28 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 
feed for some of the farm animals, especially 
for poultry and hogs. 
Buckwheat does exceptionally well on poor 
soil and in some of the less fertile soils of 
this country, this crop is quite popular. Some 
of the eastern states raise considerable buck¬ 
wheat, New York and Pennsylvania being the 
leading growers of this crop. Buckwheat makes 
a quick, rapid growth, and is an excellent crop 
for plowing under or smothering out weeds. 
Buckwheat is seeded at the rate of about a 
bushel to the acre. It is sown either with a 
grain drill or a broadcast seeder. This crop 
is not cut with the ordinary grain binder, but 
with an implement known as the self-rake 
reaper, and is cured in bunches, these bunches 
not being tied as the previous grains were 
that we have discussed. It is not stacked as 
these other grains are, either, because it is 
quite liable to mold in the stack, but is hauled 
to the threshing machine direct from shocks 
wt "re it has been left to cure. 
MEADOWS 
A meadow is a piece of land devoted to the 
making of hay, or winter roughage for the 
farm animals. There are many different kinds 
of grass seed used for hay purposes, but the 
standard kinds of hay in this country are al¬ 
falfa, clover and timothy. There are many 
meadow lands on our American farms that 
have produced crops of hay continuously for 
many years, with low yields as a re%ult of 
this practice. 
