GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 191 



is cured the same as hay, and yields from two and a half to four tons per acre. All kinds of 

 grazing stock are fond of it. The seeds are glossy, oval, and somewhat flattened. When 

 cut in the seed it is a very rich food, consequently should be mixed with other hay in feeding. 



Cultivation. A rich, dry soil, well pulverized, is the most desirable for the best 

 results, although it will grow on thin soils. It can be sown broadcast or in drills. From the 

 first of May to the first of J uly is the usual time for sowing at the North, the best time being 

 generally conceded to be in June, when the soil is warm. At the South, it can of course be 

 sown much earlier. From a bushel to a bushel and a half of seed per acre is considered a 

 fair quantity, if sown broadcast; if sown in drills, from eight to ten quarts per acre will 

 suffice. It will ripen in from sixty to seventy-five days after sowing. It should be cut, if for 

 fodder, while the seed is in the milky state, which will be in about six weeks after sowing. 

 It can be cut with a mowing machine, and cured the same as hay. 



For green food, it can be cut during its various stages of growth, and will produce a 

 quick after-growth when cut at any stage, and is not liable to be easily affected by dry 

 weather. 



It is especially valuable to supplement the hay crop, as a farmer can wait until he can 

 determine the yield of his hay or ensilage crop before sowing, consequently can calculate the 

 amount of millet required to be cultivated to insure his usual amount of feed for his stock for 

 the year, while nearly all other crops require an earlier planting or sowing. 



Golden Millet, called in some sections German millet, is considered by many as greatly 

 superior to common millet, both as a forage plant and for hay. It grows to the height of 

 from three to five feet; the heads are closely condensed; the spikes very numerous. The 

 seeds grow in rough, bristly sheaths, and are round and golden yellow. It requires a rich, 

 fertilized soil, which should be well pulverized and mellow. It may be sown broadcast or in 

 drills, and is cultivated the same as the common millet, previously described. It requires a 

 warm soil to thrive well, and should, therefore, not be sown at the North until the middle or 

 last of June. When used for hay, it is cut and cured the same as common millet. It is 

 greedily eaten by all kinds of stock, that thrive well upon it. 



Pearl Millet (Penicillaria spicata). This, as a forage plant, has been cultivated for 

 several years with success in many of the Southern States, where it is known as &quot; African 

 Cane,&quot; &quot; Egyptian Millet,&quot; &quot;Japan Millet,&quot; &quot;Cat-tail,&quot; &quot;East Indian Millet,&quot; and in some 

 localities as &quot; Horse Millet.&quot; 



But little has been known of it at the North until recently. It closely resembles Setaria 

 in appearance, and the genus is allied to Pennisetum. 



Mr. P. Henderson of New Jersey thus gives his experience in experimenting with this 

 plant: &quot; A piece of good strong loamy ground was prepared, as if for a beet or turnip crop, 

 by manuring with stable manure at the rate of ten tons to the acre, plowing ten inches deep, 

 and thoroughly harrowing. The millet was then sown in drills, eighteen inches apart, at the 

 rate of eight quarts to the acre. We sowed on the 15th of May, about the date we plant 

 corn; in twelve days the plants were up so that a cultivator could be run between the rows, 

 after which no further culture was necessary, for the growth became so rapid and luxuriant 

 as to crowd down every weed that attempted to get a foothold. The first cutting was made 

 July 1st, forty-six days after sowing; it was then seven feet high, covering the whole ground, 

 and the crop, cut three inches above the ground, weighed, green, at the rate of thirty tons 

 per acre; this, when dried, gave six and a half tons per acre as hay. After cutting, a second 

 growth started, and was cut August 15th forty-five days from the time of first cutting. Its 

 height was nine feet; it weighed this time at the rate of fifty-five tons to the acre, green, and 

 eight tons dried. The third crop started as rapidly as the second, but the cool September 

 nights lessened its tropical luxuriance, so that this crop, which was cut on October 1st, only 



