192 THE BUCKWHEAT CROP. 



ready for harvesting by the middle or end of September 

 thus leaving the ground clear in ample time for a 

 succeeding wheat crop; while, belonging to an entirely 

 different order of plants, whose soil requirements are both 

 chemically and physically different from the cereals, it 

 may, notwithstanding it is a seed-bearing crop, follow or 

 succeed to them in the rotation, without injury to either. 



It is admirably adapted for countries where there are 

 large tracts of poor, light soils, with a hot dry climate, un- 

 suited to either barley or rye. Without this plant, indeed, 

 many tracts of poor land would be totally useless, and 

 unable to support even the scanty population that now 

 occupies their surface. In reclaiming that dreary and 

 barren region known as the " Landes/' in the south-west 

 of France, buckwheat is the crop that is first grown, and 

 with this the cultivation is commenced, and the land pre- 

 pared for other crops. As a secondary crop it is cultivated 

 to a considerable extent in Switzerland, Germany, and Bel- 

 gium, where it enters regularly into their rather complex 

 rotations. In this country it is confined almost entirely 

 to the light-soil districts of the eastern counties, where it 

 still retains its place as a regular crop, and is commonly 

 known by the name of "brank." When met with grow- 

 ing elsewhere, it is generally in the neighbourhood of game 

 preserves, and for poultry purposes. Its cultivation is both 

 simple and inexpensive. It grows upon soils of the poorest 

 description : sands or gravels, that admit of cultivation at 

 all, will generally carry a crop of buckwheat. 



On better-class soils, of course, the plant thrives more, 

 and produces larger returns. All that it requires is that 

 the soil be dry, and susceptible of a fine tilth on the sur- 

 face. On clays or undrained soils its cultivation is never 

 successful. The roots, which are of a fibrous character, 

 rarely penetrate the soil to any depth, but ramify in the 

 surface soil, which requires to be in a state of fine division. 



