THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



their hearts be light and their purses heavy — 

 may their dreams be few and pleasant, and 

 their sleep the sweet repose of the weary — 

 may they see the fruits* of their own labor, 

 and may their sons reap still heavier harvests. 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE CULTURE OF 

 BUCKWHEAT. 



In our issue of August, 1849, we published 

 a few paragraphs on this subject, in which we 

 described an experiment then about to be made 

 with buckwheat and rye, seeded together in 

 the corn field, at the time of laying by the 

 corn crop. Half a bushel of each were sown 

 in the corn rows, and received no other cover- 

 ing except that afforded by running the culti- 

 vator through the balks. The land (half an 

 acre) is chiefly hillside and ravine flat — that 

 is to say, it slopes from near the top of the 

 hill to the margin of a spring branch. The 

 buckwheat soon vegetated and appeared, with 

 its young, but broad leaves, above the surface 

 of the ground, and quite regular, when we 

 consider the manner of putting it in. The 

 rye could not be seen except by closely in- 

 specting the soil. The two crops, however, 

 grew up together; the buckwheat, of course, 

 taking the lead and overshadowing the rye. 

 The crop of corn was taken off at the usual 

 time, and the two other crops remained. So 

 soon as the frosts of winter prevailed, the 

 buckwheat was killed and its stalks, stems, 

 leaves and buds all fell upon the ground ; as 

 so much enriching vegetable matter. Under 

 the protecting foliage of the buckwheat, the 

 young shoots of rye had, by this time, acquired 

 root and strength sufficient to enable them to 

 pass through any winter. They matured early, 

 and the crop was cut off, fully ripe, before the 

 most forward wheat of this year was ready 

 for the sickle. The stalk was exceedingly 

 tall, and the grain firm. The product from 

 half an acre was seven bushels, or fourteen 

 for one of seeding. If, however, we consider 

 the half a bushel of buckwheat as thrown 

 away, the increase is seven for one — not so 

 bad. But the seed buckwheat was not thrown 

 away, since it returned more than an equiva- 

 lent of vegetable manure to the land. So 

 much for rye and buckwheat. 



The present year, half an acre was cut off 

 from the corner of a field and the clover there 



275 



growing (which was luxuriant) not cut. The 

 plan intended for the remaining clover was to 

 cut the first crop and plough in the second 

 preparatory to sowing wheat. This half acre 

 was fallowed and buckwheat sown upon it. 

 At the time of present writing (August 15) 

 the crop is of vigorous growth, and bids fair 

 to give a large yield of grain. It will be har- 

 vested for seed at the proper time. This ex- 

 periment is instituted to determine, 1st. Whe- 

 ther the sacrifice of a heavy first crop of clover 

 is not compensated for by having it turned 

 under the sod, and by the buckwheat (grain) 

 which is reaped for use. 2d. Whether the 

 land do not, by this mode of treatmeni, become 

 better prepared to receive a wheat crop than 

 if it were fallowed in the latter part of Au- 

 gust, and re-fallowed in October, it being of 

 course exposed to the action of a hot sun dur- 

 ing the entire interval between the two fallow- 

 ings. 3?f? Whether the ground will not be in 

 better order for seeding wheat after the buck- 

 wheat is cut clean, than it would be if fal- 

 lowed (clover or weeds) once, and that im- 

 mediately preceding the seeding. We hope 

 to present the result of this experiment to the 

 readers of the Planter, when the time for as- 

 certaining it shall have arrived. 



The use of buckwheat— a few grains being 

 scattered along the drills— is familiar to some 

 of our best turnip growers, as a preventive of 

 the ravages of the turnip fly, which dislikes 

 and avoids it. We know that it had efficacy 

 in that particular last year, which was a highly- 

 favorable year for turnips, particularly the 

 ruta baga. On the same farm, where two 

 patches contiguously situated were sowed, one 

 with and one without buckwheat, the latter 

 was superior. 



In another experiment, not made with re- 

 ference to buckwheat, but to try the effect of 

 fallow in summer cow-pens, it held its own 

 against the well known black-eyed pea. Three 

 spots adjacent, upon each of which cows had 

 been penned during the night for two weeks, 

 and then removed were taken and two of them 

 fallowed late in September. One was seeded 

 with buckwheat and one with peas. Neither 

 afforded any green manure worth speaking of, 

 because the frost cut down both crops. The 

 third lot was left undisturbed. Corn was 

 planted on all three this spring. That upon 



