Edgefield Advertiser

Culture of Buckwheat.

Messrs. Editors.—I wish to know on what kind of soils buckwheat will grow the best? And whether it is not a great exhauster of the soil? and whether it can be profitably turned under as a green crop? It being objected to by some, that the acid which it contains tends to render the soil unproductive.

L. KING.

Soils rather light than otherwise are the best for buckwheat. On heavy clay soils it rarely succeeds. From 30 to 40 bushels an acre are not an uncommon crop on soils adapted to its culture, and properly prepared. Buckwheat is not a greater exhauster of the soil than other plants which yield the same amount of straw and grain when removed from the field. A few years since we saw a heavy crop of buckwheat on a piece of land from which the owner assured us he had for thirteen years in succession taken a similar crop. This was in one of the southwestern counties of the state; the soil a light yellow loam. Buckwheat is extensively used in Germany and some other parts of Europe as a crop for a green dressing, and is highly prized. In England, turnips fed on the ground are preferred, as in that way food for animals and the dressing of the soil is at once effected. It is very probable that on a soil divested of alkalies, too liberal dressing of any green plant might prove hurtful at first; but such instances must be very rare, and a small quantity of ashes or lime strewed over the field would prevent the possibility of such a result.

[Maine Farmer.]