Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-11-26
AGRICULTURE A. SCIENTIFIC.
BUCKwEEAT.

ooen considered almost valuelcss crop by
Mlny who were considered our most dis
eerning and successful farmers. Indeed,
many carried their prejudices SO far that
they would not, under any circumstances,
allow it to be grown upon their lands, sap
posing il so exhausting to the soil. Others,
mora tolerant in their feelings would some
tunes raise a small field, but it must be
sown on the poorest corner of the farm,
where no other crop would grow, and but
an ordinary one of This grain. Then the
farmer who vas in the yearly habit of rails
ing it was considered slim affair, one bent
on the recoverable ruin Of h il farm. In
late years, however, the value Of the crop
has been more justly appreciated, 80 that
now tn number Of those who do not raise
i, is like that of those who formerly cultiva-
ted it, very small.
The advantages attending it's culture are
numerous and among them the following
stand prominent: Its quick maturity, and
consequently the delay that may attend til
ling the land and sowing the seed, which
latter always takes place at the North after
all other crops are sown and planted, and
from the 10Th to the last of June or be-
tween the time of the first and second
dressing Of the corn-feld. a season of COM
parative leisure to the farmer. Then its
maturity is at time when no other crop
requires immediate attention, it ripening in
September between the ingathering of the
summer and common fall crops.
1t is crop that will succeed with tolera-
Bile certainty when other crops will fall
Low, COOL moist, mucky lands, which are
seldom dry enough for ploughing in early
spring, and which are liable to suffer from
drought at the very time when early sown
grain requires moisture, are admirably "a
dapted to the crop. 1t terminates quickly.
and the young plants soon throw their
branches abroad, so as to shelter the earth
from scorching sunbeams, aud enable It to
retain It's moisture, to be given out as the
plant require.
Buckwheat is cleansing crop TO the soil.
In many Of the old fields in the longer-cul-
tivated portion of the country, weeds of va
rious kinds have crept in as stealthy BUSH
ss or loose wild grass, and usurped the
place of the more tender and delicious her.
bage. Wherever this is the case, it is de-
cidedly the best cropto restore fertility and
health(ul cleanliness to the soil, after the
bushes are removed and the sward we'll in =
ver;ed, that can be cultivated. Its roots
penetrate deep into the soil, which tends to
Its pulverization, and its shadowing quail
sies almost forbid any other plant, however
strong may have been its foothold to start
beneath its branches. We have in our
minds now whole fields which few years
since were covered with vexatious, over
spreading variety Of potentilla, which, by
cnltivating with buckwheat for one or two
successive years after the bushes were re-
moved, were transformed into beautiful and
productive meadows, free from the unseen
" blemishes which but short time ago
dis6gured and concealed their surface.
It a good crop to stock with. 1t al
ways leaves the ground in loose friable
condition, so that the roots of grass spread
rapidly and freely. Although, from its sha-
ding propenslhes, grass seed sown with it
will not show much progress while the crop
Of buckwheat is on, yet, the harvest is so
early, the grass which is to follow has an
opportunity to become well set in roots be-
fore the coming of winter, and thus be en-
abled to withstand the vicissltudes that
winter brings. 1t is ali article that farmers
are prone to leave to nature and its own re-
sources but there is no crop that shows
the benefits of manure, plants, and ashes
more than this. It's uses are too well known
to be dwelt upon. The straw, which BY
many is considered valueless, is an excel
lent manure for potatoes, and is highly val
liable as litter to place around fruit trees,
its tendency being to rapid decay, and its
effect to loosen the soil and leave hight
and wholesome mould for It's benefit.