BUCKWHEAT. 
387 
are all thinly sprinkled yet. Can this difference be owing to the 
greater power of the morning sun ? 
Pleasant walk. Stopped at the mill to order samp, or cracked 
corn. It is always pleasant in a mill ; things look busy, cheer- 
ful, and thrifty there. The miller told us that he ground more 
Indian com than anything else ; nearly as much buckwheat, and 
less wheat than either; scarcely any r}’e, and no oatmeal at all. 
The amount of wheat ground at our mills is no test, hoAvever, of 
the quantity eaten, for a great deal of wheat flour is brought into 
the county from the westward. ' 
They grind buckwheat at the village mill all through the sum- 
mer, for a great deal of this flour is eaten here. In most fam- 
ilies of the interior buckwheat cakes are a regular breakfast dish 
every day through the winter. In many houses they are eaten 
in the evening also, and among the farmers they frequently make 
part of every meal. This is the only way in which the flour 
is used with us — it all takes the form of “ buckwheat cakes.’ 
The French in the provinces eat gaieties of the same flour ; they 
call it there hU de Sarazin, as though it had been introduced by 
the Saracens. It came originally from Central Asia. Montes- 
quieu speaks of these French buckwheat cakes as a very good 
thing : “ JVos gaieties de Sarrazin, humectees toutes brulantes 
de ce bon heurre du Mont d' Or etaient, pour nous, le plus fro.is 
regair 
It appears that the Chinese eat much buckwheat also ; they 
make it up there in the form of dumplings, and Sir George Staun- 
ton speaks of these as a very common dish in China. 
Indian corn differs from the buckwheat in being prepared in 
many ways by our houscAvives : Ave have sapaen, or hasty-pud- 
