153 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
eggs. Here also the serpents breed, and 
cherish their young, using only neglected 
portions of the field. The dread, which man 
has of them is heartily reciprocated, an-l 
even the venomous, it is believed, only use 
their fangs in self defence. They never at¬ 
tack man, and are certain to be out of the 
way, whenever you want the ground for any 
thing else. 
Ought not such unobtrusive helpers, in 
the cultivation of the earth, to have human 
protection 1 They are a part of that army 
of laborers, which Providence has raised up, 
to keep in check the insect tribes. It is be¬ 
cause this army of helpers is so warred 
against, and exterminated by man, that the 
insects are multiplying so fast, and the fruit 
crop in the older states is endangered most 
every season. In the new settlements the 
birds, snakes and toads, and all the tribes 
that live upon insects are found in largest 
numbers. Here orchards always produce 
the finest fruits. But as settlers come in, 
and clear up the country they begin a war 
of extermination upon their best friends, and 
the insects multiply so that every fruit that 
sets in orchard or garden has a score of ene¬ 
mies waiting to puncture and destroy it. 
The balance, which Nature designed to be 
kept up between her several tribes of crea¬ 
tures is destroyed. 
It is evident then, that the destruction of 
snakes, so common, is not only a foolish 
practice, but injurious to the best interests 
of the farmer. Why not let them share 
his protection, with the blue-bird, and the 
robin, the sparrow and the wren, and if 
necessary, have laws enacted to shield them 
from harm. 
CULTIVATION OF BUCKWHEAT. 
From what we have observed we think 
few farm crops have paid better than Buck¬ 
wheat, during a few years past. There have, 
of course, been exceptions, in limited locali¬ 
ties, but all that has been raised, has met 
with ready sales at good prices. We have 
seldom been able to purchase a good article 
of Buckwheat flour at less price than Wheat 
flour. Indeed, so high has the former been 
at times that Wheat flour of second grade 
has been extensively mixed with it. It is 
decidedly in favor of Buckwheat that it can 
be used as a make-shift, to fill in where 
from a late Spring or other cause it has been 
impossible to sow Spring Wheat, Oats, or 
other earlier crops. It nitty ne sown in this 
latitude for raising grain as late as the mid¬ 
dle of July, but we advise earlier sowing, 
say by the first of the month if not before, 
where it can be done as well at that time. 
For plowing under as a fertilizer, it can be 
sown from early Spring to the close of 
August. 
Buckwheat ( Polygonum fagopyrum,) is 
sometimes called Beechwheat from the close 
resemblance of its kernel to the common 
leech-nut. Its use for hot cakes, familiarly 
known as “flapjacks” or slapjacks is too 
well known to require description. The 
recently improved hulling mills for removing 
the black shell, has tended to greatly extend 
its use. It is also good for stock, pigs, 
poultry, &c. In Europe and also in some 
places in this country, it is very extensively 
raised as food for bees. It is grown for 
fodder, and if cured in a green state, and 
stowed away in small stacks of two or three 
tuns each, or in a dry loft, or on an open 
scaffold, and then steamed before feeding 
during the winter, or cut fine in a straw cut¬ 
ter, slightly moistened with water, and mixed 
with meal, it makes tolerably nutritious 
food for cattle and horses. Finally, it is also 
grown as a fertilizer, to be plowed deep un¬ 
der the soil when in blossom. Though not 
equal to clover for this purpose, still it en¬ 
riches the land rapidly, and has the advan¬ 
tage of growing when and where clover will 
scarcely show its more delicate heads. 
Soil and Preparation. —The best soil, un¬ 
doubtedly, for Buckwheat, is a good, dry, 
light sandy loam ; but it may be made to 
grow well in any soil if properly prepared. 
Fresh manure should only be applied to this 
crop when a growth of straw alone is want¬ 
ed. When its grain is desired, dissolved 
bones is the best manure; next comes 
a mixture half and half of guano and 
bone-dust. We have seen fine large crops 
raised on the poor sandy soils of Long-Island 
and New-Jersey, by an application of ten to 
fifteen bushels of bone-dust per acre. Plow 
deep, sow the seed broad-cast, then the 
manure, then harrow well, and finish by 
rolling smooth. 
Quantity of Seed per Acre. —If sown for a 
fertilizer or for fodder, put in one and a half 
to two bushels per acre ; if for the grain, 
three-quarters to one and a half bushels per 
acre, is usually sufficient. Sow broad-cast, 
or in drills as most convenient. 
