[ 254 ] 



the best grain, inferior only to the best wheat for bread-mak 

 ing. The first is also known as Sorgho or Imphe and is 

 grown in America and Africa. Sorghum haliper.se grows 

 wild in India, and the cultivated varieties may have originat- 

 ed from this. 



337. Chemistry : The high value possessed by Sorghum 

 grain will be evident from the following table: 



Albuminoids. Starch. Oil. 



Indian Sorghum ... 9-3 % 723 % 2 % 



Indian Rice ... 7-3 78-3 '6 



Indian Wheat ... 13 5 ,, 68-4 ,, 1-2 



Indian Oats ... 10 i 56*0 2-3 



The following figures show the high value of green juar 

 as fodder compared to turnips which are greatly prized as 

 fodder in England : 



Green Juar. Turnips. 



Water ... ... 85-17 90*43 



Albuminoids... ... 2-55 1-04 



Starch and fat ... 11*14 T%9 



Ash ... ... i 14 -64 



338. To the agricultural population, juar is a more im- 

 portant crop than even wheat and rice. It yields a nourishing 

 grain about the same quantity per acre as wheat or rice 

 (900 Ibs.) and ten times as much in fuel and fodder as the 

 ordinary cereal crops. As fodder crops are at a discount in 

 India, the growing of superior varieties of juar for food and 

 fodder should be encouraged as much as possible. When grain 

 is allowed to ripen the lower half of the juar stalk should be 

 used for fuel and the upper half for fodder. But the best 

 fodder is obtained from green juar before the heads appear 

 when it is in full vigour of growth and not too tall. Cut at 

 this stage it affords a more nutritious fodder, than even 

 turnips which are so highly valued in England, and a second 

 and a third cutting, and sometimes even a fourth, may be also 

 obtained if the land is cultivated after each cutting. The 



