Millets 



59 



MILLETS 



The term " millet " is em- 

 ployed to include a large 

 number of cereal and forage 

 grasses, the seeds of which 

 are usually smaller when 

 compared with other cereals 

 such as wheat, barley, and 

 oats. The importance of the 

 millets as a source of human 

 food is by no means fully 

 appreciated in this country, 

 no doubt on account of the 

 comparatively trifling part 

 which they play in our do- 

 mestic economy. It has 

 been estimated, however, 

 that fully one-third of the 



world's inhabitants employ millet as a regular article of food; in India there are nearly 40,000,000 

 acres devoted to the crop, and Japan alone consumes annually 35,000,000 bushels of the seed. 

 China and Korea use enormous quantities, and the important part played by the grain in the 

 late Russo-Japanese War will be fresh in the mind of the reader. Further, in nearly all parts 

 of the world millets take a prominent place as a source of forage. 



STRIPPING THE COBS IN NAPLES 



ITALIAN AND HUNGARIAN MILLET 



Probably the most important millet cultivated by man is the Italian millet (Setaria italica), 

 and its variety the Hungarian millet (S. italica var. germanica). There is considerable difference 

 of opinion as to the original home of this species, but the view advanced by some writers 

 that the plant is native to Southern Europe does not seem to be supported by sufficiently 

 good evidence. Writers on Chinese economic plants include this variety of millet in the five 

 plants sown each year by the Emperor in accordance with the command given by Chin-nong 

 in B.C. 2700. Now each of the five plants is regarded by the Chinese as being an undoubted 

 native of their country, and this, taken in conjunction with the fact that the species appears 

 to occur in the wild state in Japan, led De Candolle to the belief that S. italica existed thousands 

 of years ago before all cultivation in China, Japan, and the Indian Archipelago. Its cultivation 

 probably extended very rapidly westwards, for the seed has been discovered among the remains 

 of the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age in Switzerland. The grain apparently was unknown 

 in ancient Syria, Arabia, and Greece, and it reached Switzerland probably via Russia and 

 Austria. 



Italian millet is more or less extensively grown throughout temperate Europe, a large part 

 of India, China, Japan, Northern Africa, the United States, and Canada. With the 

 exception of America, where it is grown almost exclusively for forage, this cereal is raised 

 for human food, and is also employed to a relatively very small extent as a bird seed. • The 

 abundance of the grain found in the Lake dwellings clearly indicates its importance as a food 

 in prehistoric times, and there are historical records of similar uses in China nearly 3,000 

 years before the Christian era. At the present day it is chiefly used in Japan, China, and 

 India, where it is also largely grown for forage. The grain is usually prepared by boiling or 

 parching, and may be eaten alone or mixed with milk and sugar. 



