The Meeker herald., 1904-02-27
Plenty Of
Buckwheat Cakes
A Ten Million eushei Crop Is Now
Being Harvested.



Lovers of the buckwheat cake will be
glad to learn that the largest buckwheat
cred in the two great buckwheat raising
states Of the Union. New York and
Pennsylvania.
United States amounted to oo60.Nai
bushcs. valued at s5.a41,il3, Or this total
M Meyib f & @ With enThels
tos ba asSeh worth h.7Saasi. Compared
with these the State of Maine makes a
poor third yielding 7lD.7G0 bushels.
Twenty-fOur states figure as buckwheat
producers. the grain growing as far south
Considerably more than two-thirds OF the
total production is always from New
a,nry a sta,n in tie ITnion pays tr bute Tor
the delectahle griddle cake.
1t is too early to estimate the total Of
will certainly exceed 10,OOO.O0O bushels.
The four counties Of Armstrong. Indiana,
westmoreland and Butler in penns Slo
bushels these counties forming the buck.
wheat belt Of the United States ,Ss and and
produced in the Keystone state. Ths
eeeds that Of Pennsylvania. but rs cnl-
tiyation is there more generally dis
The buckwheat cake IL a peculiarly
American institution. as much 40 as the
many lands, but the housewives of no
other country have learned how 70 IRE
pare it in such manner as to tickle the
pa late of the lover OF good living
Not so very many years ago buckwheat
cakes were eaten only by the very poor
OF tho farming districts not because they
liked them but as a measure of economy.
There was no market for the grain, or
flour. and when it was grown at all 1t
was for stock food. or for nome con-
sumption in default of anything better,
1t will grow on the poorest soil. where
no other crop can be raised. 1t natures
more quickly than any, other cereal. and
a crop failure IN hardly ever known. 80
| that this is preeminently the poor mans
| CrOO
The poorer farmers no longer eat buck
wheat nowadays They can't anord It
They first convert y into cash. ma , th"n
| those city folks mean by buying at fancy
| prices what was considered few years
ago fit only for cattle. poultry ana pau
| pers.
| Among beekeepers bmckwheat is a Ia
| vorlte crop. for the reason that the BIOS
SONS contain more honey than Is found In
| the flowers of any other plant OF economic
use aside from its value as a honey pro
| Queer. AS long as the buckwhcst fields
| are in flower the bees confine themselves
| to them entirely. and therefore produce
pure buckwheat honey.
the fact that it is dark amber color
! instead of the clear white demanded by
the fastidions city trade. In making liking this
| ignorance. Few of those who have ever
| tried genuine buckwheat honey would be
| willing to exchange 1t for the finest grade
| of white clover.
Buckwheat makes practically all of It's
| growth In six weeks of hot weather in
| growing OF farm crops. For this reason
It is supposed to be very axhausting on
the soil. so that the owner OF good farm
This is. no doubt. the renson why SO
much of this grain is raised In Butler.
| counties In Pennsylvania. These counties
are full OF bald knobs that have been cul.
tivated for more than century. until
has not been extracted by the crops has
been washed down by the rains into the
valleys below.
They will produce nothing but buck.
| wheat and beans. and as buckwheat
| brings greater returns with less labor.
Is ne crop xbee sbree xapn
| out farms will cease to produce even
| buckwheat: but. with frm faith in
| OF commercial fertilizers. the farmers are
not losing any sleep.
| Buckwheat Is sown broadcast or drilled
| into the ground about the first or middle
| of July, and is harvested as soon as the
| first frosts kill the last lingering bios.
SONS The sheaves are re allowed 10 ita ,ha
when the crop is hauled in and threshed.
for the buckwReat farmer Often a large
| crop liz nearly ruined by a few days Of
wet weather after the grain has been cut
| and before II has been threshed.
Now is busy and exacting season for
| the owners of traction engines and thresh-
ing machines In tie co Ds ior
| looks to save the crop from possible de-
struction. Often they work till midnight.
ready to begin work at their next stop
ping place at sunrfse.-New York S'in-
---S-----
Water supply Important.
MANY people who build homes in the