Buckwheat.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 173, 9 October 1886, Page 4

Buckwheat.

Somk time ago we promised to give an article in the The Fakmer on Buckwheat, a plant which we believe might in many cases be grown with advantage in this country. To begin with, then, wo take the following botanical description of buckwheat from Morton's " Cyclopedia of Agriculture " :—: — Pvlygonum fagopryum, ov common buckwheat, belongs to a genus of plants giving its name to the natural order, called Polygnnaccm. The genus is known at first sight under all its forms by the combination of two circumstances, viz., the leaves having at their base the membranous sheath which botanists name Ochrea ; and the flowers consisting; o£ a fi\e-lobed tubular calyx, containing from five to eight stamens. Some of the species are annual, others perennial, and only a few are of any importance to man. P. fagopyrum, or common buckwheat, i.s the mott valuable of the cultivated species of this plant. It is an annual, and is ssid to have been introduced into Europe from Central Asia. In Nepaul, China, and Siberia it grows wild, and forms an agricultural crop of greater or less extent whereever corn is gi-own. In growth the plant is of erect habit, from two to three feet high, with heart - shaped triangular leaves, find panicled • racemes of pink flowers. The stamens are eight, between \\ Inch stand eight yellow honey glands. The fruit is a triangular nut, much resembling beech-mast, whence the name "buck-wheat" from the German Buche, a beech tree. The seeds of buckwheat contain a great deal of flour, which separates in grinding as readily as that of corn, and in many countries it is much used as food. The poorer classes of the North of Italy consume a great deal of it in the fehape of their favourite Polenta, and in many parts of Europe and Asia it is largely used as an article of human diet. Buckwheat is al«o largely grown in North Ameiica, buckwheat cakes, as our leaders* will know, being almost a national delicacy iv the States. We w ill come to the uses of this crop on the faim presently, just mentioning that in France, where it is called Sarrasin, it has been strongly recommended as a valuable green food for cattle. But we would warn our readers to be careful in makinjj use of it in this way. for according to Hie French wiiter, M. Vilmorin, if given in any large quantities a<= the staple food, it produces vertigo, and even more seiious maladies in both cattle an d sheep.