BUCKWHEAT. 333 



green, as a manure, and often it is cut and cured as hay for 

 stock, they eating it greedily. 



At the proper time for cutting it is cradled and set up to 

 dry, there being no danger of its grains sprouting from wet 

 weather. When dry it is placed on a floor of rails over a 

 pen and beat out with the flail. It can be ground and 

 bolted in any of the common mills of the country. Re- 

 quiring no barn to be housed in, it is thus within reach of 

 the pooest tenants as well as the rich farmer. Its average 

 price for the last thirty years is one dollar per bushel, which 

 is far better than can be procured from oats. 



It is a native of central Asia, and was brought into Eu- 

 rope by the Crusaders, in the 12th century. It was cul- 

 tivated on the Hudson river ^as early as 1626, by the 

 Dutch, and on the Delaware by the Swedish colonists, and 

 was sent back to Europe in that year as a sample of the 

 products of the country. At that time, however, it was 

 chiefly fed to horses, and it was not used extensively as 

 human food until during the^last century. 



In 1840, the product of the United States was 7,000,- 

 000 bushels; in 1850, 8,956,912 bushels; in 1853, 10,000,- 

 000 bushels; in 1868, 1,052 acres were sown in Tennessee 

 producing 12,000 bushels, at a value of $14,520. In 1874 

 Tennessee produced 76,000 bushels, and in 1875, 105,000 

 bushels, while in the United States the same year, there 

 were 10,082,100 bushels produced on 575,530 acres of land. 

 In 1876, the last report we have in the United States, 9,668,- 

 800 bushels were raised, and in Tennessee, 97,000 bushels on 

 5,914 acres of land that brought into the State $80,510. It 

 is thus seen, that though raised but little, except in one 

 section of the State, its value is superior per acre, to the 

 wheat crop. 



We cannot close without again urging the farmers of the 

 Middle and Western Divisions to cultivate this crop. It 

 is freer from diseases than any other crop of grain, re- 

 quires less cultivation, is more easily harvested, requires no 



