RICE. BUCKWHEAT 189 



a minimum of equipment. When the rice plants are 

 seven or eight inches high, the field is flooded with water 

 to a depth of four to six inches. The flood water is main- 

 tained over the field until the grain is in the dough stage, 

 when it is drained off to allow the soil to dry sufficiently 

 to bear up the harvesting machinery. The crop is usu- 

 ally cut with a grain binder, the grain being handled in 

 the same manner as any small grain crop. The rice is 

 thrashed with an ordinary thrasher and stored in bags or 

 barrels holding 162 pounds. The grower usually reckons 

 his crops by barrels rather than by bushels, as is the cus- 

 tom with wheat or oats. 



BUCKWHEAT 



Buckwheat has been cultivated for many centuries in 

 England and in European countries, where it has furnished 

 a considerable portion of the bread flour of the poor 

 classes of people. It was introduced into the United 

 States in colonial times and for many years was an im- 

 portant article of diet in the New England and Central 

 States. Buckwheat gets its name from the German Buch- 

 weizen, which means beechwheat. It was called beech- 

 wheat by the Germans because of the resemblance of the 

 grains to beechnuts. 



177. Description. Buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculen- 

 tum, belongs to the Polygonaceae, or dock family, which 

 includes in its membership such troublesome weeds as 

 the dock, sorrel, and smartweed. Buckwheat, therefore, 

 is not a true cereal, but because of its similar cultural 

 requirements and adaptation, it is usually classed with 

 them. Buckwheat in the character of its root system is 

 unlike the cereals in that it has a tap root. The tap root 

 extends down rather deeply into the soil, and from the upper 



