portant general laws of vegetation. M. Lassaigne 
placed 15 grains of buckwheat in a platinum cap- 
sule, containing some washed flowers of sulphur, 
which he had moistened with distilled water, re- 
cently prepared; he covered the whole with a 
glass bell; and, by means of a curved glass tube, 
through a stop-cock in the upper part of the glass 
bell, he from time to time poured a little water 
on the sulphur. In the course of two or three 
days, most of the seeds germinated; and, conti- 
nuing still to be watered, in the course of 15 days 
they produced stems about two inches in length, 
and clothed with numerous leaves. M. Lassaigne 
now carefully collected the whole of the young 
plants, and likewise all the seeds which had not 
germinated, reduced them to ashes in a platinum 
crucible, and subjected the ashes to analysis. 
The ashes weighed about 33 grains ; and 220 parts 
of them contained 5 of silica and 190 of the phos- 
phate of lime. M. Lassaigne next took 15 grains 
of the same packet of seeds which he had sown, 
reduced them to ashes, and obtained from them 
the same results in both weight and analysis as 
from the young plants and the ungerminated 
portion of the sown seeds; and he afterwards re- 
peated the whole experiment with precisely the 
same effect. “It clearly follows,” says the re- 
port of the experiment, “that, after their devel- 
opment in distilled water, the young plants of 
buckwheat did not contain a greater quantity of 
alkaline salts than the seeds from which they 
were raised ; whence we may conclude, with The- 
odore de Saussure, that the alkalis and earths 
contained in vegetables have been absorbed 
and taken in from the soil.”—In a series of ex- 
periments made by Wiegmann and Polstorf 
upon vetches, .barley, oats, buckwheat, tobacco, 
and clover, in respectively pure sand and a rich 
and strong artificial soil, the buckwheat was 
sown in the pure sand on the 8th of May, and 
seemed to flourish better than any of the other 
plants upon pure sand. By the end of May, it 
had a height of 18 inches, and was considerably 
branched ; on the 28th of June, it began to bloom; 
till the 4th of September, it continued to bloom 
without producing seeds; and it certainly would 
have blossomed still longer, but as it was losing 
leaves, and was intended for an analysis, it was 
drawn carefully out of the sand, washed over its 
roots with distilled water, and dried and reduced 
to ashes. In the artificial soil, the buckwheat 
grew very rapidly, and attained the height of 24 
feet; it branched out so strongly as to require 
the support of a stick; on the 15th of June, it 
began to blossom; on the 12th of August, the 
greater proportion of its seeds were ripe; and on 
the 4th of September, though it was partly in 
blossom and had a proportion of its seeds unripe, 
yet on account of its losing too many of its lower 
leaves, it was pulled up, washed, dried, and in- 
cinerated. Twelve grains of the plants grown in 
pure sand, yielded ‘225 grain of ashes,—of which 
‘086 was soluble in water, ‘094 was soluble in 
BUCKWHEAT. 
063 
muriatic acid, and -045 was insoluble in either 
water or muriatic acid; and 12°7 grains of the 
plants grown in the artificial soil, yielded -507 
grain of ashes —of which ‘148 was soluble in 
water, ‘226 was soluble in muriatic acid, and 133 
was insoluble in either water or muriatic acid.— 
An analysis of the ashes of buckwheat straw, as 
conducted by Vauquelin, exhibited 29°5 per cent. 
of carbonate of potash, 3°8 of sulphate of potash, 
17°5 of carbonate of lime, 13°5 of carbonate of 
magnesia, 16:2 of silica, 105 of alumina, and 9: | 
of moisture and loss. The comparatively large 
proportion of carbonate of potash has suggested 
the probable remunerativeness of burning the 
straw of buckbean for the obtaining of this valu- 
able salt; but the relative amount of any or all 
of the saline ingredients to the weight of the 
crop, as shown by both of the two great experi- 
ments which we have narrated, is modified, to a 
prodigious degree, by the quality of the soil in 
which the plant is grown. 
Buckwheat, when intended for green fodder, 
ought, as already hinted, to be sown in the first 
week of June, in order that it may be available 
at the most parched and needy period of summer. 
It may also, for a succession, be sown in three 
crops each a fortnight later than the preceding ; 
and, in this case, it will of course be available 
throughout a corresponding series of mowings. 
When cut for fodder, it is most suitable when 
about half in blossom; and the quantity of it 
wanted for each day, ought to be mown on the 
preceding day, at a time when it is perfectly dry ; 
for as cows eat it with the same avidity as clo- 
ver, and are liable to become blown if they have | 
access to it in a thoroughly green state, it is best 
adapted for them when it is quite dry and has 
become a little withered. All domestic animals, 
particularly cows, weanling calves, pigs, and 
mares with foal, are exceedingly fond of this fod- | 
der, and appear to thrive well upon itsuse. “The | 
most economical management of it,” says Dr. | 
Hunter, “is to put it into moveable racks, be- | 
cause if laid in heaps upon the ground, the cattle 
will be apt to fight about it, and spoil a great 
deal by trampling. What falls from the racks, 
the pigs will take care of. In this manner, the 
cows will fill themselves in the forenoon with the 
greatest ease, and ought then to be brought home | 
to the fold-yard, where they will lie down and 
enjoy rest during the heat of the day; instead 
of which, if they were in the pastures in search 
of food, (which at that time of the year is often 
very scanty,) they would be teased with flies and 
other insects, be running about and heating them- 
selves, and, instead of increasing their milk, would 
shrink from it every day more and more. Who- 
ever will make the experiment will certainly be 
most agreeably surprised by the great quantity 
of excellent rich milk his cows will produce, at a 
time when all his neighbours, who have not been 
so provident, will complain of the considerable 
reduction of theirs.” Yet some distinguished 
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