116 



this manner the millet acts as a stimulant and alterative, and tends 

 to produce and maintain a healthy condition of the animals. (Dept. 

 Agr. F. B. 101.) 



Summary. Millet is used chiefly as a "catch crop" for hay, 

 since it can be sown in spring whenever it is discovered that a seeding 

 of the permanent grasses has failed, or that a hard winter or insects 

 have destroyed the clover. It may be sown when too late to plant 

 corn. It requires good soil, preferably sand, and is especially adapted 

 to new land. Sow half a bushel per acre for hay, one peck if for seed. 

 The hay is usually cured by cocking it up when partially dry and al- 

 lowing it to stand for several days before being hauled to the barn, 

 as is often done with clover. The hay is strong feed and should be 

 used with caution, being alternated if practicable with other fodder, 

 especially if fed to horses. It is safer and more palatable if cut before 

 the seed begins to ripen. Experimentation and breeding would in 

 time no doubt remove any injurious quality now possessed by this 

 valuable and much-needed forage crop. The best variety is German 

 Millet, providing the soil is good and it can have the entire season. 

 For late sowing, or poor soil, use Common Millet. Hungarian Grass 

 on fertile soils, in a moist season, will give a large yield of excellent 

 fodder. (Mich. Agr. Exp. Sta. Special Bui. No. 2.) 



GRASSES IN GENERAL. 



The plains lying west of the one hundredth meridian, together 

 with much broken and mountainous interior country, nearly treeless 

 and arid, in New Mexico, Western Texas and Arizona are unreliable 

 for the purposes of considerable ordinary agriculture, but are becom- 

 ing more and more important for various crops as well as useful by 

 being the great feeding ground for the multitudes of cattle which sup- 

 ply the wants of the more densely settled regions of the country as 

 well as the constantly increasing foreign demand. The pasturage 

 of this region consists essentially of native grasses, some of which 

 have acquired a wide reputation for their rich, nutritious properties, 

 their ability to withstand the dry seasons, and for their quality of 

 self-drying or curing, so as to be available for pasturage during the 

 winter season. This quality is due probably to the nature of the 

 grasses themselves and to the effect of the arid climate. It is well 

 known that in moist countries, at lower altitudes, the grasses have 

 much succulence ; they grow rapidly, and their tissues are soft ; a se- 

 vere frost checks or kills their growth, and chemical changes immedi- 

 ately occur which result in rapid decay ; whereas in the arid climate 

 of the plains the grasses have much less succulence, the foliage being 

 more rigid and dry, and therefore when their growth is arrested by 

 frost the tissues are not engorged with water, the desiccating influ- 

 ence of the climate prevents decay, and the grass is kept on the 

 ground in good condition for winter forage. Apparently they only 

 acquire this property on land which is 3,000 feet above the level of 

 the sea. The region having such an altitude includes all nearly up 

 to the timber line of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Col- 

 orado, and New Mexico; five-sixths of Arizona, one-half of Dakota, 

 one-fourth of Texas, one-fifth of Kansas, and one-sixth each of Call- 



