110 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



years; corn and cowpeas fourth year; and then cotton again. This 

 is all right on the better soils of the South, but the cotton should be 

 planted only two years in succession on the poorer soils. (6) Wheat 

 or oats with cowpeas each season after the removal of the grain crop, 

 the land being seeded to grain again in the fall, making two crops 

 a year from the samo land, (e) Cotton, first year; corn and cow- 

 peas, second year; winter oats or wheat followed by cowpeas as a 

 catch crop, third year; and then cotton again. 



(8) The most valuable varieties are the Whippoorwill, the 

 Unknown or Wonderful, the New Era, and the Iron for field pur- 

 poses ; and the Blackeye for table use. 



(9) The Iron cowpea is practically immune to the two serious 

 diseases, wilt and root-knot, which attack the other varieties more 

 or less. It alone should therefore be grown wherever these diseases 

 are prevalent. (Farmers' Bui. 318, 1908; B. P. L, B. 102; 111. Cir- 

 cular No. 5; Del B. XLVI; La. B. 40; Tex. B. (no date); Va. 

 B. 149; Ala. B. 118; Okl. B. 74; Mo. B. 73; Del. B. 55; Mich. 

 B. 199, and several of those cited in connection with forage plants.) 



MILLETS.* 



The Cultivated Varieties. With one or two exceptions the mil- 

 lets grown in the United States belong to the genera Chtetochloa and 

 Panicum, and may be arranged into three groups (1) Foxtail, (2) 

 Barnyard, and (3) Broom-corn. In the first group are those belong- 

 ing to the genus Chsetochloa (formerly Setaria), with a compact, 

 bristly, foxtail-like head, closely related botanically to the common 

 foxtail grasses of the fields and waste places ; this group, which may 

 be termed the foxtail millets, includes such varieties as Common 

 Millet, Hungarian, and others. A second group is composed of 

 varieties derived from the common barnyard grass, distinguished by 

 the dense paniculate heads so characteristic of barnyard grass; 

 although extensively cultivated in parts of the Old World, the millets 

 of this group, which may be designated the barnyard millets, have 

 only recently come into prominence in American agriculture. The 

 third group comprises millets with bushy heads, the seeds being 

 produced at the ends of the comparatively long branches ; this group 

 includes the common millet of the Old World and the varieties 

 derived from the same species, regarded by many as the true millets. 



Foxtail Millets. The foxtail millets delight in rich, warm, 

 loamy soils, and will not thrive in soils that are poor and thin. This 

 is particularly the case with the coarser varieties like German Millet. 

 Common Millet and Hungarian usually give better results under 

 adverse conditions of soil and climate than the other varieties com- 

 monly grown in this country. The foxtail millets are strong, rapid 

 growers, and draw nourishment largely from the surface soil. The 

 great mass of strong, fibrous roots have a beneficial effect on the 

 physical condition of the soil, particularly in the case of lands 

 recently brought under the plow. A crop of millet on new breaking 

 aids materially in subduing the land and in preparing it for the suc- 

 ceeding crop. In many localities, notably in the West, millet is an 

 excellent crop to precede corn. In the South the foxtail millets are 



*See page 593, for illustration. 



