104 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



around the former habitations of the lake-dwellers of 

 Europe. The date at which these people flourished is 

 not known, but it was long before the dawn of history. 

 Millet-seed seems to have constituted an important ar- 

 ticle of diet with them, as it does to-day in many parts 

 of Europe and Asia. In America the first of the above 

 classes of millet is grown exclusively for hay ; the 

 broom -corn millets are grown both for hay and for 

 grain, but the grain is used here only for stock feed. 



The distribution of millet hay production in the 

 United States, according to the Census of 1900, is 

 shown in Fig. 20. This map shows clearly that the 

 millet region lies along the western border of the 

 humid region, from Texas to the Canadian line. In 

 Iowa, northern Missouri, northern Illinois, and south- 

 ern Wisconsin the millet belt extends eastward into 

 the humid region. Middle and eastern Tennessee con- 

 stitute an island, so to speak. Millet is grown spar- 

 ingly in nearly all parts of the country, but the acre- 

 age is too small in most sections to appear on the map, 

 which was constructed by placing one dot in each 

 county having 500 to 1,500 acres, two dots in counties 

 having 1,500 to 2,500 acres, and so on. 



There is apparently no reason why millet should 

 be more largely grown in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ken- 

 tucky, and Tennessee than in other parts of the tim- 

 othy region. The large acreage in the belt of States 

 from Texas to the Dakotas is readily understood. 

 Millet is a short-season crop (particularly the variety 

 known as common millet) which may be sown late in 

 June and still produce a good crop of hay, even in the 

 Dakotas. This region is more subject to crop failures 



