American Agriculturist, June 30,1923 
639 
Buckwheat The Stand-by 
A Crop That Will Help Out When Others Fail to Catch 
“Buckwheat cakes and Injun batter 
Make you fat and a little fatter ”— 
I T has been said of buckwheat that it 
has had a large part in helping to 
ruin the poor hill lands of the East be¬ 
cause it is easy to get a fair crop of this 
grain on acid soil, with comparatively 
little labor. Buckwheat has been 
accused of being the shiftless farmers’ 
chief crop, and because of such farmers’ 
dependence upon this crop, they have 
often been called “buckwheaters”. 
Notwithstanding this, most good 
farmers in the Northern and Eastern 
States have a sneaking liking for buck¬ 
wheat. It is an old stand-by. Since 
the earliest times when the cut worms 
and the crows got the corn, it was still 
possible to save the day by plowing it 
up and sowing buckwheat. If the po¬ 
tatoes failed to come up or if the rush 
of work or bad weather made it im¬ 
possible to get in the early spring crop, 
there was still a chance of getting 
something from 
the land by fall¬ 
ing back on buck¬ 
wheat. 
The name buck¬ 
wheat seems to 
be a corruption 
of the German 
buchweisen 
meaning beech 
wheat, which was 
given to the plant 
l^cause the shape 
of the seeds is 
similar to that of 
the beechnut, 
while their food 
constituents are 
similar to those 
of wheat grair.f, 
Botanically buck¬ 
wheat is not a 
cereal, but, since 
its seeds serve the 
same purposes as 
the cereal grains, 
it is usually 
classed in market 
reports among the cereals. The family 
to which buckwheat belongs includes 
several well-known troublesome weeds, 
such as sorrel, dock, smartweed, knot- 
weed, and bindweed. 
Buckwheat does run down the land if 
planted too frequently without any 
rotation and little fertilizer, but the 
crop is not to blame for its misuse by 
man; and farmers know that it is often 
a life-saver because it can bring in a 
little much needed cash, becoming a 
real “mortgage-lifter” at tinies, if there 
is any such ^nimal. It is valuable 
also as a soil renovator, a weed de¬ 
stroyer, a green manure crop and as a 
source of honey for bees. The straw 
also has a little feed and fertilizer 
value. 
About the time chestnuts bloom in 
the North and in the East is the time 
to sow buckwheat. This is usually the 
last few days of June and during the 
first week of July. Many a farm boy 
has had a perfectly good holiday spoiled 
on the Fourth by having to drag land 
for buckwheat. 
It requires a shorter season than any 
other grain crop but is mighty particu¬ 
lar as to its weather during that "season. 
A moist and cool climate is necessary 
and yet it is very sensitive to cold, 
being easily killed by frost. The seed 
will germinate in a dry seed bed and it 
will stand plenty of heat until it begins 
to bloom. Then the hot sun, and hot, 
dry winds, particularly from the East, 
will blast the flowers. 
A Typical Filler Crop 
The crop does best on light, well 
drained soil, but it will thrive on a wide 
variety of soils, being more particular 
as to weather conditions than to soil. If 
the ground is too rich or if barnyard 
manure is applied too heavily, the crop 
will lodge. 
^ , However, buckwheat needs some fer¬ 
tilization and most farmers find that it 
pays to apply a little commercial fer¬ 
tilizer, particularly acid phosphate. Of 
Is.ite, the high cost of fertilizer has dis¬ 
couraged its use some with buckwheat. 
Hit if the returns from the crop will not 
ju\stify at least a small application of 
fejrtilizer, then it is doubtful if it is 
worth while to waste time and money 
on raising the crop at all. 
There are three varieties of buck¬ 
wheat grown in America—Common 
Gray, Silver Hull and Japanese. One 
of the Cornell reading courses says: 
“Seed of Silver Hull is slightly smaller 
and the color is lighter than that of 
Common Gray. It also has a glossy 
silver appearance. The Japanese is 
larger and somewhat darker than the 
Gray. The Japanese variety is some¬ 
what thriftier than the others. The 
fresh stem has a green color and the 
flower seems not to be so subject to 
blasting from hot sunshine as the 
others. On this account, it is recom¬ 
mended in some localities to sow the 
Silver Hull and Japanese varieties 
mixed, it being said that the later and 
hardier will shade and protect the other 
from hot sunshine”. 
