Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-07-18

A NEGLECTED CRoP.-Considering the
ease with which it can be raised and the
active demand that always exists for it,
buckwheat is neglected to gregter extent
than any grain produced in this country.
In 1881 the entire amount of buckwheat
produced in all the states and territories
was only 9.4S6.2 200 bushels. The largest
crop ever produced was in 1880, when it
amounted to 14,6l7,535 bushels. This
crop was produced on 822,S02 acres of
land, and was worth $685., ASS. About
four-filths of this crop was produced in
the states of New York and Pennsylvania.
Scarcely any was raised in any of the
more southern states, and vesy little south
of Ohio. The greatest yield reported was
in Maine, where it averaged twenty five
bushels per acre. 1t readily sold at 81
per bushel to local mllers. Considerable
was imported from Canada, where the
value of the crop is better appreciated
than it is in this country. But small
proportion of the article sold in city
markets as buckwheat flour is pure, or
true to name. 1t is generally mixture
of the meal of white corn and various
kinds of inferior flour. Millers and deal
ers often state that it is impossible to
procure grain enough to supply the
demand for buckwheat flour. In all
northern towns buckwheat cakes are held
in high esteem as breakfast dish. The
use of buckwheat in the country is limited
as farmers generally do not raise it, and
the flour is not kept for sale by local
grocers. Farmers and country millers
would do we'll to take advantage of the
demand for genuine buckwheat flour. 1t
will sell readily in town and country at
the price the best quality of white winter
flour commands, if it is put up in bags
weighing from twenty five to fifty pounds
BY judicious management the sales of
buck wheat flour could be greatly increased
in all parts of the country.
Buckwheat is an excellent food for
fowls of all kinds. 1t is also IL very good
food for hogs and sheep. Bee keepers
cannot afford to be without field of
buckwheat. The blossoms furnish large
amount of honey at a time when Il little
can be obtained from other sources. Soil
is not impoverished by raising buckwheat
upon it as it is by raising most kinds of
grains. The plants produce n very dense
shade during the hottest part of the season.
Can be sown and harvested at time when
other annual crops require little or no
attention. Not unfrequently good yield
is obtained from an inverted sod on which
a crop of grass has been grown and cut
the same season. 1t is often practical to
raise a good crop of buckwheat on land
that was too wet to plough ana sow early
in the season. 1t may often be raised to
advantage where corn or small grainwas
drowned out. 1t is the general custom to
SOW buckwheat on poor land that is very
poorly prepared. If farmer has some
and that is too poor or too wet to prepare
for any other crop he is likely to SOW
on it. 1t is the general opinion
hat any kind of soil, prepared in any sort
If way, will produce Il paying crop of
While it is true that it will |
grow on inferior soil that is poorly pre-
Dared, it is also true that more and better
grain can be produced on good land that
IS well prepared as for other grains. In
his latitude it is customary to sow buck
wheat from the LIST 10 the 10Th of July. |
t will be ready to harvest before the /
occurrence of frost. 1t may be cut with
lckle, cradle, moving machine, or com
non scythe. 1t is easily threshed with a
land fail. If hens are allowed to run
ver the land after the crop is harvested
hey will pick up most of the grains that
ave fallen from the stalks. -Chicu1o
tribune.