MILLETS. 35 



freezing. When fully ripe, seed corn should be cut and dried on the 

 stalk before husking. If the weather is damp and unfavourable to 

 drying in the shock, the seed should be dried on the ear by artificial 

 means; it should be protected from freezing until the cob is quite 

 dry and brittle. A dark germ with a wrinkled covering shows that 

 the seed has been injured by frost. 



MILLETS. 



The millets are among the most ancient agricultural plants, 

 grown from time immemorial in Asia and parts of Europe, where 

 the seed is used chiefly as human food. In America they are grown 

 as forage plants. In Canada they are seldom used in the regular 

 rotation, but are grown as catch crops. 



All millets require a rich, loamy soil, stored with plant food 

 near the surface and containing a liberal amount of moisture. Under 

 favourable conditions the growth is rapid and a good stand is obtained 

 in a short time. The crop can be used for hay, pasture or ensilage. 

 The numerous varieties grown in Canada and the United States 

 belong to four species widely different in general appearance. 



When the sunne shineth, make hay. John Hey wood, Proverbes, 1546. 



Some persons recommend that, before housing the corn, a bramble frog should be hung up by 

 one of the hind legs at the threshold of the granary. To me it appears that the most important pre- 

 caution of all is to house the grain at the proper time; for if it is unripe when cut, and not sufficiently 

 firm, or if it is got in in a heated state, it follows of necessity that noxious insects will breed in it. 

 Pliny, Natural History, 23-79 



Accuse not nature, she hath done her part; 



Do thou but thine, and be not diffident 



Of wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou 



Dismiss her not, when most thou need'st her nigh. 



Milton, Paradise Lost, 1669. 



If you sow one Ground still with the same Corn, (I mean not the same Corn that grew upon the 

 same Ground, but the same kind of Grain, as Wheat, Barley, &c.) it will prosper but poorly; therefore 

 besides the resting of the Ground, you must vary the seed. Bacon, Natural History, 1625. 



As touching the various ways in which the earth itself needs treatment, either as being too moist 

 for sowing, or too salt for planting, these and the processes of cure are known to all men: how in one 

 case the superfluous water is drawn off by trenches, and in the other the salt corrected by being mixed 

 with various non-salt bodies, moist or dry. Yet here again, in spite of knowledge, some are 1 .neful 

 of these matters, others negligent. Xenophon, The Economist, 434-355 B.C. 



