The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-22 00:00:00

CULTURE OF BUCKWHEAT.

This grain having of late, as a make-shift, been much
sought after, we, at the desire of several inquirers, beg
to repeat the substance of some instructions regarding
its culture, long since given by us in reply to a corres-
pondent. It has been used in England for feeding
poultry and pigs, and has been extensively grown in
woods, and places contiguous to them, for the support of
partridge and other game birds. It has been long grown
on the continent as bread stuff, nor did it escape being
employed in parts of the county Wexford, over 200
years ago, for the same purpose, mixed and ground
with equal quantities of wheat. We have grown it
ourselves, on poor land to plough in as a manure, to
be used green for feeding pigs and cattle, to be used
by game, and to be given dry in grain to pigs, or
crushed and mashed for mileh cows. It is useful for
all these purposes; but its value is greatest when grown
on land too poor to give any other grain crop, or green
crop, without the aid of manure, or at a time too late in
the year to grow any other grain crop. The best time
to sow it is in May, when there is no danger of its being
injured by frosts, the slightest of which would severely
affect it. Three bushels of seed, per Irish acre, if to be
used for soiling, will suffice to well-prepared land. If
designed to produce ripe grain, a less quantity of seed
will suffice. After the land is well ploughed, the seed
can be harrowed in, the land rolled, and the stones
completely picked off. It will, in good seasons, pro-
duce ripe seed the latter end of July ; but, although
it will have the best of the seed ripe, then the tops
of the stems will be seen, green and in blossom ;
hence the necessity of using much caution in har •
vesting it. It should be mowed off closely, allowed
to lie on the swath a couple of days till well soaked, or
dry, and then tied into small sheaves, and carefully
stooked till perfectly dry, when it can be made into
small stacks well ventilated and carefully thatched till
wanted for use. The flour, when ground, is very white
and sweet when made into bread. There is a prevalent
notion that, when used alone, either as soiling for pi
or cattle, or given as food to man or beast, that it is apt
to produce what is termed vertigo, or a dizziness in the
head. This we cannot say of our own knowledge,
although we have used it in every way and for every
purpose that we have ever heard it applied to. It is
believed by some that because it will grow upon poor
land better than most other gain crops will,
that it will not exhaust land very much for
subsequent corn culture. This, we believe, is a mis
take. We have tried it in various ways, one of which
we will now record. We sowed it in a piece of poor
land beside rape, neither manured, and beside a naked
fallow sowed oats and clover the following year on the
entire field, and by far the worst crop had been on the
land previously occupied by the buckwheat, notwith-
standing that, from its thick and heavy foliage, it de-
stroyed all the annual weeds similar to which the other
parts of the field were very pregnant. As it is easy of
cultivation, it admits of being sown late, and ripens
early, it is well worth a trial at this time; but, as we
have alre.aly said, it will be but a make-shift, either for
human food, the food of farm stock, or even as a fallow
crop in poor land, that could be more profitably em-
ployed growing turnips if the means were at hand.—
Irish Farmers' Gazette.

--
DEATH rßom ATTENDING A FUNERAL.—OD
day, Mr. Bake:. hold an inquest at the Xing's Arms, Mill-
- wall, Poplar, on tho body of Ellen Mahony, aged forty years,
of Paradise-row, Poplar, whose death was accelerated by
attending a funeral. It appeared that the deceased had for
soave time past been suffering from a cold and cough. On
Sululay last she wasinvited to the funeral of her deceased
cousin, who was to be interned in the Catholic chapel of
Poplar. She was advised not to attend, but she persisted in
doing so. After her return she appeared very unwell, and
retired to rest. On the following morning she was found
dead in bed. She was much affected by the dampness of
-the chapel and the coldness of the weather, which no doubt
accelerated her death. The jury returned an open verdict of
"Found dead."

MDLLE. RACIIEL.—The health of this distinguished
artiste has been for some time in a very precarious state;
she has just had another relapse, and she will not be able to
appear at the 'DR.:Atte Francais till the beginning of next
month.

ea, '

FALLING OF TWO HOUSES 11
CORK, AND MIRACULOUS ESCAPE (
THIR fI( INMATES.
From an early hour this morning that part of Fis 0-
amb'e-lane immediately to the rear of the Courthous
was crowded by hundreds of gaping people, who VP
wtth wonder upon two completely gutted wrecks e
houses, and upon a huge pile of ruin that;
nearly blocked up the thoroughfare, in which stones,
mortar, slates, pieces of furniture, shattered crockery,..
fragments of wearing apparel, were heoyed UP*
in one indiscriminate wreck. As to the .Itou.sest.
with the exception of the flooring of one lilt'
closet still supporting a bed, not a single joist
standing--the several floors and all they contained ba"
ing fallen into the street with the front wall, not one
stone of which stands unon another. At the first sight
of this dismal ruin one would naturally suppose, that
underneath that mass of rubbish there lay them angled
bodies of a number of human victims ; but, haPPIA
such was not the case—for although thirty human
beings were hushed in sleep when the first rumble of the
parting wall was heard, not a single person was billed

. .
or miure.l !
We understand that in one of the houses, a sailor slept
with his wife and children; and he being more easily-
aroused than others, from the habits of his profession,
was alarmed by a slight crash, and by perceiving.that
part of the room in which he lay, was yielding in $
curious manner, he immediately discovered the danger,
and gave the alarm. The confusion that followed can
scarcely be imagined, as the inmates of the falling houses
awoke to a full consciousness of their fearful positin--
the walls cracking, the floors crushing under their feet,
and instant destruction seemingly inevitable! Some rat.
to the back, while others actually slid, with the Nine&
walls, into the street ; more were shielded by a chance
beam, others by some of those marvellous means refill/
providential, but often attributed to chance. Many re-
m ainedd in the ruins. The alarm was soon given ; in fact°
the thunder of the falling walls aroused the neigi,bour
hood, the whole population of which were at once in 0$
street. On the first alarm, the clergymen of the Fran-
ciscan Chapel, which i 3 only divided by a narrow rivers
or mill race, from the backs of the houses, were 011 the
spot, and lent every assistance that humanity could dic-
tate. They provided clothes for the shivering creature*
who thus, in an instant, were bereft of shelter and Pro"
perty—all they had in the world. The Rev. Mr. 17.10111
of St. Peter and Paul's Chapel, was also foremost; in
the good work. By the courage and intrepidity of .th!
young lads of the neighbourhood, who boldly riskev
their lives over and over again, those who still clung to
the standing portion of the ruins were brought away in
safety. The police also lent valuable assistance.
The above sketch of an accident, that but for •
miracle of Providence, would have produced a dreadful
loss of life, will, we trust, be sufficient to enlist public)
sympathy for the unhappy sufferers, whose houselesSt
food!, ss, and deserted state indeed merits compassion:"
Cork Examiner.