MILLETS. 189 



of excessive wetness in the soil, or because of some 

 other reason. But when it is thus grown it may in a 

 sense be made a cleaning crop, even though sown 

 broadcast, since there is more or less time for sprout- 

 ing the weed seeds near the surface of the ground 

 before the millet is sown, and when the seed is 

 sown in rows and cultivated it may always be made 

 a cleaning crop. 



Millet may be sown with much propriety after 

 such winter crops as rye, the winter vetch, the winter 

 oat, or crimson clover when these have been pastured 

 or cut for green food. Under favorable conditions 

 it may be sown after the first cutting of medium 

 red clover or even after grain crops that have 

 matured early, and it fits in nicely after newly sown 

 meadow crops in which the "stand" of grass has 

 been a partial failure, and which in consequence has 

 been grazed down. With equal fitness it may come 

 after spring sown grain which from any cause may 

 have failed. Fall wheat is sometimes sown after 

 millet, but the plan of sowing it thus is not a good 

 one, since millet, like flax, preys heavily upon the 

 fertility of the soil. It has also been noticed that it 

 leaves the soil much depleted of its moisture. It 

 may with much greater propriety be followed by 

 winter rye, which has greater power than winter 

 wheat to gather food in the soil, and with equal pro- 

 priety it may be followed by a leguminous crop, as 

 the common winter vetch or the sand vetch. 



Preparing the Soil. Since millet is grown so 

 variously in the rotation, only directions that are 

 general rather than specific can be given relating to 

 the preparation of the land for the seed. It should 



