250 FIELD CROPS 



(Dracticed. The bundles should be made small and should be 

 iet up in long shocks to faciHtate curing. The grain is usu- 

 ally hauled direct from the field to the threshing machine and 

 threshed, because it is Ukely to mold if stacked. 



320. Uses. Buckwheat is most largely used for the man- 

 ufacture of pancake flour. In some sections, however, it is 

 quite extensively used for feeding to stock. For hogs, it is 

 ground and bolted to remove the hulls, but this extra work 

 is hardly necessary when the grain is fed to other animals. 

 Buckwheat is also an excellent poultry feed. The straw 

 is coarse and stiff, so that it is of little value except as 

 bedding or to make manure. The buckwheat plant is a 

 large producer of honey, small fields often being sown for 

 bee pasture. 



THE MILLETS 



321. Types of Millet. The term ''millet" includes a 

 number of very different types of grasses, though it is gen- 

 erally applied in this country to two plants, the foxtail mil- 

 lets, Chaetochloa italica, and the broomcorn, or hog, millets, 

 Panicum miliaceum. Both these plants probablj^ originated 

 in southwestern Asia, and have been cultivated there since 

 very early times. They have been used as food plants for 

 many centuries, and are still important items of food in the 

 interior of China and in other portions of Asia, as well as in 

 Russia. The foxtail millets are more generally grown in this 

 country for forage than for grain. They are more fully dis- 

 cussed in Section 424. 



322. Broomcorn Millet. Broomcorn, or hog, millet, 

 sometimes known as proso, has been grown in the United 

 States only in recent years, having been introduced by immi- 

 grants from Russia. The plant grows from 1 to 2 feet high, . 

 with numerous broad, hairy leaves and stiff, hollow stems. 

 The heads are usually loose, open panicles resembling small 

 heads of broomcorn, though in some varieties the branches 



