49 



RED LUMP MILLET (Panicum miliaceum) . 

 (Plate VI, fig. 2.) 



The seed of this variety was received by the Department through 

 Prof. N. E. Hansen, in February, 1898, from Orangeburg, Russia, on 

 the boundary between European Russia and Siberia, where it is said to 

 endure ver}^ severe drought. The seed is large and is much used by 

 the peasants and Kirghiz Tartars for food. It is a variety of the com- 

 mon broom-corn millet of Europe, which has been in cultivation there 

 for centuries. The branches of the panicle or head of red lump millet 

 are shorter, more erect, denser, and closer together than the varieties 

 of broom-corn millet commonly grown in this country. Its seeds are 

 shiny and of a light reddish-brown color. It does not grow quite so 

 tall as many of the other varieties, averaging only from 1 to 3 feet. 

 It will be highly valued in the North and Northwest, owing to its abil- 

 ity to mature a crop of seed in a very short time. During the dry 

 seasons, so often prevailing in those regions, it may, to some extent, 

 serve as a substitute for corn. There is, perhaps, no other millet in 

 this country that will produce such heavy yields of seed per acre. It 

 seems to be well adapted to the climatic conditions of Kansas, as nearly 

 all the experimenters in that State report having had excellent suc- 

 cess, except for the ravages of chinch bugs and grasshoppers. In the 

 States of Montana and Nebraska it gave very promising results, 

 while in the Dakotas the seed is highly valued for chicken and hog 

 feed, and sometimes as a substitute for corn in fattening cattle. It 

 will probabh^ never prove as valuable for hay as any of the foxtail and 

 broom-corn millets now known in this country, because it does not 

 produce as much leafage, and its stalks are inclined to be coarse, 

 especially when thinly sown. In the spring of 1898, 360 5-pound 

 packages of the seed of red lump millet were distributed by the 

 division through the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction. One 

 hundred and sixty-six reports have been received. The seed was dis- 

 tributed to volunteer experimenters in 31 different States, and reports 

 have been received from Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, 

 North Dakota, Oklahoma Territory, Oregon, South Dakota, Washing- 

 ton, and Wyoming. 



The following reports received from experimenters in the above 

 States will testify as to its value as a forage plant for this country: 



COLOKADO. 



Mr. E. E. T. Hazen, Holyoke, Phillips County: 



A sandy, slightly gravelly loam was plowed 10 inches deep and harrowed twice. 

 The seed was sown broadcast May 7, 1898, and the land harrowed twice after 

 sowing. The millet was well up by May 25, and by August 1 it was thoroughly 

 15799~No. 22 1 



