192 FORAGE CROPS. 



States, is frequently called "hog millet," from the 

 extent to which the seed has been grown to provide 

 food for swine. 



The Pearl millets include varieties belonging to 

 the various species of Pennisctum. One kind of 

 Pearl millet (Penicillaria spicata) is sometimes 

 called "cat-tail millet," from the marked resemblance 

 of the panicle to the common cat-tail (Typha lati- 

 folia) of the swamps. It is like corn in the tall and 

 upright habit of its growth. It is like teosinte in 

 its tendency to produce an abundance of leaves and 

 suckers, and it is like sorghum in its habit of bearing 

 seed on a head which grows on the upper extremity 

 of the stem. When planted on rich soil and culti- 

 vated, it will grow to the hight of eight to ten feet. 

 As many as ninty-five tons have been grown per 

 acre on very rich land from three cuttings in one 

 season. When cut off or eaten down it springs up 

 again quickly and with much vigor. It should, 

 therefore, be valuable as a pasture, as soiling food or 

 as fodder, providing it is found sufficiently pala- 

 table. If cut when approaching maturity, or 

 even after the head has appeared, it may be easily 

 cured, and in the same manner as corn. But it is 

 difficult to cure if cut before the heading-out stage. 

 Some authorities speak discouragingly of its value 

 as a food for live stock. The experience of the 

 author in growing it at the Minnesota University 

 experiment station will not permit the unqualified 

 acceptance of such a view. 



Distribution. — Millet in one or the other of its 

 varieties may be grown so as to mature its seed in 

 nearly all parts of the United States and Canada 

 where the land is tilled. This wide distribution 



