330 CEKEALS. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



BUCKWHEAT DHOUKO CORN. 



BUCKWHEAT (Polygonumfagopyrum.} 



This is one species of a weed comprising many varieties. It has al- 

 ternate, entire leaves, having stipules in 

 the form of scarious or membranous 

 sheaths at strongly marked, usually tu- 

 mid joints of the stem; leaves triangu- 

 lar-heart-shaped inclining to halberd- 

 shaped or arrow-shaped on long petioles; 

 sheaths half cylindrical; flowers white, 

 or nearly so, in corymbose panicles; 

 stamens 8, with as many honey-bearing 

 cells interposed; styles 3; acute, trian- 

 gular, large akene. 



The botanic name is from the 

 Greek, and the common name 

 from the German, and both mean 

 Buckwheat, from the similarity 

 of the grain to the beech-nut. 



Buckwheat has never received that consideration due it 

 as a field crop, from the fact, that other grains succeed, as a 

 rule, better, in Tennessee. Where mostly raised, even, it is 

 generally sown as a substitute after the failure of other grain 

 crops, the short period of growth allowing it to come in. Its 

 cultivation thus is very fluctuating, one year the crop of the 

 United States being only 14,972 acres, the next year being 

 149,445 acres. It is rarely sown before the middle of June, 

 and can be sown later in July, as it only requires from 80 to 

 90 days to mature. However, it is never allowed to fully 

 mature, as it continues to bloom and fruit until frost, and the 

 judgment of the farmer must be exercised as to the time when 



