92 AUSTRALIAN GRASSES AND PASTURE PLANTS 



it is not necessary to use as much seed for a green crop as for 

 one intended for hay. A thinly-grown crop has generally 

 coarse stems, which are not desirable for hay. Under favour- 

 able conditions during the hotter months some of the varieties 

 will be ready for cutting for green feed for stock in about a 

 month or five weeks from the time the seed was sown. The 

 proper stage of growth at which to cut Millet for green feed, 

 hay, or ensilage, is when the majority of the flower heads 

 appear. The mowing must never be delayed until the seed 

 begins to ripen, especially if the herbage is fed to horses, as 

 the bristly seed-heads would be likely to cause trouble to 

 their salivary glands. If Millet is cut at the stage recom- 

 mended, the aftermath is often considerable, and makes good 

 temporary pasture for stock. All pasture animals thrive on 

 the herbage of these plants, whether green or dry. Some 

 tests that have been made have shown that in Hungarian 

 Millet hay sixty-five per cent, of the total dry matter is 

 digestible, and of the green material sixty- three per cent. 

 As the hay ordinarily contains from seven to fifteen per cent, 

 of water, leaving a total amount of from eighty-five to ninety- 

 three per cent, of dry matter, or eighty-five to ninety-three 

 pounds in each one hundred pounds weight of hay, it will be 

 seen that the animal digests from fifty-four and a quarter 

 pounds to sixty and a half pounds of total dry matter in each 

 one hundred pounds of hay. 



Japanese Millet is a rapid-growing grass yielding a large 

 amount of green feed, much relished by all herbivora. 



Manchurian Millet is dwarf in habit, but hardy and 

 prolific. Both these Millets thrive under similar cultural 

 conditions to the Hungarian Millet. 



Panicum miliaeeum is a distinct Millet growing from three 

 to five feet high and yielding a bulk of herbage of which stock 



