The Millets 647 



growth, the more compact panicle, the greater-turgidity of its seeds 

 and in being uniformly awnless. (Fig. 644.) Both EcJiinochloa 

 crus-gaUi and frumentacea have been sold as Billion-dollar grass, 

 but for cultivation as a- millet the awnless form Echinochloa 

 frumentacea is preferable, and the farmer is justified in insisting 

 on this form when purchasing seed of Barnyard, or Japanese, 

 millet. 



The methods of seeding and harvesting are the same with barn- 

 yard millet as with the foxtail millets. The time required for 

 maturing a crop of hay is as long and in most cases longer than 

 that needed for the German millet, so that this millet is not so 

 well suited for a catch crop as are the common and Hungarian 

 millets. 



The stems of the barnyard millet are rather coarse, and, as it is 

 more succulent than the foxtail millets, it does not cure so readily 

 into hay ; however, it is better suited for soiling or silage pur- 

 poses than the latter, and the yields are larger on rich soils when 

 the rainfall is fairly abundant. At the Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station,* yields of 6 tons of hay and 67 bushels of seed to 

 the acre are reported, while 20 tons an acre of green feed is not 

 uncommon. Barnyard millet was more easily grown there than 

 corn and made equally good silage. The New Jersey Experi- 

 ment Stationf found that an addition of 160 pounds of nitrate 

 of soda to the acre not only produced a profitable increase in the 

 total yield, but also increased the percentage of protein in the 

 crop. This application should be made after the crop is well 

 started, since in such form the nitrate is readily available and 

 leach esi out of the soil rapidly. 



To obtain the best results. Barnyard millet should be seeded by 

 the end of May. The seed ordinarily weighs 4^ to 48 pounds a 

 bushel and germinates well so that 16 to 24 pounds of seed an 

 acre will give a good stand. 



Barnyard millet deserves a wider use in New York State under 

 conditions similar to those in Massachusetts. It does not do well 

 on poor soil nor in dry situations, but on poorly drained land and 

 on rich soils it is preferable to the foxtail millets or the prosos. 



* Massachusetts State Bd. of Agr., 46th Ann. Rept. 1898, p. 329. 

 t Voorhees, E. B. New Jersey Exp. Sta. Bui. 164. pp. 10-13 (1903). 



