The common buckwheat is the most valuable and the most widely grown form. It is met with wild in China and Siberia and enters into the agri culture of every country where grain crops are cultivated. In China it has been grown and used for food from time immemorial. In Japan it is held in general esteem and in Russia it is also largely French chef. In some persons, buckwheat tends to produce irritation of the skin when freely eaten.
Composition.
The following table, compiled by Hunt, shows the composition of the grain, straw, flour, middlings and hulls of buckwheat : consumed. It has been cultivated for centuries in England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany. In all the European countries it is consumed chiefly by the poorer classes, but it has remained for the American housewife to learn how to prepare it so as to please the palate of the epicure. The buck wheat pancake is a peculiarly American preparation. Formerly, buckwheat constituted the major part of the bread diet of the greater part of the rural population of the New England and Middle States in the winter season. It has now won its way to the breakfast-table of the city resident as well, and when served hot with maple syrup it is con sidered the peer of the finest productions of the Owing to its thick, heavy hull, buckwheat con tains a larger percentage of crude fiber than the cereal grains. The percentage of protein and nitrogen-free extract is somewhat lower than in the case of wheat. Buckwheat flour contains only about two-thirds as much protein as wheat flour. The straw of buckwheat contains a somewhat higher percentage of protein and crude fiber and a lower percentage of nitrogen-free extract than wheat straw. Buckwheat middlings, because of its high percentage of protein and fat, is in great demand as a food for dairy cows. The hulls are so hard and indigestible that they are not often used for animal food, although the analysis would sug gest that they have some feeding value.
Production.
The high-water mark in the production of buck wheat in the United States seems to have been reached in 1866, when the crop, as reported by the United States Department of Agriculture, was 22, 791,839 bushels. The average crop for the five years, 1866 to 1870, was 18,257,428 bushels. The average yield for the five years, 1901 to 1905, was 14,898,361 bushels. While the total production in the United States has not equaled in recent years that of the sixties, the crop in the states of chief production has increased in volume. New
York and Pennsylvania now produce more than two-thirds of the total crop of the United States. Maine, Michigan,Wis consin, West Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey and Massachusetts, ranking in the order named, produce the major part of the other third. The acreage of buckwheat in the Dominion of Canada in 1901 was 261,726; the bushels, 4,547,159.
Culture.
Climate.—A moist, cool climate is most favor able for buckwheat, although seeds will germinate in a very dry soil, and considerable heat during the early stages of growth is an advantage. High temperatures during the period of seed formation, especially hot sunshine following showers, is usu ally disastrous to the yield, caus ing blasting of the flowers. The same effect is attributed to strong east winds. The yield is much reduced by drought dur ing this period. Buckwheat will mature in a shorter period than any other grain crop, eight or ten weeks being sufficient under favorable conditions. It is thus well adapted to high altitudes and short seasons, but its period of growth must be free from frosts, as the plants are very sensitive to them.
Soils. — Buckwheat will grow on a wide range of soils, but those of a rather light, well drained character are best suited. It will give fair yields on soils too poor or too badly tilled to produce most other crops, and seems to be less affected by soil than by season. It is not desirable, however, to attempt to grow buck wheat on very rich land, as under such con ditions the crop fre quently lodges badly with results even more serious than occur when other grain crops go down, as the plant has no method of rising again. This ability to produce fair crops on poor soils and under in different cultivation has led to buckwheat being often considered t h e poor farmer's crop and to poor and unskilled farmers being dubbed " buckwheaters." T h e crop lends itself well to the farmer who lacks capital to secure timely labor or to wait for returns on investments in till age and fertilizer. It may be planted after the rush of spring work is over; it may be resorted to as a substitute for spring crops or meadows that have failed, and it brings quick return for investment in fertilizer. Buckwheat responds to more gener ous and intelligent treatment and deserves to be held in higher esteem than it usually enjoys.