1901.] PUBLIC DOCUMEXT — No. 33. 43 



Millet as a Grain Crop. — According to Brooks,* the 

 birds have a great liking for the seed and it is therefore 

 difficult to harvest without loss. The 3'ield of one ton to 

 the acre is small, as couijiared with an average crop of corn. 

 Brooks and Smith fed millet meal to four dairy cows, com- 

 paring it to an equal quantity of ground oats, and noted no 

 ditfcrence in the results (experiment not published). The 

 cost of threshing the grain is to be considered, and the straw 

 would be quite inferior to corn stover for fodder purposes. 

 It does not seem probable that the grain could be made an 

 economic feed for farm animals. 



Millet for Silage. — Millet makes a very fair silage, but, 

 as a result of the writer's experience, it is not considered 

 equal to maize. So far as known, there are no exact feeding 

 experiments on record comparing these two plants for silage 

 purposes. It lacks the large quantity of digestil)le starchy 

 matter which the corn contains in the form of the grain. It 

 could not be put into the silo after it had ripened its seed, as 

 is the case with corn, for the straw would then be dry and 

 tough, and the seed is covered with a hard seed-coating. 

 Our observations have convinced us that millet silage has 

 less nutritive effect than corn silage. The digestion experi- 

 ments with millet and ])ean silage, as compared with corn 

 and bean silage, confirm this opinion. We have also noticed 

 that animals are inclined to consume a larger quantity of 

 corn than of millet silage, especially when fed for a consid- 

 erable lenirth of time. While the labor involved in jjrowinof 

 a crop of millet is certainly less than in growing a croj) of 

 corn, the extra work in harvesting the former for the silo 

 makes up for it, at least to a considerable degree. If for 

 any reason, however, the corn crop should fail, and millet 

 could l)e advantageously grown, it would certainly make a 

 very desirable substitute for the former. Millet and soy 

 bean silage is preferable to millet silage, from a nutritive 

 stand-point ; but the cost of growing and harvesting the 

 same prevents its general use. 



The following estimate of the value of millets on the farm 

 is made in Farmer's Bulletin, 101, already referred to, and 



* Loco citato. 



