FALI^OWING. lOl 



better to cradle than to reap this crop. Though ^hey 

 should be well dried on the ground atler cutting, they 

 should not be raked or handled at all, when they are 

 in the driest state. It should rather be done in morn- 

 ings and evenings, when the straw is made limber and 

 pliable by the moisture of the air. V/hen housed, they 

 will pack closer than other grain, and therefore a little 

 more caution is required to prevent their heating. Oats 

 make a good substitute for hay, if mowed while green ; 

 and this may be more profitable than suffering them to 

 ripen when there is a prospect of scarcity of this article. 



BULLET. 



(Panicum miliaceum,^ 



The stalks and leaves of this plant resemble those of 

 Indian corn, though much smaller. It grows to the 

 height of three or four feet. A sandy soil suits it best. 

 It bears drought admirably well. It is said to produce 

 as large a quantity of grain as Indian corn ; when culti- 

 vated in drills three feet apart and six inches in the 

 rows; but owing to the difficulty in saving the crop on 

 account of birds, of its ripening unequally, and its shell- 

 ing out, it is generally thought best to sow it broad cast 

 and cut it when in milk for fodder. 



- Mr. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, sowed one peck to the 

 acre in May, and put in four acres ; cat it middle of Au- 

 gust, and dried it in the sun two or three days. He had 

 75 bushels of seed to the acre, and six tons of fodder 

 on four acres. His cattle relis/ied it very well. "^ 



It is stated in the Plough Boy, that millet sowed in 

 June on good ground will give from two to four tons of 

 'fodder, and from twenty to thirty bushels of seed, eoual 

 to corn for fattening- hogs. It is cultivated in Pinns^ Iva- 

 nia and Maryland as a fodder-crop, and cut in the milk. 

 It is preferred in winter, by neat cattle, to clover. 



The American Fanner, gives the follov/ii^g very flat- 

 tering account of this grain. Millet sown from the lirst 

 of May, to the 20th June, has invariably furni-:h?J mora 

 fodder than could have been obtained from grass under 

 similar circumstances. On the 5th of May, tivc bushels 

 were sown on four acres — on the 5th of Juiy it was bar- 

 Tested, and estimated at four tons per acre. It requires 

 10 



