The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1904-07-30
A GREAT BUcKwHEAT BELT.
New York and Pennsylvania Lead in
the Production Of Grain-In
Other Countries.

growing as far south as Georgia
and as far north as Maine. Last
year New York stood at the head
of the column of producingstates
with a crop of $780, 5S bushels,
with Pennsylvania a close second
with 3,1SS,402 bushels. Third on
the list was Maine, with only 49,.
$50 bushels to her credit, while lit
tie Delaware came trailing in the
last with $3.50 bushels, says the
Country Gentleman. The average
price realized by the farmers was
90 cents per bushel and the aver
age yield was 10 bushels to the
acre. Basing their calculations
on a comparison of crop fertilizers
and labor expert agriculturists
estimate that it is more profitable
to raise buckwheat at so cents per
bushel than wheat at 81. 1t is,
therefore, not surprising that the
farmers of the older states are
giving more and more attention
to this cereal every year.
The four counties of Armstrong,
Indiana, Westmoreland and But
Ter in Pennsylvania have earned
for themselves the title of the
"buckwheat belt" In no other
equal area in the United States is
so much of this crop raised, as
these four counties produce prob.
ably fOur-ffths of all that is raised
in Pennsylvania. The production
of New York is greater than tina
of the Keystone state, but is more
generally distributed and not con
fined to comparatively restricted
area.
The buckwheat cake is a pecu
liarly American institution-a,
much so as the pumpkin pie, roast
turkey other toOthsome delica
cies dear to the heart of the epi
cure. The crop is cultivated il
many lands, but the housewives 0,
no other country have learned how
to prepare it in such a manner a,
to tickle the palate of the lover O
good living. In Great Britain i
is considered unfit for human con
sumption, and is used only as fooC
for pheasants and poultry. 1t il
cultivated in India, where it i,
used on bart" or feast days, bein,
one of the foods that are Lawful
on those occasions. 1t is serve,
to the Russian soldiers as a par
OF their rations, but is prepare,
In such a manner that it is sail
that no one but a Cossack or
starving man caneatit. In Franc,
1t is called "sarasin," and is use,
as food by the very poorest of TIN
peasantry. The French name is
y
bit of fossilized history, being
reminder of the fact that the grail
was introduced by the crusaders
who obtained it from the Saracen
of Asia Minor.
In Germany this grain is fed l.
cattle and poultry, but is not higf
ly esteemed as food for human
beings. Beer is there brewe.
from it and it is sometimes use,
in gin distilleries. The Germa.
name is "buchweizen,' or beec'
wheat, so called from the resen
blance of the sharp, triangula
grains to beechnuts. In Japan
is extensively used as an articl
Of diet and the Japanese variet
is one of the most highly esteeme
and most extensively cultivate
by American farmers, the Japar
ese variety being considered NOR
productive and hardy than tn
European or "silver hull" TIL
grain is supposed to be a native Z
the basin of the Volga, the shore
of the Caspian sea and parts 4
central Asia. Probably it was il
troduced into China and Japan b
marauding Tartars centuries b,
fore it became known to Eur,
peans.
Intelligence and Brain Weight.
The intelligence of a man
stated to be in direct proportio
to the weight of his brain. \
Mathiega, an anthropologist {
Prague, has been conducting e.