318 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Panicum maximum, Jacquin.* (P. jumentorum, Persoon.) 



The Guinea-grass. Tropical Africa ; elsewhere not indigenous. 

 This perennial grass attains a height of 8 feet. It is highly 

 nutritious, and quite adapted for the warmer temperate zone, being 

 hardy as far south as Buenos Ayres. In Jamaica it is the principal 

 fodder-grass up to elevations of 5,000 feet, springing up over wide 

 tracts of country almost to the exclusion of everything else. 

 It forms large bunches, which when cut young supply a particularly 

 sweet and tender hay ; throws out numerous stolons ; can be mown 

 every six weeks ; the roots can be protected in the ground against 

 light frosts by a thin covering with soil. A favorite grass in tropical 

 countries for stall-fodder. The best fodder-grass raised on the 

 plains of India. Will Exceptionally grow 6 inches in a day. It is 

 necessary to guard against over-feeding with this grass solely. 

 Succeeds even on poor clay-soil and on sea-sand. P. bulbosum 

 (Kunth) is a more hardy grass of the southern parts of North - 

 America, regarded as a variety by General Munro, but remarkable 

 for its thickly enlarged roots. 



Panicum melananthum, F. v. Mueller. 



Eastern Australia. A valuable perennial grass for pastoral pur- 

 poses [Bailey]. Adapted also for shady localities. Eligible for 

 irrigation-ground . 



Panicum miliaceum. Linne.* (P. miliare, Lamarck.) 



The true "Millet." South-Europe, North-Africa, South- Asia, 

 ascending the Himalayas to 11,000 feet, North- Australia. Culti- 

 vated in Southern Europe as early as the time of Hippocrates and 

 Theophrastus, in Egypt prior to historic records and in Switzerland 

 during the stone-age. Annual, attaining a height of four feet. 

 Several varieties occur, one with black grains. They all need a 

 rich and friable soil, also humidity. Maturation very quick. It is 

 one of the best of all grains for poultry, but furnishes also a palat- 

 able and nutritious table-food. A syrup is prepared from the seeds 

 in Siberia [A. Regel]. It ripens even in Christiania [Schuebeler]. 

 In mild countries as many as 70 bushels of seeds have been har- 

 vested from an acre of land, well cultivated with this s^rass FCh. 

 Flint]. 



Panicum molle, Swartz.* (P. sarmentosum, Roxburgh.) 



Warmer parts of America, Africa and Asia. One of the Para- 

 grasses. A perennial, very fattening pasture-grass, of luxuriant 

 growth, attaining a height of 6 feet [Grisebach]. It is hardy at 

 the Cape of Good Hope and other far extra-tropic regions. 



