home and Poultry departments 

 now, as I have not kept bees for a dozen years or 

 more. I like to read what Uncle Amos writes, be- 

 cause he so often has a good word to say of his wife, 

 and is not ashamed to confess his faults. I like his 

 temperance talks, and am glad he hates tobacco, 

 which thing I also despise. You wished me to 

 write and tell you why I like Gleanings. These 

 are a lew of the things that I like it for. 



Mrs. Alice Kesler. 



Winnebago, Minn., June 6. 



Allow me to extend to Mr. A. I. Root and his 

 noble wife my hearty congratulations on reaching 

 their golden wedding. For many years I have read 

 Mr. Roofs articles in Gleanings. I have always 

 found them to ring true, though at times I widely 

 differed from his views on theology. I suspect that 

 Bro. Root is better posted on bee culture than on 

 theology. His writings, I doubt not, have done a 

 great deal of good. He has reared to his memory 

 monuments more lasting than those of brass or of 

 stone. I hope that he may be spared many years 

 to serve his fellow-man and his God. 



Gainsville. Ala. W. C. C. Foster. 



