Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-05-09
coUNTRYs "sUckwHEAT BELT"
New York and Pennsylvania Lead IN
the Production of This Gram.


Country Gentleman.-Buckwh is
raised in "a states, growing as far
south IS Georgia and as far north as
Maine. Last year New York stood
at the head of the column of produc-
ing states, with a crop of 3,2SO,l5S
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. The aver
age price realized by the farmers was
Sc cents per bushel, and the average
yield was Is bushels to the acre. Bias
ing their calculations on a compari-
son of crop hazards, and the cost of
the necessary fertilizers and labor,
! expert agriculturists estimate that il
is more profitable to raise buckwheat
at 90 cents per bushel than wheat at
a dollar. 1t is therefore not surpris-
ing that the farmers of the older
states are giving more and more at
tention to this cereal every year.
The four counties of Armstrong,
/ Indiana, Westmoreland and Butler in
Pennsylvania have earned for them
/ selves 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
probably four-fifths of all that is
raised in Pennsylvania. The produc-
ton of New YORK is greater than that
of the Keystone state, but is more
generally distributed. and not con-
fined to a comparatively restricted
area.
The buckwheat cake is a peculiarly
American institution-as much so as
the pumpkin pie, roast turkey. and
other toothsome delicacies dear to
the heart of the epicure. The crop
is cultivated in many lands, but the
housewives of no other country have
learned how to prepare il in such a
manner as to tickle the palate of the
lover of good livins. In Great Britain
i il is considered unfit for human con-
sumption and is used only as food
for pheasants and poultry. Tt is cul-
tivated in India. where it is used on
bart or feast days, being one of the
foods that are lawful on those occa-
sions. IL is served to the Russian
/ soldiers as a part of their rations. but
is prepared in such a manner that it
is said that no one but a Cossack or a
starving man can eat it. In France
I it is called "sarasin," and is used as
food by the very poorest of the peas
antry. The French name is bit of
fossilized history. being a reminder of
the fact that the grain was intro
duced into western Europe by the
crusaders, who obtained il from the
\ Saracens of Asia Minor.
In Germany this grain is fed to
cattle and poultry, but is not highly
/ esteemed as food for human beings.
Beer is there brewed from it, and 1t
/ is sometimes used in gin distilleries.
The German name is "buchweizen. "
or beech wheat, so called from the re-
I semblance of the sharp, triangular
/ grains TO beechnuts. In Japan it is
extensively used as an article of diet,
and the japanese variety is one of
the most highly esteemed and most
i extensively cultivated by American
/ farmers. the Japanese variety being
considered more productive and hardy
than the European or silver hull"
The grain is supposed to be a native
of the basin of the Volga, the shores
of the Caspian sea, and parts of Cen
trail Asia Probably it was intro
duced into China and Japan by ma
rauding Tartars, centuries before it
/ became known TO Europeans.