GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 135 



per acre will be required, if sown in drills for the grain, 

 8 quarts of srrd will suffice. It will ripen in 60 to 75 days 

 with favorable weather. When designed for fodder, the near- 

 er it can approach to ripening, without waste in harvesting, 

 the more valuable will be the crop. 



BUCK WHEAT OR BEECH WHEAT (Polygonum fagopyrum) 



Is a grain much cultivated in this country. It grows 

 freely on light soils, but yields a remunerating crop only on 

 those which are fertile. Fresh manure is injurious to this 

 grain. Sandy loams are its favorite soils, especially such 

 as have lain long in pasture, and these should be well 

 plowed and harrowed. It may be sown from the 1st of May 

 to the 10th of August, but in the northern states this ought 

 to be done as early as June or July or it may be injured by 

 early frosts which are fatal to it. It is sown broadcast at 

 the rate of three to six pecks per acre find harvested when 

 the earliest seed is fully ripe. The plant often continues 

 flowering after this, and when the early seed is blighted as 

 is often the case, the plant may be left till these last have 

 matured. As it is liable to heat, it should be placed in small 

 stacks of two or three tons each, but it is bstter to thresh 

 out the grain at once. If not perfectly dry, the straw may 

 be stacked with layers of other straw and when well cured, 

 it will be a valuable fodder for cattle. Sheep will feed and 

 thrive as well on this straw as on good hay. 



USES. This grain is ground and bolted and the flour is 

 much used for human consumption. Before grinding, the 

 hull or outer covering is removed, and when thus prepared, 

 the flour is as white and delicate in appearance as the best 

 rye, it is equally light and digestible, and is scarcely inferior 

 to wheat in its nutritive properties. The grain is used for 

 fattening swine but is most profitable when mixed with corn. 

 Poultry thrive upon it. Buckwheat was formerly employed 

 as a fertilizer, but for this object it is inferior to the clovers 

 in all cases where the soil is capable of sustaining them. Its 

 rapid growth will insure the maturing and turning under of 

 two crops in one season. There are other varieties than 

 the one specified, but none of equal value for general culti- 

 vation in this country. 





