SETARIA 



ITALICA THE ITALIAN MILLET 



Kangu 



lying land on the plains of India, from the Western Himalaya to Ceylon 



and Siam. 



The stems of this plant have long been employed locally in various parts of 

 Fibre. India to yield a strong and useful fibre, which is used as a substitute for 



hemp. It is considered to be very durable under water, and is much esteemed 



by fishermen for making drag-ropes for nets. It is sown after the first showers 

 Bowing Season, of April or May, and the crop is ready to cut in September or October. The 



expense of cultivation is about Rs. 9 per acre. The method of preparing the 



fibre is similar to that for san (Crotniariajnncea). The stems are also commonly 

 Pan Houses. employed as stakes for pan (Piper Setie) gardens. Recent experiments at Sibpur 

 Manure. and elsewhere have shown that it makes a good green manure. [Cf. Banerjei, 



Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 88 ; Dodge, Useful Fibre Plants of the World, 1897, 294 ; 



Exper. Farm Rept., Sibpur, 1897-8, 10 ; Eepts. Dept. Land Rec. and Agri., Bengal ; 



Admin. Rept. Bengal, 1901-2, 20 ; Dept. Agri. Mad. Bull., 1905, iii., No. 52.] 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. ii. 

 546-8. 



Italian 

 Millet. 



Early 

 Production. 



Widely 

 Cultivated. 



Soils. 



Seasons. 

 Two Crops. 



Quick-growing 

 Outturn 



Food. 



Pastry. 



SETARIA ITALICA, Beauv. ; Fl Br. Ind., vii., 78 ; Rheede, 

 Hort. Mai, xii., t. 79 ; Duthie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind., 15 ; Duthie and 

 Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, 5, t. xxv. ; Panicum italicum, Linn., 

 Roxb., Fl. Ind., i., 302 ; GJRAMINE^;. The Italian Millet, kangu, Mngni, 

 rala, Jciranj, Jcora, Jconi, Jcaon, Mkun, china, chena, shall, shol, tdngun, Jcher, 

 gal, tennai, naoni, sat, etc. 



Cultivation. This millet is extensively grown in India both on the plains and 

 the hills up to 6,000 feet, and is distributed to most warm temperate and tropical 

 countries. It is interesting, for example, that the discoveries made at Ancient 

 Khotan, by recent explorers, show that it' was cultivated in Eastern Turkestan 

 during at least the 3rd century of our era. Stein, for example, calls it tarigh, and 

 mentions specimens of the grain found at Niya and also at Kara-dong which had 

 been identified at Kew. It is perhaps somewhat significant, however, that no refer- 

 ence should be made to it in The Bower Manuscripts, discovered at Kucha, seeing 

 that two other millets are mentioned, viz. Panicam c-irtift-Gaiil (uar. ftiimenta- 

 << mi,, see p. 843) and Eieunine coi-ni-ana. The Italian Millet has often been 

 claimed as an Indian wild plant, but the majority of writers now regard it as an 

 exotic though cultivated from ancient times. It has, in fact, been grown from 

 time immemorial in Asia, and has been recognised in the deposits of the Swiss 

 Lake dwellings. De Candolle thinks that the species existed thousands of years 

 ago in China, Japan, and the Indian Archipelago. The kangni of modern writers 

 undoubtedly denotes this grass, and it is cultivated here and there all over India, 

 and even in Burma and the Shan and Kachin hills. It delights, says Roxburgh, 

 in an elevated light dry soil, and two crops may be sown on the same field, two 

 separate sowings being made, and harvested in September and January. It 

 is grown as a kharif crop mostly, and there are two well-marked varieties, one 

 straw yellow, the other reddish yellow. Sen (speaking of Dacca) says it is very 

 sensitive to stagnant water. If rain-water stands on the field for twenty-four 

 hours the crop may be lost. Roy tells us that hi Orissa it is generally grown by 

 the hill tribes and confined to the jungle-lands. Mollison (Textbook Ind. Agri., 

 iii., 69) says that this millet is cultivated all over India, but in no part is the 

 cultivation very important. " In Bombay Presidency the crop is annually 

 becoming more popular and the area has considerably increased." " The total 

 area for the Presidency exceeds 200,000 acres annually." It is a " quick-growing 

 plant and a suitable crop to grow after a period of famine or scarcity." Mollison 

 then adds that a Dharwar crop tested in 1894 yielded the following results : 

 Seed-rate 6 Ib. ; grain 843 Ib. and straw 2,631 Ib. an acre. 



Diseases. In Madras the crop is frequently attacked by a fungus, known as 

 Sclero*j>orn grnininicoia, some account of which is given by Barber in a paper 

 on the diseases of *<>, !>><> in Madras (Dept. Agri. Mad. Bull., 1904, ii., No. 49), 

 and by Butler (Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1907, ii., 14 ; also Maxwell-Lefroy, 1908, 

 ii., 1-13). 



Uses. The grain is much esteemed as an article of human FOOD in some parts 

 of the country, and is eaten in the form of cakes or of porridge. In Madras it is 

 specially valued as a flour to be used in making pastry, and when boiled with milk 

 it constitutes a light and pleasant meal for invalids. It is also much valued as a 

 food for cage-birds and for poultry, and added to beer it is said to make the 



