47 



Mr. James Lofthouse, Paradise, Cache Count}^ Utah: 



A black clay loam was plowed in the fall. The seed was sown the last of June, 

 1899, and raked in by hand. The crop received no cultivation, but was irrigated 

 twice. It is at this date (November 15) about 6 inches long and nice and green. I 

 think it will do well here and be very valuable for meadows and late pasturage. 



SACCATON (Muhlenbergia distichophylla) . 



A rather coarse, firmly-rooted g-rass, 3 to -i feet high, with long, 

 narrow, rigid, drooping leaves and loosel}- flowered, somewhat nar- 

 row, panicles. It is a native of Arizona and New Mexico, where, 

 together with Sporoholus wrightil^ it is classed under the general name 

 of Saccatone, which is the common term for native hay in those regions. 

 This grass produces a large amount of dense foliage all through the 

 dry summer weather, and might prove of considerable value if it could 

 be introduced into cultivation. Eighteen packages of this seed have 

 been distributed and six reports have been received. Most of those 

 reporting have had poor success and do not consider it worth experi- 

 mentiup' with. 



'to 



JAPANESE BARNYARD MILLET (Panicum crus-galli) . 



(Plate VI, fig. 1.) 



The seed of this variety was secured by Professor Brooks, of the 

 Hatch Experiment Station, Massachusetts, from northern Japan, where 

 the grain is used to a considerable extent as human food. It has been 

 thoroughly tested and highly recommended as a forage crop by that 

 station, and is considered superior to the ""Ankee" millet because of 

 its earliness. A crop of hay can be matured in about two and one-half 

 months. It differs from the ordinary barnyard grass in its upright 

 growth, finer branches or suckers, softer and lighter colored foliage, 

 later and shorter season of ripening, compact awnless heads, and less 

 ability to withstand drought. At the Hatch Experiment Station it has 

 produced 67 bushels of seed, 11,297 pounds of straw, 18 tons of green 

 fodder, or 6 tons of hay per acre. It is said to be superior to good 

 corn fodder in feeding for milk, and in combination with soy beans 

 makes very superior silage. Professor Brooks found by alternating 

 the millet cut from day to day and fed green to cows with well-eared 

 flint corn fodder, that the cows invariably increased in milk when 

 put upon the millet and fell off when changed to the corn. From a 

 peck to a half bushel of seed per acre, according to the richness of the 

 land and the season of sowing, is sufficient. This millet will not endure 

 drought well, hence the necessity of sowing early and harvesting a crop 

 before the late, dry summer months begin. 



Seventy-eight packages of Japanese barnyard millet have been dis- 

 tributed by this Division since 1896, 59 of which were obtained from, 

 and grown at the Hatch Experiment Station. Most of the trials proved 



