CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 107 



In Russia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and other parts of 

 Europe, common millet is used in the manner of rice, and fur- 

 nishes a nourishing and grateful food, the seed being previous- 

 ly divested of their outer covering. It is rarely made into 

 bread. 



The Indian millet furnishes bread to the Arabians and other 

 people of the east. The Arabs call the flour dourra; and it is 

 truly the bread corn of Africa, being grown over all the parts 

 of that vast continent. It was long ago introduced into Spain, 

 it may be supposed by the Moors, if not at an earlier period 

 still by the Carthagenians. It has been introduced also into 

 the islands of the West Indies, and some parts of South Ame- 

 rica, where it is known under the name of Guinea corn. 



Millet may be sown in the middle states from the 15th 

 of May, until the 20th of July, and will generally produce a 

 heavy crop of hay in six weeks, yielding at the rate of from 

 two to four tons to the acre. If designed for hay alone, it 

 should be cut as soon as the head is formed. It cures easily 

 in cocks, keeps well, is very nutritious, and is eaten with 

 avidity by horses and cattle. 



If the object is to obtain the seed, which makes an excellent 

 food for fattening swine, poultry, &c., let it remain a few days 

 longer until the head turns yellow. Then cut, thresh out the 

 seed when dried, and put away the hay. When the seed is 

 permitted to ripen, the hay, of course, is harsher, but it is still 

 a highly nutritious provender for stock of all kinds. 



The soil for millet should be warm, light or sandy, rich, and 

 well pulverized to a good depth. If for hay only, three pecks 

 to a bushel of the seed to the acre is sufficient; but if for both 

 grain and hay, four pecks will answer: it should be sown thin 

 and not deeply covered. "When cultivated in drills, three 

 feet apart, and six inches in the rows, it has produced as heavy 

 crops per acre as Indian corn, but owing to the difficulty of 

 saving the crop, on account of birds, its ripeningunequally, and 

 its shelling out, it is generally sown broad-cast." The plant, as 

 well as its growth, is greatly accelerated by stirring the soil, 

 after which it grows astonishingly fast and smothers all weeds.* 



6. MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN ZEA MAIS. 



THE maize is not only one of the most noble looking of the 

 cereal grasses, but it is one of the most valuable, second to 

 wheat only; and indeed in many places, taking even the 



* Professor VON THAER. 



