Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-02-17
a oric,tltural department
I. D. R. COLLINS, Editor.
BUCK WHEAT.

cause its kernel so much resembles the
beechnut. In England it is called
..branch. Of what country it is ma
tive, is unknown It is said to have
been unknown by the Greeks and Ro-
mans. 1t is supposed to be native of
Central ASIA. and to have been intro
duced into Europe (Spain) by the
Moors, sometime during the eighth cen
tury. It was early introduced into this
country, as samples of American growth
were sent to Holland form Manhattan
Island, as early as 1926 In l74S, it
was mentioned among the products Of the
Dutch farmers of New Swedeland, as
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and part of
New York were called They cult
waited 1t as provender for horses.
Buckwheat belongs to an order of
herbaceous plants, containing about 700
species, nearly all Of which are natives
of the northern temperate zone. This
order of plants is distinguished by the
many joints, knots, or knees, Of each of
its species. Rhubarb, sorrel, dock,
smartweed, and knotweed, belongs to the
buckwheat family. There are 20 known
species of knotweed in the Northern
States.
There are three cultivated species of
buckwheat. The common buckwheat
(Polygonaumtagopwann;) Tartarian buck
wheat { Polygonanntortaricum;) and
notchweed buckwheat (Polygonmm en-
e,ytnatsm.) The first is the kind chief
ly grown in the United States Italy
raises the second, and China the last 1t
is said "that there are no varieties"
which is an error, as there are three, if
no more, of the common, grown in New
England, the smooth, the rough and the
silver-skin.
Botanically, buckwheat belongs to an
order of weeds-but in practical CLASH
fcation, is added to the cereals, as it's
seeds have much the same quality as
those of the cereals, properly so called.
Of the three varieties, the rough,
known as "Indian Wheat" differs from
the others in flower and seed. Its bios
SONS are of a yellowish tinge, and quite
obscure, so much so, that an unfamiliar
eye can hardly tell when it is in flower.
The kernel, or grain, is smaller, more
irregularly shaped, and more rough or
shrivelled than either of the other varie-
ties 1t is claimed that the rough is
harder, better yiclder, and gives more
flour than either the smooth. or the
silverskin. Such, however, does not &C
cord with our experience.
The silcer-sk5n only differs from tn,
smooth in the finish of the grain, tn,
kernels of which have a silvery feel
Both the smooth and the silver-skil
, flower profusely, keeping in bloom for
month, or more The flowers are larg
and expanded, and nearly white, givin,
a field of this grain, when in full bios
som, the appearance of being sonw
mantled
E The grain which natures in abou
o seventy days from the sowing, ripen
Y very unequally, the lateral and droopin
n branches keeping their flowers large an
f snowy long after the upright ones hav
9 ripened their seed. The seeds whe
matured, are acutely three-angled, of
dark brownish- color, and double-coveret
4 the outside covering being a shell-lik
- husk, with an underskirt-a yellowis
> film, exceedingly acrid, or bitter. II
q outer shell, or husk. III a raw state,
i entirely indigestible, and fed to ANNA
i poultry excepted-unground, or I'll
o cooked, is decidedly hurtful Whe
y newly harvested, if eaten freely,
% sometimes produces an eruption wit
intense itching and sometimes are sym
e toms Of intoxication. 1t is the occasion
4 al cropping out of this .famsly ira
4 which has given prominence to an ide
= that as an article of diet buckwheat
unwholesome. But the best read phi
sicians say "that the irritation of SIX
which it occasionally produces IS ben
le .fcial."
L. 1t is used for food in all the countri
le Of Europe, except Great Britain.
[ America, it has been so used for mo
- than two hundred years.
id 1t is grain for high, northern lat
b. tudes, as it is of quick growth, and
n adapted to great extremes of climat
if Its composition shows it to be a val
st able heat giver--hence its value as
to article of food in the wintry seasons
no cold climates. AS 1t lacks In the muscl
m making element, its greatest economic
er value for its fattening purposes, for
en- contains nearly six times as much of f.
a formers as flesh formers, and larg
is proportion of fat-forming or heat-givil
Id elements than oats, barley, or linseed-t
n. cake. Of its nutritive nature or col
IS parative value of food, los pounds
e. buckwheat -four are of the same val
Cd as 100 pounds of wheat -four, Ill
nd rye, or ll9 of barley While its anal
av sis exhibits an abundance of fat-formi
s.. principles it also shows liberal supp
%. of the nutritious. In 100 parts, the
L LID I