year to year.

In fertilizing buckwheat land, green manures and rich nitrogenous
fertilizers should be avoided. These cause such a luxuriant growth that
the stalks lodge badly.

The time of seeding will have to be settled by the height of the land
and by the climate. In northern climates and in high altitudes the
seeding is generally done in May or June. In southern climates and in
low altitudes the planting may wait until July or August. The plant
usually matures in about seventy days. It cannot stand warm weather at
blooming-time, and must always be planted so that it may escape warm
weather in its blooming period and cold weather in its maturing season.
The seeds are commonly broadcasted at an average rate of four pecks to
the acre. If the land is loose and pulverized, it should be rolled.

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration: 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 deepl