BUCKWHEAT (Fagopyrum), a grain, native of Asia. and called die Samos* or Saracen wheat, by the French, after the Sar acens or Moors, who are believed to have in troduced it into Spain. It thrives on poor soils, comes rapidly to maturity and is most frequently planted in tracts that are not rich enough to support other crops. It is extremely sensitive to cold, being destroyed by the least frost, but it may be planted so late and reaped so early as to incur no danger from that source. Its flowering season continues for a long time, so that it is impossible for all the seeds to be in perfection when it is reaped, and the farmer must decide by careful observation at what period there is the greatest quantity of ripe seeds. Buckwheat does not exhaust the soil, and by its rapid growth and its shade it stifles weeds, prevents their going to seed and leaves the field clean for the next year. As a grain, buckwheat has been principally cultivated for oxen, swine and poultry; and although some farmers state that a single bushel of it is equal in quality to two bushels of oats, others assert that it is a very unprofitable food. Mixed with bran, chaff, or grain, it is sometimes given to horses. The flour of buckwheat is occasionally used for bread, but more frequently for cakes fried in a pan. In Germany it serves as an ingredient in pottage, puddings and other food.
In the United States it is very extensively used for griddle-cakes. Beer may be brewed from it, and by distillation it yields an excellent spirit. It is used in Danzig in the preparation of cordial waters. Buckwheat is much culti vated by the preservers of game as a food for pheasants. If left standing it affords both food and shelter to the birds during winter. With some farmers it is the practice to sow buck wheat for the purpose only of plowing it into the ground as a manure for the land. The best time for plowing it in is when it is in full blossom, allowing the land to rest till it decom poses. While green it serves as food for sheep and oxen, and mixed with other provender it may also be given with advantage to horses.
If sown in April two green crops may be pro cured during the season. The blossoms may be used in dyeing a brown color. It is frequently cultivated in this country as food for bees, to whose honey it imparts a flavor by no means unpleasant. The principal advantage of buck wheat is that it is capable of being cultivated upon land which will produce scarcely anything else, and that its culture, compared with that of other grain, is attended with little expense.