32 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



one of the most valual)le constituents of foods, it follows 

 that the sulphate is to be preferred to the muriate of potash, 

 if it can be o1)taincd at the same price. This, however, has 

 not thus far been the case. At prevailing prices, the muri- 

 ate would seem likely to be the more profitably employed. 



4. MiUets for Seed. 

 The three species of Jai)anese millet reported in previ- 

 ous years have been again cultivated for seed. The product 

 has been at the following rates per acre : barn-yard millet 

 {Panicum crus-galli) ^ straw, 6,554 pounds, seed, 57 bush- 

 els ; Japanese panicle millet (Paniciun miliaceum), straw, 

 5,514 pounds, seed, 26 bushels; common Japanese millet 

 {Panicum italicum), straw, 5,017 pounds, seed, 53.3 bush- 

 els. The weights per bushel of the seed are respectively 35, 

 54 and 42 pounds. Owing to unfavorable weather, a large 

 amount of the seed of the barn-yard millet wasted in the 

 field, hence the yield appears smaller than it actually was. 



5. Millets for Fodder, 

 (a) First Experiment. — Our three species of Japanese 

 millets, viz., the " barn-yard," the " panicle " and the " com- 

 mon," have been carefully compared with each other and 

 with Hungarian grass as fodder crops upon a somcAvhat ex- 

 tensive scale. Nearly one-half an acre of the barn-yard 

 variety and one-third of an acre each of the others were 

 sown. The soil was a rather heavy loam, which for several 

 years has been manured only with fertilizers. On a part of 

 each plat the fertilizers applied were bone meal, lime and 

 double sulphate of potash and magnesia ; on the balance of 

 each, nitrate of soda, Thomas phosphatic slag and the douI)le 

 sulphate were applied. To Dr. Goessmann is left the dis- 

 cussion of the results of the two systems of manuring, as 

 they were planned by him. We have here to do only with 

 the comparison of the varieties under trial. Suffice it to say 

 that the fertilizers were applied in only moderate amounts, 

 and that they were spread after ploughing, and harrowed in. 

 All varieties were sown on June 2, the seed covered with 

 Breed's weeder and the land then rolled. 



