194 THE BUCKWHEAT CROP. 



it to carry through all its various processes until its ma- 

 turity is completed, and it has produced its seeds. 



Its habit of commencing flowering before its growth is 

 nearly completed is a great disadvantage to the farmer, as 

 in no case can he avail himself of all the grain produced by 

 the crop. He therefore must carefully watch it during its 

 progress towards maturity, and cut it at the period when 

 he finds the greatest amount of seed formed. This probably 

 will be the case when the lower seeds are perfectly ripe ; 

 the later -formed seeds on the upper branches are then 

 sufficiently advanced to finish their ripening process while 

 in the stook. In this state the crop is recommended to 

 be cut early in the morning, while the dew is on it, to 

 prevent the shaking out of the dry ripe seeds. The crop 

 is cut with a scythe, and bound in small-sized sheaves ; 

 these require to be protected from the birds, which are all 

 very fond of it, care being taken not to cart them, until 

 quite dry, and then to place them only in small-sized 

 stacks. The return per acre, in favourable seasons, 1 is 

 generally good for such soils from 4 to 6 quarters being 

 an average produce. 



The Tartarian or Siberian Buckwheat has been strongly 

 recommended as being a hardier species, consequently not 

 liable to such risks from frosts, and capable of growing 

 on even a poorer class of soils than the common buck- 

 wheat. It is also said to be more productive ; one French 

 authority, Yuart, in his GOUTS Complet d' Agriculture 

 (1820), stating that, in the department de Tlsere, from 

 12 bushels of seed, he obtained a return of 1296 bushels, or 

 more than one hundred-fold, while many of his neighbours 

 exceeded eighty-fold the same year. This variety is known 



1 In variable climates the yield of buckwheat, however, is very unequal and 

 uncertain. Burger records (Traite tf Agriculture, p. 193) its yield on the same 

 farm for sixteen years. In two consecutive seasons (181 6 and 1817), the yield was 

 respectively 160 and 2275 litrestothe hectare equal to about 2 and 28 bush( 

 per acre ; while the average of the whole period amounted to 1151 litres per 

 hectare, or about 14 bushels per imperial acre. 



