Millets 



63 



BREAKING CLODS OF EARTH WITH POWERFUL HARROWS 



PEARL MILLET 



Pearl Millet, also known as the 

 Spiked or Bullrush Millet, is a 

 grass (Pennisetum typhoideum) 

 which grows to a height of five or 

 six feet, and bears compact cylin- 

 drical spikes of grain about twelve 

 inches long. It is largely cultivated 

 in India, and is also grown in 

 Egypt and other parts of tropical 

 Africa, which country is probably 

 the true home of the plant. In 

 India Pennisetum is extensively cultivated in the Bombay Presidency, and, like Eleusine, is 

 a rainy season crop. It forms an important food of the lower classes of natives, and on 

 account of its heating qualities, is largely consumed by the tribes of Northern India during 

 the cold weather. The flour prepared from the millet is made into cakes and bread, which 

 are considered to be very nutritious, and in some districts the grain is used by the well-to-do. 



JOB'S TEARS 



Job's Tears are the fruits of 

 Coix lachryma, a grass native to 

 India and Japan, but now found 

 in many tropical countries. The 

 comparatively large, shining, pear- 

 shaped fruits, which bear a fanciful 

 resemblance to immense tears, are 

 used as food in some of the poorer 

 districts of India and Japan, and 

 in China are accredited with 

 medicinal properties. 



The " tears," however, are principally used for ornamental purposes, lending themselves 

 especially for making necklaces and mats. Samples of such articles made in the West Indies 

 are nowadays not unfamiliar in some of the London shops. 



TILLING VIRGIN SOIL 



BUCKWHEAT 



Compared with many other food grains, buckwheat is of comparatively recent cultivation,, 

 for the earliest record of it occurs in Chinese writings relating to tenth and eleventh 



centuries. The plant (Fagopyrum 

 - * . esculentum) is a branching annual 

 about two or three feet high, and 

 is a native of Central Asia, having 

 been found wild in Manchuria, on 

 the banks of the Amar, and in the 

 neighbourhood of Lake Baikal. 

 According to De Candolle, one 

 grain was introduced into Europe 

 during the Middle Ages through 

 Tartary and Russia, and the first 

 harrowing mention of its cultivation is found 



