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percentage of crude fiber. The chief difference in the flour of wheat and buckwheat is the much lower percentage of protein in the latter, there being only about two-thirds as much protein in buckwheat flour as in wheat flour. Buckwheat straw contains a somewhat higher percentage of protein and crude fiber and a correspondingly low percentage of nitrogen-free extract. Buckwheat middlings is distinguished for its high percentage of protein and fat.

575. Species.-Three cultivated species of buckwheat have been recognized, only the first two of which have with certainty been grown in this country: (1) common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.), (2) Tartary buckwheat (F. tartaricum Gaertn.), and (3) notch-seeded buckwheat (F. emarginatum Meissn.). Tartary buckwheat grows more slender, its leaves are arrow-shaped, with shorter petioles than common buckwheat; its flowers are greenish or yellowish in racemes.1 The hull of the grain is rough and its angles wavy. The grains are smaller than common buckwheat. It is cultivated in the cooler and more mountainous parts of Asia because it is hardier and will succeed where common buckwheat fails. It is cultivated in eastern Canada, Maine, and occasionally elsewhere. The grains of notch-seeded buckwheat differ from this and the common buckwheat by having the angles or edges of the hull extended into wide, rounded margins or wings, thus making the total width of the grain greater, although the kernel is no larger. The hull is not rough but smooth, as in the case of common buckwheat, which it otherwise resembles very closely. Since no wild species has been reported, it may be a cultivated form of the latter. It is reported as cultivated in northeastern India and China.

576. Varieties.-There are three types or principal varieties of common buckwheat raised in America: Japanese, silver hull,

1 L. H. Bailey: Cyclopedia of Horticulture, p. 570.

and common gray. The grain of the silver hull is smaller and plumper than the Japanese. In the latter variety there is a tendency for the angles or edges of the hull to extend into a wing, making the faces of the grain more concave. The plant

is also stronger and somewhat larger, and its flowers less liable to blast from hot weather. Each of these varieties has given the largest yield of grain in single tests at different stations. At the Ontario Agricultural College the average yield of grain during seven years has been Japanese, twenty-one; silver hull, eighteen, and common gray, sixteen bushels; of straw, 2.9, 2.8 and 2.6 tons respectively. At the North Dakota Station two introduced varieties, Russian No. 1 and Orenburg No. 6, gave the best results. The Japanese is sometimes mixed with a smaller growing variety. It is thought that more blossoms develop and that the Japanese in shading the smaller variety prevents its flowers from blasting. The desirability of this practice has not been experimentally demonstrated.

577. Climate.-Buckwheat is adapted to a moist cool climate; and while it will germinate in very dry soil the yield is very easily affected by drouth and hot weather. It grows at a higher altitude and its center of production is farther north than any other cereal in America. Under favorable conditions it will mature a crop of seed in eight to ten weeks, thus making it the shortest season cereal crop.

578. Soil.-Buckwheat does best on a rather sandy welldrained soil. It is possible to mature buckwheat on poor soil, and it is frequently grown on soil that is both poor and badly tilled. While apparently the soil has less effect upon yield than climate and season, nevertheless buckwheat will respond to a good soil, and no unfavorable results will follow from a high state of fertility. As in the other small grains, the proportion

1 Ont. Agr. Col. and Expt. Farms Rpt. 1902, p. 119.

N. Dak. Rpt. 1900, p. 59.

of straw will be greater, but when lodging occurs, the consequences are more serious than with the true cereals, since the plant has no method of rising again. (378) Buckwheat responds to applications of cheap low-grade fertilizers more regularly than most crops. In Pennsylvania farmers who do not use fertilizers on any other crop buy it for buckwheat. The fact that these low-grade manures are usually low in nitrogen and potash, but fair in phosphoric acid, indicates that it is especially benefited by the last.

579. Rotation.-Rotation is seldom practiced because of the place buckwheat holds in the farm management, being fre quently resorted to as a substitute for meadow or maize that has failed. Other things equal, it is placed upon the poorest soil or upon that in the lowest state of productivity for cropping. The crop it follows is perhaps less important than the crop which follows it. It is often held that the succeeding crop of maize or oats is reduced because of its growth. Buckwheat leaves the soil in a remarkably mellow or ashy condition, which in the case of light soils is objectionable, but in the case of heavy soils is desirable, especially as preparation for potatoes particularly, on account of the smoothness of the tubers when the latter follow buckwheat. The following rotation is sometimes practiced: potatoes, one year; oats or wheat, one year, and medium red clover, one year. The first crop only of clover is harvested, when the land is immediately plowed and sown to buckwheat.

580. Green Manuring.-Buckwheat is sometimes used for green manuring. The ash constituents and the nitrogen are rather high for a nonleguminous plant. It will germinate in rather dry soil, grows rapidly and rots easily. Where these factors are important considerations the use of buckwheat for green manuring is indicated. It is possible by the use of buck. wheat to incorporate organic matter into a soil that is almost too poor to grow any other crop.

581. Preparation of Seed Bed.-Since a great deal of buckwheat is sown because of the failure of some other crop or be

Buckwheat: variety, Japanese, showing influence of preparation of seed bed upon growth. Plat on which larger plant grew was cultivated during the spring, while In plat upon which smaller one grew the weeds were allowed to grow in the usual manner. Just before seeding, which was July 6, all plats were plowed and prepared in usual manner. Illustration shows plants at six weeks from seeding. From unpublished data of Cornell Station. (One-twelfth natural size.)

cause the delay

in farm work has prevented the preparation of the land in time for an earlier sown crop, the preparation of the seed bed usually takes place immediately before seeding. The land is usually plowed and prepared as for any other cereal. Early and thorough preparation of the seed bed, however, is advisable, as shown by the illustrations in this paragraph.

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from May first to August first. The preferred time varies from the middle of June to the middle of July, depending upon locality. If sown too early, the flowers are liable to blast by the warm weather. The plant begins to blossom when quite small and continues until frost comes. Thus the plant has seeds in all

stages of maturity. When the earlier blossoms are blasted the later blossoms produce the seed. For this reason and because of the lateness of sowing, the crop is particularly liable to suffer from frost. The amount of seed used varies from two to five pecks, three to four pecks being common; depending principally upon the preparation of the seed bed. There is little trouble from foreign seed or from lack of germination. While the seed is usually sown broadcast by hand and harrowed in, the same reason exists for using the grain drill as in the case of wheat and other cereals. (131)

583. Enemies.-On account of its rapid germination and the quickness with which the plant shades the ground, as well as the time of year at which it is usually sown, buckwheat is little troubled with weeds. It is also especially free from insect attacks and fungous diseases. The principal causes of failure are the blasting of the flowers from hot weather and from drouth or flood.

584. Harvesting.—Buckwheat is usually harvested when the first seeds are fully mature, which is ordinarily in September. Buckwheat is a rather difficult crop to harvest. Much of it is still harvested with the cradle. Where the land will permit, probably the self-rake reaper is the most desirable implement. In this case it is not bound but is set up in shocks something after the manner of maize fodder. It may be cut with the selfbinder, put in long shocks without caps and threshed as soon as dry. It is rarely stacked or put in the barn on account of the difficulty of getting the straw cured sufficiently to prevent heating. The grain is said to keep better, when carried over from one season to another, if put in two-bushel bags and piled loosely so as to admit of a good circulation of air, than when bins. (168)

Use. The principal use of buckwheat is for the proof flour from which the well-known buckwheat cakes are

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