New York and Pennsylvania produce 
more than one-half of the total crop 
raised in the United States. This 
country is the 
third largest 
buckwheat pro¬ 
ducing country in 
the world, being 
surpassed by 
Russia with over 
fifty-five million 
bushels and by 
France with 
twenty-one mil¬ 
lion bushels. The 
United States 
produces approxi- 
m a t e 1 y sixteen 
and a half million 
bushels. These 
are pre-war 
figures. The av¬ 
erage yield of 
buckwheat per 
acre in the United 
States is about 
18 bushels per 
aci'c. 
Compared with 
other grains, 
buckwheat is not 
a large factor in this country. A 
bulletin published by the United States 
Department of Agriculture says that for 
each bushel of buckwheat there are 
produced about two hundred bushels of 
corn, fifty bushels of wheat, eighty 
bushels of oats, twelve bushels of barley 
and four bushels of rye. Nevertheless, 
buckwheat has an important place in 
American agriculture. 
Until comparatively recently, a con¬ 
siderable part of the buckwheat crop 
was used as a grain feed for animals. 
It is a most excellent feed for poultry, 
and buckwheat middlings, on account 
of its large percentage of protein and 
fats, is in great demand as a feed for 
dairy cows. 
Goes into “Flapjacks” 
In years past only a small amount 
of buckwheat was manufactui’ed into 
flour, and most of this was consumed 
in the form of pancakes by farm folks. 
Lately, however, city people have 
learned to like buckwheat cakes with 
the result that the larger part of the 
crop is now ground for flour to meet 
the increasing demand in the cities. 
The grain is harvested with an old- 
fashioned haild-cradle, a drop reaper, 
or with a self-binder. Due perhaps to 
the fact that buckwheat is often grown 
on poor and hilly land and by farmers 
who are unable to afford better equip¬ 
ment, there is still a surprisingly large 
acreage cut by the hand-cradle. The 
good cradles and the good cradlers, 
however, passed with the older genera¬ 
tion, so that cutting and binding buck¬ 
wheat on many farms to-day by hand 
is a much dreaded job. 
However, if it is cut in September 
just before the first hard frost and set 
up in stooks, buckwheat makes a beau¬ 
tiful crop, particularly significant of 
the harvest time in the Noi’th and 
East. The highly colored straWv and 
buckwheat stubble, dotting the fields of 
the hills and valleys as far as you fcan 
see in the early autumn, gives oneXa 
comfortable feeling that there will be^ 
plenty of good buckwheat pancakes with ' 
maple syrup and sausage to eat later, 
when those same fields are covered 
with snow. 
Buckwheat Facts 
V ARIETIES—Common Gray, Jap¬ 
anese, Silver Hull. 
When to Sow—Around July 1. 
Rate of Seeding—3 to 5 pecks per 
acre. 
Soil Requirement—The range is wide, 
from poor acid soil to light, well 
drained soil. Buckwheat lodges 
on very rich soil. 
Fertilizers—Much manure .causes 
buckwheat to lodge. A hundred 
pounds or so of phosphate per acre 
is the practice of some growers. 
Yield —The y^cld varies with the soil, 
variety and man. gement from 14 
to 26 bushels per acre, averaging 
about 20 bushels. 
Price—Last year buckwheat sold for 
$1.50 per hundred. 
appetizing breakfast from 
two great farm products- 
P OST TOASTIES—delicious, golden- 
brown flakes of toasted corn, served 
with cream or milk. 
Ready in a moment, healthful and en¬ 
ergizing, good to the last crisp flake in the 
bowl—Post Toasties — a breakfast, lunch 
or supper that wins everybody’s approval. 
Make sure you get Post Toasties. Look 
for the yellow and red package. Worth 
asking for by name. 
A serving usually costs less than a cent. 
Long-Time Farm Loans 
This Bank has loaned to the farmers in New England, 
New York and New Jersey over $25,000,000 and has re¬ 
turned to them over $137,000 in dividends. 
If you operate your own farm or intend to purchase a farm, we are 
prepared to make a long-time, easy-payment loan. Interest at 514%. 
Payments semi-annually. Loans run for 33 years but can be paid at 
borrowers’ option any time after 5 years. Local representative m 
every district. 
Look ahead! If you will need a loan this season write now for information. 
The FEDERAL LAND BANK o/SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
Serving New England, New York and New Jersey 
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