VIII 
THE MILLETS 
HE term ‘‘ millet’’ is applied in this country to 
- four distin& groups of grasses. The most im- 
Gee) portant of these is that to which common millet, 
Hungarian grass, and German millet belong. 
We may call these the foxtail millets, from the shape 
of the heads. These grasses are varieties of the botan- 
ical species Chetochloa italica,. The next group con- 
sists of the varieties of the species Panicum miliaceum, 
known in this country as the broom-corn millets, from 
the fact that the head bears some resemblance to that 
of broom-corn. They have acquired considerable im- 
portance in the Northwestern Prairie States in recent 
years. The third group is usually known as Japan- 
ese millets. They belong to the species Panicum crus- 
gall, of which our common barn-yard grass is the bést- 
known representative in this country. These millets 
are cultivated extensively in parts of Japan and China. 
Colorado grass (Panicum texanum) is sometimes called 
Texas millet. It constitutes the fourth group. It is 
not, strictly speaking, a cultivated grass, but consid- 
erable hay is made from volunteer growth of it in corn- 
fields in parts of Texas. The general discussion which 
follows applies only to the first two of the above 
groups, and more particularly to the foxtail millets. 
Millet was one of the crops grown by our prehis- 
toric ancestors. The seed is found in the débris 
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