THE ANNUAL GE ASSES 



225 



since they produce a good yield of grain in a short, dry 

 season. Sometimes as many as 60 bushels are produced 

 per acre. When grown for the grain, millets are handled 

 in much the same way as the small 

 cereal crops. 



221. The barnyard millets, Pani- 

 cum crus-galli. — The barnyard mil- 

 lets is the name given to a group 

 of plants, most of which are varie- 

 ties of the single species known as 

 barnyard grass, which is a common 

 weed, growing wild in moist, rich 

 soils throughout the United States. 

 Varieties of barnyard grass are 

 grown for both grain and forage. 

 In Japan they have received the 

 most favor, and are there an im- 

 portant crop, being grown for the 

 seed which is used for human food. 

 In the United States, the barnyard 

 millets have not been grown to any 

 considerable extent. Recently, how- 

 ever, the Massachusetts Station im- 

 ported from Japan a variety known 

 as Japanese millet, which, when 

 tested at that station, gave a higher 

 yield of forage than any of the 

 other varieties of millets. The seed 

 of this variety is put upon the market under the name 

 of " billion dollar grass " and extensively advertised as a 

 great forage grass. Experience has shown, however, 

 that while the barnyard millets ordinarily give a heavy 

 yield of forage, the quality of the hay is quite inferior to 



Fig. 



80. — Barnyard 

 millet. 



