The principal use to which the heath is applied is for making brooms or besoms. It is likewise bound into fagots, and employed as fuel, particularly for ovens; and is, not unfrequently, employed in the filling up of drains, and the morassy parts of roads, previously to their being covered with earth, stones, and other durable materials. In the Highlands of Scotland, the poorer inhabitants make walls, for their cottages, with alternate layers of heath and a kind of mortar made of black earth and straw: they likewise thatch their cabins with it, and make their beds of it. The inhabitants of Islay, one of the western islands of Scotland, are said to brew a wholesome kind of beer from one part of malt, and two parts of the young tops of heath. The _stalks_ and _tops_ may be rendered of considerable service in the tanning of leather; and in dyeing woollen cloth an orange colour. Bees are partial to the _flowers_; but the honey which they form, after having fed upon these flowers, acquires a reddish tint. The _leaves_ and _seeds_ of heath afford a grateful food to grouse, and other animals. TRIGYNIA. 126. _BUCKWHEAT, or BRANK, is a black and triangular grain, produced by a plant of the persicaria tribe_ (Polygonum fagopyrum), _with somewhat arrow-shaped leaves, and purplish white flowers._ Although buckwheat may now be considered as in some degree naturalized in this country, and as growing wild near our fields and dunghills, it was originally introduced from the northern parts of Asia, and was first cultivated here about the year 1600. The flowers appear about July, and the seeds ripen in October; and so tender are the plants, that a single night's sharp frost will destroy a whole crop. As a grain, buckwheat has been principally cultivated for oxen, swine, and poultry; and although some farmers state that a single bushel of it is equal in quality to two bushels of oats, others assert that it is a very unprofitable food. Mixed with bran, chaff, or grains, it is sometimes given to horses. The flower of buckwheat is occasionally used for bread, but more frequently for the thin cakes called crumpets. In Germany it serves as an ingredient in pottage, puddings, and other food. Beer may be brewed from it; and, by distillation, it yields an excellent spirit. The best mode of harvesting this grain is said to be by pulling it out of the ground like flax, stripping off the seeds by the hand, and collecting these into aprons, or cloths tied round the waist. Buckwheat is much cultivated in the domains of noblemen and gentlemen possessed of landed property, as a food for pheasants. With some farmers it is the practice to sow buckwheat for the purpose only of ploughing it into the ground, as a manure for the land. Whilst green, it serves as food for sheep and oxen; and, mixed with other provender, it may also be given, with advantage to horses. The _blossoms_ may be used for dyeing a brown colour.