372 MILLETS 



amount. Usually the thinner seeding is put on heavy, fertile soil. 



Feeding Value. Millet is very easily cured into hay of good 

 quality. Millet hay has a loosening effect on the digestive tract of 

 horses, and also when horses are heavily fed with it for a long time 

 without change it is very apt to cause slight swelling and inflamma- 

 tion of the joints. Where fed only part time, or mixed with other 

 roughage, it is not thought to be injurious. Millet is not reported 

 as injurious to cattle or sheep. 



Japanese barnyard millet (Fig. 166) is also known as " Ankee " 

 grass in India. It is closely related to the common barnyard grass 

 found everywhere in North America, but the cultivated form is 

 somewhat more erect and was brought to this country from Japan. 



Adaptations. Barnyard millet is especially adapted to culture 

 on wet lands. The wild form is found growing very rank along 

 the irrigation districts in the western States, while on lowlands, 

 subject to overflow, wild barnyard grass is often found growing to 

 the exclusion of almost all other vegetation. It is not suited to 

 cultivation in dry or unproductive soils. 



The hay is rather coarse and not of first quality, but no injurious 

 effect has ever been reported from feeding it. One to two pecks of 

 seed are sown per acre and should not be sown till warm weather has 

 arrived. An average yield is two to three tons per acre, but on rich, 

 wet lands yields of four to six tons are sometimes harvested. 



Broom-corn millet is so called from its rather loose, spreading 

 head. This is the true millet of Europe and Asia, and is very ex- 

 tensively grown for human food in India. Under average conditions 

 it is less productive of forage, but probably a heavier seed producer 

 than other millets. 



In North America it is best adapted to the northern part of the 

 great plains, especially at the higher elevations in Montana and the 

 western part of the Dakotas. It seldom does well from Nebraska 

 southward. Broom-corn millet is usually sown at the rate of two to 

 four pecks per acre. 



Pearl millet, also called penicillaria, is not at all like the other 

 millets in appearance or habit of growth. It is a tall, coarse-grow- 

 ing plant, reaching a height of ten to twelve feet. Usually it stools 

 a great deal, producing up to ten or twelve stems from a single seed. 



