No. 4.] HINTS FOR DAIRYMEN. 277 



growth, and is ready to feed the latter part of July and the^ 

 early part of August, — three or four weeks earlier than 

 corn can be fed to advantage. At maturity the stalks stand 

 five to seven feet high, and should cut from twelve to 

 eighteen tons per acre of green forage. The stems are not 

 woody as are those of some of the other varieties, but are 

 succulent, tender, and eaten with great relish by cows. 



As millet is somewhat watery , it may be fed to advantage 

 in conjunction with green clover or hay and a moderate 

 ration of grain. 



If pastures are large, there is likely to be an abundance 

 of dried June grass, so that the cows will regulate their 

 ration themselves by supplementing their millet feed with 

 what the pasture affords. 



The treatment for millet is between that for oats and 

 Indian corn. The land should be mellow, in fine tilth, 

 and manured in the fall, or with well-rotted manure in the 

 spring. After harrowing in two pecks to a bushel of seed 

 per acre, it is well to roll the land after seeding, so as to 

 give a hard surface for cutting. The quantity of seed 

 depends somewhat on whether the land is free from weeds 

 or not, land very free from weeds requiring less seed than 

 weedy land. 



Supplementary manures rich in nitrogen and potash may 

 be substituted for barn-yard manure in part. Cutting should 

 commence as soon as the heads appear and continue so long 

 as the plants are green. Haying this kind of millet is 

 attended with much difficulty, and is to be avoided, if pos- 

 sible. I would not grow more than could be fed green to 

 advantage, unless it is convenient to ensile it, in which case 

 it is entirely satisfactory, though slower and more expensive 

 to handle than corn. 



Indian Corn. — No forage plant in the corn belt of 

 America can equal Indian corn. Every dairyman is largely 

 dependent upon it for his supply of both coarse forage and 

 concentrates. Not only are the gluten and various corn 

 feeds the cheapest concentrated fodders the milk producer 

 can obtain, but the value of corn fodder fresh, dried or 

 ensiled becomes yearly more apparent. The " cow to the 

 acre " problem comes nearer its solution in corn than in 



