104 FAKMEH'H BOOK OF 



to enter into some historical investigation and details, in order, 

 if possible, to dissipate the confusion and relieve the subject of 

 its embarrassments. 



Let us see, first, what the two great American dictionaries 

 say :Webster gives " Millet, [Fr., millet, or mil; It., miglio; 

 Sp., mijo; L., milium; Sax., mil]. 1. A plant or the grain of 

 a plant, of the genus Holcus, or Sorghum, having a stalk re- 

 sembling a jointed reed, and classed by botanists among the 

 grasses. Various species are used as food for men and animals, 

 but the Indian millet is the most common. The species arc 

 mostly natives' of warm climates. P. Cyc. 2. Millet grass, or 

 millet, a hardy grass of the genus Milium, of several species. 

 Farm encyc. 



Worcester tells us, Millet, [L. milium ; It. miglio ; Fr. mil, 

 or millet A. S. mil, millet]. (Bot.) A genus of tall grasses, 

 with succulent stems, native of the tropical parts of Asia ; Sor- 

 ghum. Eng. Cyc. 



The species have been referred to Holcus, sometimes to An- 

 dropogon. Sorghum vulgare is the largest of the small cereal 

 grains, and may be considered the representative of the Indian 

 corn of America, where it is usually called Guinea corn, and in 

 some works, the great or Indian millet. Eng. Cyc. 



Millet grass, a genus of grasses, of several species ; milium. 

 London. 



However correct these definitions may be, the two "unabrid- 

 ged" dictionaries and the four encyclopedias quoted by them 

 certainly aiford little mfprmation touching anything known as 

 millet in our southern States. A number of other dictionaries 

 and encyclopedias are equally unsatisfactory. As no one will 

 be apt to mistake the milium, or millet grass of the last sentence 

 of each of the definitions, for what we call millet, it may be ex- 

 cluded from further notice in this investigation. 



The earliest mention of millet that I remember is found in 

 Ezekiel, iv, 9, in the year 595 B. C. In the Hebrew it is do- 

 khan or dochan and identical with the Arabic dukhun. It is 

 rendered in the Greek of the LXX kegchros, Latinized cen- 

 chrus. The Latin Vulgate has it milium ; Diodati's Italian, 

 miglio ; MiguePs Spanish, mijo ; Luther's German, hirsen ; the 

 French, Paris edition 180, millet. 



Modern botanists do not apply the names cenchrus and mil- 

 kb>m to the same plants to which they were applied in the above 

 and other ancient writers ; so that the common reader gains but 

 little additional knowledge here. 



Pliny (XVIII, 7,) says : " As touching the millet, the head 

 thereof bearing seed roundabout, is bent likewise and curbed, 

 beset also with fringes (as it were) of hairy fillets." This seems 

 best to describe what for centuries has been known in Europe 

 as "common millet" (Panicuin miliacenm), mentioned on page 

 100. 