Time of Cutting. —If for grain, cut as soon 
as the berry is well filled with milk, and be¬ 
fore it gets very hard. Loss frequently en¬ 
sues by letting it stand too long, for it is a 
grain that shells easily as the straw is 
turned in the field. 
When wanted for fodder, cut just as it is 
going out of bloom, and cure the same as 
clover hay. 
W T hen plowed in for a fertilizer, do this in 
full bloom, and cover as deep and well as 
possible. 
GAPES IN CHICKENS. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
For a couple of years after commencing the 
raising of poultry, I was subjected to the loss of 
a large number of young chickens, and almost the 
whole of them by gapes. I inquired of an old 
lady, who has had great success in the chicken 
line, if she could tell what made the gapes. The 
reply was, lousy hens, and the cure, or I should 
say preventive, simply to grease the hens under 
the wings thoroughly, and around the neck as 
soon as she came off the nest. 
Well, I tried it, and the result lias been, the 
more I did not grease the hens the more chickens 
died, and vice versa. The whole matter, in my 
experience, is perfectly simple, and so far as prac¬ 
ticed with my chickens, has been successful. 
When a hen comes off her nest with a brood, she 
is well greased, and from time to time, while con¬ 
fined to the coop, the operation is repeated, with 
occasional changes in the position of the coops. 
Should any of your readers try the experiment 
without a favorable result, I should be glad to 
know it. Dorking. 
TRY TH E HAY CAPS. 
For several years we have recommended 
these, and many of our long time readers 
have acted upon the suggestion. We doubt 
very much whether one of them can be found 
who would part with his hay caps for three 
or five times their cost, if they could not be 
replaced by others. But many have been 
wary of adopting the “ new invention,” and 
as we call to mind the fact that we have 
over 20,000 new readers this year, we are 
constrained to have another talk upon the 
topic. First then 
“ How are they made ? Get a piece of 
coarse cheap cotton cloth, the more closely 
woven the better. Let it be H yards in 
width, if you can get that width conveniently, 
or if it be only I to 1£ yards in width, it will 
answer, though not quite so well. Cut it 
into square pieces, and with a strong twine 
tie a wooden pin upon each corner. The 
pin may be about a foot long and an inch in 
diameter at one end, and sharpened to a 
point at the other. It may be a little better 
to hem the torn or cut edges, but this is not 
necessary, they will unravel very little. 
The pins are most readily made by sawing 
a straight grained inch board into foot . 
lengths, and splitting it into square pieces. 
These can be whittled to a point with a knife 
or draw-shave, and with a knife or saw cut 
a notch or groove around the blunt end to tie 
the twine into. You can cut the cloth, 
whittle out the pins, tie them on, and “ finish” 
eight or ten caps in an hour. A former cor¬ 
respondent assured us that in an emergency, 
he had made fifteen in an hour, adding “ I 
did not stop to smoothe the pins much, as 
that was not necessary.” All painting or 
varnishing preparations upon the cloth are 
worse than useless. The cloth will shed 
rain as well as a cotton umbrella, while any 
substance to make it water tight will pre¬ 
vent the escape of the moisture from the 
damp grass. 
To use them. —Cut down your hay, let it 
wilt a little, pitch it into cocks, and throw a 
cap over each, fastening down the four cor¬ 
ners with the wooden pins attached to them. 
Your hay may then stand until it is cured, 
and afterwards until you are ready to take it 
in. Two persons can take hold of the four 
corners of the lower one of twenty to forty 
of these caps, spread out one upon the other, 
carry them along, and dropping the pile by the 
side of a hay cock, seize the four pins of the 
upper one, spread it over the hay and pin it 
down, and take up the remaining caps and go 
on to the next cock. If at all active they 
can cover half a dozen tons or more in a 
single hour, and uncover it in less time. 
Advantages. —Every one is familiar with 
the fact that hay “ cured in the cock ” is 
greatly superior to that dried in the sun. By 
curing in this way there is far less waste of 
leaves and “ scatterings,” than when gath¬ 
ered into windrows after being dried. This 
is especially the case with clover. The 
average annual loss in haying from damage 
by rains and dews, is much greater than is 
generally supposed. It is a low estimate to 
say that this loss is equal to one dollar per 
ton on all he hay cut in the country. Who 
