188 THE BUCKWHEAT CROP. 



in stacking and, when thrashed, in the granary against 

 mice, which prefer this to any other grain, and commit 

 great ravages in it. 



The injuries sustained by the plant during its growth 

 have not probably owing to its limited cultivation 

 received any attention. Neither are we in possession of 

 any information bearing upon the chemistry of the crop. 

 The grain is always sold off the farm, and the straw used 

 merely as litter, though, according to the old Survey of 

 Kent (Board of Agriculture), " the haulm is a most excel- 

 lent fodder for horses." 



THE BUCKWHEAT CHOP. 



NEXT in importance to the seed-bearing grasses (cereals) 

 are the leguminous plants, of which we shall take only 

 beans and peas as our instances, as the other members are 

 better known in this country as forage plants, and will 

 be classified, in that section of the series. Before, how- 

 ever, we enter upon the cultivation of these crops, we 

 will briefly describe another of our "Farm Crops," which in 

 this country is only cultivated on a very limited scale, and 

 then very rarely as a bread-corn. On the Continent, and 

 throughout the northern states of North America and 

 Canada, it is extensively grown and commonly used as 

 food by the inhabitants. This is the Buckwheat, as it 

 is termed the Polygonum fagopyrum a member of a 

 very large and well-known order, POLYGONE^E, of which 

 the common dock and sorrel are well-marked examples. 

 The name " buckwheat " appears to be a corruption of the 

 German name buch-weizen^ 1 a name given to the plant 



1 Buch, beech ; weizen, wheat. Another name for it is heiden-korn, from its 

 suitability for the most barren description of heath soils. 



