126 A MANUAL OF FARM GRASSES 



PEARL MILLET 



Pearl millet is a tall coarse annual grass, 

 with broad leaves and a cylindric spike or 

 seed head as thick as one's thumb and about 

 a foot long. The growth resembles that of 

 sorghum, the stems being 6 to 10 feet tall, 

 but the cylindric seed head is different from 

 that of any other grass in cultivation. Pearl 

 millet is used to a limited extent in the South- 

 ern States, mostly for soiling but has no ad- 

 vantages over the sorghums. The botanical 

 name is Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. . Br. 

 Other names are Pennisetum americanum (L.) 

 Schum., Pennisetum typhoideum Rich., and 

 Penicillaria spicata Willd. 



THE SORGHUMS 



The term sorghum includes a number of 

 rather diverse forms all derived from a single 

 botanical species. These forms have been 

 cultivated and selected for different purposes 

 and hence have developed along different 

 lines. Some are cultivated for the sweet juice, 

 from which syrup is made. Others are culti- 

 vated for forage, others for the seed. One 

 form called broom-corn is cultivated for the 

 long stiff branches of the inflorescence. The 

 following is a key to the commoner kinds of 

 sorghum.* 



30. Pearl Millet. A seed head or spike, reduced 

 from natural size. 



* Ball, History and Distribution of Sorghums (U. 

 S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 175. 1910.) 



