Year: 1875

1t is not only useless, but quite futile to
sow buckwheat any earlier. We have
sOwn it in Nav and in June for bee
feed: :: the plants would grow and bios
so n luxuriantly, but no grain would set.
The plant will not make seed until cool
nights set in.~We have heard already OF
farmers who intended sowing buckwheat
this month. If they lived IN Minnesota
they might expect crop but in Mis-
souri, they will get nothing but light hay.


When, then, the last week of July ar
rives. we look to our field and see whether
it will want plowing, or whether run
with the cultivafor and harrow will suf-
fice.- Different soils aud abundance or abb
sence of rain will determine the mode OF
leosenine the ground for sowing.


Only half bushel of seed to-the acre
should be soWn.- never more the plant
is so branching and spreading in its habit,
that it wants plenty OF elboH-rOom TO
thrive in. We always sow with a wheat
dri1 set to half bushel, and we have not
found one man yet that eouldssow So
small a quantity as evenly with the hand
broadcast as we can do with our drill.


Now comes the part of cultivation
which is absolutely necessary in dry
season, and yet which is most likely to be
slighted or neglected. Immediately after
sowing the land must be roIlsd. The roller
presses the loose ground unto the seed,
and when the dry, hot, scorching DAYS OF
August come the seed and the tender
germ will find protection under the
pressed soil. If there should be light
rain, the seeds will start and throw out
slender germ, which will be burned up in
the dry August heats, unless it is pro-
tected, and the roOtlets are embedded in a
compact soil. Every gardener knows why
he pads the seed bed with the back of the
spade. The same principal is carried out
in rolling our fields Immediately after
sowing. OF course we don't roll m wet
season. -- 80


This is all the culture and work which
buckwheat require. A few grateful show
ers in August and September will make it
a success; in dry seasons it will be a fail
ure, like every thing else.


The harvesting of the buckwheat is the
thing which must be done most tenderly,
most patiently. carefully. 1t shells out so
very easily that we don't need to thresh
| buckwheat at all. when we have cut il with
cradle or scythe. The only economical
way of cutting it, We have found TO be by
a light running machine, reaper with
drOpper attached. Drive very slow; it is
the easiest work the horses ever do all
through the year. Throw Off small gavels,
set the reel not too low, and cut with the
bar raised about six Inches, never lower.
The intercepting finger under the reel,
which holds the wheat. when the dropper
is down and throwing eff gavel, we take
off for cutting buckwheat; it is only in the
way. Two men follow the machine leach
one to take half a round), and very care
| fully, tenderly, lift the gavels out of the
/ Of l,a in
stocks, spreading out the butt ends, and
tueking the top IN with light twist.
These stocks are to cure and dry in the
| field:


| In cutting. the reeiwill sometimes catch
| the spreading branches of plants stand
| ing beyond the traek-beard of the ma
chine; the driver must then be patient,
| get off and clear the reel, andneve swear !;
4 If he does, the buckwheat cakes will get
sonr, surei --- . 80 -rs.


1t NAV take two weeks to cure the
stocks; sharp frost or two will help to
do il. "


Buckwheat must never be stacked it is
either threshed at once on a rail floor, or
| housed in the barn unit it can be thresh-
\ ed. 1t Must not lie in deep mOws or high
heaps, to prevent heating and molding.
| The profits from buckwheat crop in
good seasons are very respectable. a
plant in tolerably good soil will bear from
200 to 400 blossoms, and seldom less than
50 grains; from 30 to 40 bushels from an
acre is not by any means expecting too
much. And this is better than most OF
our farmers do in wheat, or corn either.


Wishing that the reader may have a
good season, and raise a heavy crop OF
buckwheat, we shall ask when he succeeds
to be treated to some fine cakes next win
| ter.-St. Louis Midland Farmer.