THE MILLETS III 
this purpose. On account of its small size and its 
hard covering, it should be ground, except for sheep 
and poultry. It is much used in mixtures for feeding 
birds, but it is considered more or less an adulterant in 
such mixtures, being inferior for this purpose to the 
seed of canary-grass. 
VARIETIES 
FoxTAIL MILLETS.—There are many varieties of 
this group of millets both in America and in Europe, 
but only three are of special importance in this coun- 
try. These are: Common millet, Hungarian grass, 
and German millet. Of these the first-named matures 
in the shortest time, and is the predominant variety in 
the northern part of the millet-growing section. Ger- 
man millet is the latest of these three varieties, and is 
the standard in the southern portion of the country. 
Hungarian is intermediate in length of season, and 
predominates in the Eastern States. Although each 
variety thus has a section of country in which it leads 
all others in importance, they are all sown more or 
less in all sections. On account of its short season, 
common millet is best adapted for late sowing, espe- 
cially in the North. It is also the best variety on poor 
soils, and resists drouth more than the others. On 
good soils, when it can be sown fairly early, German 
millet is the largest yielder. A typical form of foxtail 
millet is seen in Fig. 21. 
Common millet was the first variety to gain prom- 
inence in this country. The date of its introduction 
is unknown, but it has been grown more or less for 
more than a century. It does not grow so large as 
