MILLETS AND OTHER ANNUAL GRASSES 287 



southern Asia and with little doubt its cultivation began 

 in that region. According to Bretschneider it was men- 

 tioned in connection with religious ceremonies in Chinese 

 records about 2700 B.C. Its cultivation is also very ancient 

 in India and it had 

 early spread west to 

 Switzerland as its 

 seeds there occur in 

 the remains of the 

 lake dwellers of the 

 stone age. 



346. Adaptations. 

 The foxtail millets 

 are very rapid-grow- 

 ing, erect annuals, 

 which delight in great 

 summer heat. In gen- 

 eral they require the 

 same climatic condi- 

 tions as sorghum, but 

 as they mature in a 

 shorter time, are 

 adapted to regions 

 where sorghums will 

 not develop suffi- 

 ciently. They are 

 quite as drought re- 

 sistant as the sor- 

 ghums and are im- 

 portant in much the same areas, but as the sorghum will 

 produce greater yields 9f better forage the foxtail millets 

 are now used mainly as catch-crops when the time is 

 too short for other crops to mature. 



FIG. 29. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica). 

 a and b, dorsal and ventral views of a 

 spikelet ; c, lemma. 



