Fig. 220. Buckwheat in Shock
Buckwheat ripens unevenly and will continue to bloom until frost. Harvesting usually begins just after the first crop of seeds have matured. To keep the grains from shattering, the harvesting is best done during damp or cloudy days or early in the morning while the dew is still on the grain. The grain should be threshed as soon as it is dry enough to go through the thresher.
Buckwheat is grown largely for table use. The grain is crushed into a dark flour that makes most palatable breakfast cakes. The grain, especially when mixed with corn, is becoming popular for poultry food. The middlings, which are rich in fats and protein, are prized for dairy cows.
SECTION XLVIII. RICE
The United States produces only about one half of the rice that it consumes. There is no satisfactory reason for our not raising more of this staple crop, for five great states along the Gulf of Mexico are well adapted to its culture.
Fig. 221. Threshing Rice
There are two distinct kinds of rice, upland rice and lowland rice. Upland rice demands in general the same methods of culture that are required by other cereals, for example, oats or wheat. The growing of lowland rice is considerably more difficult and includes the necessity of flooding the fields with water at proper times.
A stiff, half-clay soil with some loam is best suited to this crop. The soil should have a clay subsoil to retain water and to give stiffness enough to allow the use of harvesting-machinery. Some good rice soils are so stiff that they must be flooded to soften them enough to admit of plowing. Plow deeply to give the roots ample feeding-space. Good tillage, which is too often neglected, is valuable.
Careful seed-selection is perhaps even more needed for rice than for any other crop. Consumers want kernels of the same size. Be sure that your seed is free from red rice and other weeds. Drilling is much better than broadcasting, as it secures a more even distribution of the seed.