74 FORAGE CROPS 
The millets belong to a group of crops that grow 
quickly, and are what may be termed “hot weather 
plants.” They do not thrive in cool weather. They 
are useful as hay catch-crops, or as regular forage 
crops for substituting pastures, or for soiling. All 
the kinds of millet that have been tested possess 
valuable characteristics, although the recently 
introduced Japanese or Barnyard varieties are 
proving more useful for green-forage purposes 
than the older and better known kinds, largely 
because of more rapid growth and larger yields. 
All the millets are native to the Old World, but 
the cultivated forms are cosmopolitan. In some 
countries, some of the millets are grown for the 
grain for human food. 
BARNYARD MILLET (Figs. 4, 5, 6) © 
Of the oriental forms, the Barnyard millet has 
given the best satisfaction in the East as green 
forage. It grows very rapidly, and frequently 
reaches a height of four to six feet. When cut at 
the right time, it is a most excellent soiling crop, as 
it is succulent and palatable. Maximum crops can 
be secured only when there is present an abundance 
of all of the fertility elements in available forms. 
A crop of ten tons per acre of this forage removes 
large quantities of plant-food elements, practically 
all of which are absorbed from the immediate sur- 
