BUCKWHEAT. Fagopyrum esculentum. A plant delighting in sandy soils, but growing tolerably on quite poor sands, and valued for its flour, of which the well-known buckwheat cakes are made. Its flowers are a favorite resort of tne honey-bee from the abundance of saccharine they contain. The seeds are small, dark, and angular, yielding from ten to forty bushels per acre, ac cording to soil and season, since it does not set its seeds until cool nights occur. It is a native of Persia and the first frost kills it. In the North it is sown from the middle of June to July first, according to the latitude, and cut when in full bearing, or immediately at the occurrence of frosts. It is then set up in windrows, without tying in bundles, and threshed immediately when dry. The seed is borne at the end of delicate filaments, and hence it must be handled care fully, when dry, to prevent shelling. The -quantity sown per acre varies from two to four pecks, three pecks being the usual quantity. As a fallow crop, buckwheat may be used with economy, since it grows quickly and produces a thick mass of herbage, which should be plowed under as soon as it is in blossom. A crop once
sown, and allowed to ripen, often re-seeds the soil, and hence many farmers object to it as a crop. Like peas, it is valuable as a crop to entirely shade the ground, and to be plowed under when in blossom. Buckwheat is rich in starch and albumen, and its ash is rich in potash and lime. In Germany, malt is made of the grain, and it is extensively used, wherever cul tivated, as food for fowls. The Silver Hulled, or Silver Skin, all things considered, is the best variety, being prolific and making excellent flour. The composition of the green stalks, by analysis, is as follows: Water 82.5 Starch 4.7 Woody fibre 10.0 Albumen ' 0.2 Gums, etc 2,6 100.0 The composition of the ripe grain in constit uents, and also economically, is as follows: Water 14.0 -Gluten 9,0 Starch 48.0 Gum 2.5 Sugar 2.5 Fat 1.6 Woody fibre 20.8 Mineral matter 1.6 100.0 Or, economically: • Water 14.0 Flesh-formers 9.0 Fat-formers 52 1 Accessories 23.3 Mineral matter 1.6 100.0