PEARL MILLET. 39 
Agricultural value: Foxtail Millet is an important food plant 
in many parts of Asia, especially in northern China, where the seed 
is ground and used for porridge. In America it is not used for human 
food. The best time to cut for hay is when the majority of the 
plants are in bloom, as the nutritive value of the stems and leaves 
is then greatest. When the plants begin to blossom, the bristles of 
the spikes are still soft and harmless, but when the flowering period 
is over they become stiff and harsh, produce more or less irritation 
in the digestive tract of the animals, and are said to sometimes form 
compact balls in the stomach, causing serious trouble or even death. 
When used for pasture, millet should be grazed before the heads are 
formed. When grown for hay or pasture, thirty pounds of seed 
should be sown to the acre; when grown for seed production, twenty 
pounds are sufficient. 
Seed: The seed varies in size. It is always smaller than the 
seed of Common Millet but is of the same general shape, though 
the inner side is more decidely flat. The colour varies with the 
variety, ranging from orange and yellow to grey and black. Some- 
times different coloured seeds are found in the same variety. This 
is especially the case in Hungarian Grass, the seed of which varies 
from pale yellow to black; seeds of widely different colour may 
occur in the same plant and even in the same head. So far as is 
known, no satisfactory explanation of this fact has been offered. It 
may be the result of cross-fertilization and thus correspond to the - 
similar phenomenon observed in corn. 
A bushel of Foxtail Millet seed weighs forty-eight pounds. 
PEARL MILLET (Pennisetum typhoideum Rich.) 
Pearl Millet is an annual plant which, on rich alluvial soil and 
under favourable climatic conditions, reaches a height of from six to 
fifteen feet. The stems are extremely leafy and the flowers are borne 
in dense spikes, frequently fourteen inches in length. The plant 
somewhat resembles corn, although it is more slender and more 
branching. 
Pearl Millet is a native of tropical Africa, where it is as important 
as wheat is in America. It includes a considerable number of var- 
ieties, none of which, however, has proved suitable to the climate 
of Canada. 
