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 decidedly 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. 



