BUCKWHEAT. 83 



and is, in my opinion, more desirable. It is of recent introduction. 

 There is also the Navy Bean, used for naval stores, and the Bed 

 Kidney Bean, which brings usually twice as much as the white beans 

 in the market; but as the demand for this variety is limited, the 

 market is easily overstocked. It is a matter of economy in threshing 

 beans to save the straw and pods, which are nutritious fodder for 

 sheep and are readily eaten by them. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



(Mr. C.) Buckwheat, although a grain of less importance than 

 some of the others, yet takes its place among farm crops. It can be 

 sown after barley, rye or oats are harvested, the ground being imme- 

 diately plowed, harrowed and about three pecks of seed sowed to the 

 acre, and the ground thoroughly rolled. This crop being grown at a 

 season of the year when the ground is often dry for weeks, the rolling 

 which we have before insisted upon in many places in this work is 

 absolutely imperative, or the crop will fail to germinate. Buckwheat, 

 though not a large producing crop, is often sown just to keep the land 

 in use for a partial crop rather than to grow a crop of weeds. The 

 straw is worth nothing but for litter ; the grain, as is well known, is 

 used largely for human consumption. It is also excellent food for 

 fattening swine, and poultry prefer it to all other grains. A great 

 many farmers plant largely of this crop to plow under as a green 

 manure. I myself did so some twenty years ago on a twenty-acre 

 lot where the crop had grown so strongly that I was forced to roll it 

 before I could plow it under. I am of the opinion that it was an 

 injury to the field, as it did not produce good crops for two or three 

 years afterwards.' 



Q. In what way do you consider it to have been injurious? 



A. Why, I do not know, I only marked the results ; but I was so 

 well satisfied with that experiment that I would not again risk another 

 trial. Many, I am aware, claim it is a valuable crop for plowing 

 under, and I may be wrong in my conclusions from one trial, but I 

 think not. 



(Mr. H.) I cannot see why your experience in this way should have 

 been so contrary to the general view and practice. I don't know of 

 any reason why any vegetable matter plowed into the soil could be 

 other than useful. 



(Mr. C.) Buckwheat is a rather peculiar crop, and requires par- 

 ticular care in harvesting and threshing it. It has the habit of 

 bearing ripe and half-matured seed and blossoms and buds all at the 

 same time. The seed, too, is held by a very slender stalk, which 



