316 CHAPTER XIX 



In Silver Hull the plant and seed are very small ; the 

 seed is silvery in appearance, plumper, smoother, and heavier 

 in weight per bushel, than Japanese or Gray. 



Japanese. — The seed is brown to black in colour, the 

 plants and seed both large, and is generally the heaviest 

 yielding and most commonly grown variety. 



Gray. — Is intermediate in character. 



(2) Tartary Buckwheat (F. tartaricum). — Sometimes 

 called India wheat. It has a rough, wrinkled hull, small 

 seeds, and wavy edges, small leaves and simple racemes. It 

 is not much grown, but will succeed in higher and cooler alti- 

 tudes than F. esculentum. 



(3) Notch-Seeded Buckwheat {F. emarqinatum) is culti- 

 vated to some extent in India, but very little in other coun- 

 tries. It is distinguished from F. escuUmtum and F. tar- 

 taricum in having the angles of the smooth hull prolonged 

 into wide, rounded wings. 



Buckwheat Grain. — Has a very heavy hull, which 

 shows a tendency to split along the edges. The endosperm is 

 softer and more starchy than in most wheats, and is low in 

 fat content ; the flour is low in protein. 

 Essential Ingredients of Buckwheat and its Products. 

 (Hunt.) 



Grain. 



Water 12-6 



Ash 2-0 



Protein 100 



Crude Fibre 8' 7 



N.-Free Extract ... 64-5 



Fat 2-2 



50 to 60 per cent, of the grain is recovered as flour, 25 

 per cent, as middlings, and 15 to 25 per cent, as hulls. 



Uses. — The flour is used to a considerable extent as 

 human food in the making of buckwheat cakes in Europe and 

 America. 



The w^hole seed ground is used as stock food, and in those 

 countries where flour is produced, the middlings, on account 

 of their protein content, are looked upon as a valuable con- 

 centrate. Cracked grain is used to a considerable extent by 

 poultrymen, and on account of quantity and quality of the 

 nectar in the flowers, it is very often grown solely for honey 

 production. 



