4 22 ON THE MILLETS AND OTHER SMALL-GRAINED GRASSES. 



tains scarcely any gluten, but like oatmeal, makes very good porridge 

 and cakes. Dr. Voelcker, who analyzed it, states it to yield 3.66 per 

 cent, of nitrogen, equal to 2.87 per cent, of protein compounds. In this 

 respect the meal appears to be superior to rye, barley, rice, maize, or 

 the potato. 



Gingelet OR Till Seed. — (Sesamum indicum, Linn. ; S. trifoliatum, 

 Mill. ; 5. luteum, Retz ; S. Iaci7iiatum, Willd.) Annual, 2 to 3 feet high, 

 capsule, oblong, tetragonal, four-celled seeds numerous. 



Extensively cultivated in India, the seed yielding one of the most 

 valuable vegetable oils. The seeds are toasted and ground into meal, 

 and so eaten by the Hindoos, and also made into a kind of bread and 

 puddings, or used in soups, &c. It has a wide range, being grown in 

 Central America under the name of Ajonjoli, and in the West Indies as 

 oily grain ; also in Africa, Siam, China, and Cashmere. Children are very 

 fond of the seeds, which have a nutty flavour. In Egypt they are eaten 

 after being baked in an oven, and are also sprinkled over bread 

 and pastry. The cake, after the oil is extracted, is also eaten kneaded 

 with honey. 



Polish Millet — Manna Kroup. — (Glyceria fluitans, K. Brown). 

 Striped ; seeds small, yellowish-white ; paranchyme farinaceous, sweet, 

 and mucilaginous. These succeed best in very wet districts. This 

 grass produces such abundance of sweet seeds that they are ex- 

 ported from the Syrian coast and sold in Turkey, Hungary, and the 

 South of Germany, under the name of sweet manna seeds for the table, 

 where they are presented in the form of soup, puddings, and confections 

 of various kinds. 



In Russia and North America the seeds are also collected. Bryant, 

 in his ' Description of California,' says he saw five old Indian women 

 gathering grass seed for bread. This process is performed with two 

 baskets, one shaped like a round shield, and the other having a basin 

 and handle. With the shield the top of the grass is brushed, and the 

 seed by the motion is thrown into the deep basket held in the other hand. 

 Here, then, we close our summary of what may be broadly termed the 

 millets. Their uses, it will be seen, are more various and important 

 than generally supposed, and their culture widely extended and daily 

 increasing. Besides food for man and poultry, and fodder and fuel, 

 sugar, vinegar, spirit, and beer, are also obtained from them ; and the 

 panicles make excellent carpet and other sweeping brooms and brushes. 



