Chxip.n. THE CULTURE OF MILLET. 301 



C H A P IL 



Of the Culture of Millet. 



]l/rILLET requires the fame kind of foil as vcmx, "orz. light and 

 ■^^■^ fandy, and it is prepared after the fame manner. When the 

 furrows are made, the grain is fowed very thin, and covered with the 

 plough, or rake. The time of fowing it is, either between the 1 5th 

 of May, and ifl of June, or about the 24th of June: this lall 

 is called midfummer millet. 



A month after it has appeared above ground, the earth round the 

 plants is flirred with a hand hoe, and at the fame time they are thin- 

 ned with the fame^inftrument wherever they grow too dole together. 

 The fpace of fix inches is generally left between each plant. 



After this operatiouy the plants are left to themfelves: all that the : 

 hufbandman lias to do from this time, is, to prote6t the grain from 

 birds, when it begins to ripen; forotherwife they will foon devour it. 



The millet fown in May, is cut down between the 1 5th and 30th 

 of September : that which has not been fown till the end of June, is 

 aot reaped till towards the end of Odlober. 



It has always been obferved, that the midfummer millet has moft' 

 abortive grains; and that its panicles being fmaller than thofe of the 

 fame grain fown earlier, the crop is likewife lefs plentiful : accordingly^ 

 farmers, feldom, or never, fow it in this laft feafon, unlefs fome other 

 plant has taken up their ground till then. 



Millet is reaped as follows. The panicles are cut off with a knife 

 near the. uppermoft joint of the flalk. Thefe panicles are put into 

 bafkets or facks, in v/hich they are carried home, and emptied out 

 in heaps which are covered over with cloths. After the millet has 

 remained in this lituation five or fix days, it is fpread upon the bam ; 

 floor, and threlhed out with a flaiL It is then deans'd, like other 

 grain. 



After the millet is cleans'd, care muft be taken tx) dry it 'well in ^ 

 the fun, before it is laid up in the granary : for it would foon fpoil if. 

 the leafl moiflure were left in it j this being of all grains the moft 

 difficult to keep, unlefs it be thoroughly dry : and on the other hand, 

 none keeps better after it has been well dried : it is not liable to the 

 weevil: it ihould be turned from time to time in the granary; but : 

 if that happens now and then to be negleifled, it flill keeps perfeftly 

 w^lL 



Thisxe.^ 



