212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



recommend keeping a cow wholly on this silage ; but as far 

 as you want to use it it is a tolerably well-balanced and very 

 palatable food, which has a good effect upon the milk. 



Question. Have you ever used barn-yard millet as a 

 hay? 



Professor Brooks. Yes ; we have made it into hay, but 

 it takes time and good weather. I think it makes a good, 

 palatable hay. Horses eat it as readily as they eat timothy, 

 and I have no doubt it is more nutritious. Because of the 

 length of time it takes to make it, I cannot urge it upon 

 the farmers as a hay crop. Perhaps I should call attention 

 to another point, and that is, the value of millet as a grain 

 crop. This millet gives us almost invariably about seventy- 

 five bushels of seed per acre on land that would bear about 

 sixty bushels of corn, perhaps. 



Question. How much does a bushel weigh ? 



Professor Brooks. A bushel weighs thirty-five pounds. 

 It comes, therefore, in its weight close to oats ; and I have 

 been strongly impressed with the fact, as shown by chemi- 

 cal analysis, that it comes very close to oats in the carbo- 

 hydrates and in the fat and protein. I am inclined to 

 believe that in places where oats rust badly (this millet has 

 never rusted) you may find it to be more profitable to grow 

 as a grain crop than oats. In many localities men who 

 keep dairy cows are troubled to know what to do for bed- 

 ding. This straw makes splendid bedding. We are start- 

 ing an experiment with meal made from this millet seed 

 compared with ground oats as a food for the dairy cow. 

 What the effect will be remains to be seen. Mr. J. J. H. 

 Gregory, of whom most of you know, has said, in a letter 

 to me, that he doubts whether there is any known crop, 

 which will grow in a temperate climate, that is capable of 

 producing so much food on a given area as this millet. I 

 do not go quite so far as that. 



Question. Can we get the seed at the college ? 



Professor Brooks. We shall have it this year, and shall 

 be able to furnish it in somewhat larger quantities than 

 heretofore. Heretofore we have never intended to let any 

 one farmer have more than a peck. We will not be obliged 

 to limit the amount this year. 



