60 



PETER HENDERSON & CO .—FARM SEEDS. 





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PEARL IlLLIf 



Tery few plants have ever been introduced into our agricul- 

 ture about whose merits so great a diversity of opinion exists, 

 as this Pearl Millet. Our first experience with it was in 1878, 

 and the results, under our garden culture, were told at length, 

 in our Catalogue last year. The article was widely copied, and 

 led to its extensive cultivation last year. And now that the sea- 

 son is over, the evidence goes to show that opinion is about 

 evenly divided as to its value as a fodder crop. That so many 

 failed to secure the enormous results that we certainly did with 

 it in 1878, can, we think, be readily explained. Our statement 

 in that year was that we prepared a piece of good strong loamy 

 ground as if for a beet or turnip crop, by manuring with sta- 

 ble-manure, at the rate of 10 tons to the acre, plowing 10 inches 

 deep, and thoroughly harrowing. We sowed on the 15th of May, 

 about the date we plant corn, in drills 18 inches apart. In 12 

 days the plants were up so that a cultivator could be run be- 

 tween the rows, after which no further culture was necessary, 

 for the growth became so rapid and luxuriant as to crowd down 

 every weed that attempted to get a foothold. The first cutting 

 was made July 1st — 45 days after sowing ; it was then 7 feet high, 

 covering the whole ground, and the crop, cut to 3 inches above 

 the ground, weighed, green, at the rate of 30 tons per acre; this, 

 when dried, gave 6)4 tons per acre as hay. After cutting, a sec- 

 ond growth started, and was cut August 15th — 45 days from 

 time of the first cutting. Its height was 9 feet; it weighed 

 this time at the rate of 55 tons to the acre, green, and 8 tons 

 dried. The third crop started as rapidly as the second, but the 

 cool September nights lessened its tropical luxuriance, so that 

 this crop, which was cut on October 1st, only weighed ten tons 

 green, and \\' z tons dried. The growth was simply enormous, 

 thus: 1st crop in 45 days, gave 30 tons green, or 6}j' tons c\ry; 

 2d crop in 45 days, gave 55 tons green, or 8 tons dry; 3d crop in 

 45 days, gave 10 tons green, or l'£ tons dry. The aggregate 

 weight being 95 tons of green fodder in 135 days from date of 

 sowing, and 1G tons when dried to hay. Yet these startling re- 



sults were 10 per cent, less than the actual yield, as we preferred to 

 understate, well knowing that many would fail to reach even 

 what we claimed for it. 



Now let us examine into the causes of the failures which have 

 been the experience of many. It is well known that the past 

 May (the month in which it was sown) was one of the driest that 

 has almost ever been experienced in nearly all parts of the 

 Northern States. No better evidence of that can be had than the 

 fact that celery, cabbage, and all such crops as are raised from 

 seed sown in May were never before so scarce, and that thousands 

 of acres lay idle all summer from want of plants to set out. Now 

 the same cause — excessive drouth — that prevented the germin- 

 ation and growth of cabbage or celery seeds, acted, under the 

 usual manner of sowing, even more disastrously on the seed of 

 Pearl Millet, which is small, light, and particularly susceptible 

 of injury from drouth. We say "under the usual manner of 

 sowing," for nine-tenths of all such light seeds are sown in such 

 a loose way, that in seasons of drouth they either fail to germin- 

 ate altogether, or are so enfeebled by the dry hot air acting on 

 the seed, that if they do germinate, their vitality is so weakened 

 that, as in the case of Pearl Millet, instead of the seeds sown 

 May 15th, giving a growth of seven feet by July 1st, they would 

 be likely, perhaps, not to give a growth of as many inches. All 

 cultivators of experience know that age, over-drying, or any 

 other cause that tends to lessen the vitality of seeds, is seen in- 

 less or more degree in the plants they produce, showing weak- 

 ened growth. The safeguard against the contingency of dry 

 weather acting on newly sown seeds is to firm the soil over tlie 

 seeds, after sowing. Our own practice in this matter we detail 

 under the head of " The Use of the Feet in Seed Sowing," on 

 page 34 of this Catalogue. 



This was no doubt the principal cause of failure, but the non- 

 germination of seed of Pearl Millet, in many cases, could be di- 

 rectly traced to sowing the seed too early, and. we would again. 

 reiterate, that Pearl Millet in the latitude of New York, should 

 never be sown before May 15th. Perhaps the best rule is never 

 to sow it sooner than you would corn, or set out plants of to- 

 matoes, for it is emphatically a plant of tropical origin. 



HOW TO DRY. 



As we have had many inquiries as to the best manner of dry- 

 ing Pearl Millet for " hay" we would state that our crop was sown- 

 in a solid block, so that when cut it had to be removed from the 

 land where it grew, and tied in sheaves, and hung up on an ex- 

 temporized ra ; l fence. This plan of course would not answer 

 when grown on a large scale, as the crop is so enormous that 

 such an expedient for drying would be too expensive both for 

 labor and rails, and as it is too heavy and succulent to be dried 

 like Timothy and Clover, on the ground where it is cut, itnrUst 

 be removed, for to attempt to dry it where it grows would des- 

 troy the second crop. Circumstances, of course, must in a great 

 measure be the guide, but we wouid suggest, that when grown, 

 for the purpose of being dried, thatitbe sown in beds, say 12 feet 

 wide, with alleys six feet between, where it may be dried; this, 

 of course, would be a loss of one-third of the land for the first 

 crop, but it would be litvle or no loss of crop in the second, for 

 the millet would spread so as to fill up all the six feet of alley. 



"We this season offer only clean seel of Pearl Millet of which 

 from 3 to 5 lbs are required to sow an acre. 



Price, clean seed. Pearl Millet, 60c. per lb. ; 5 lbs. for $2.75, or 10' 



lbs. for S5.00. 



If by mail, add 16c. per lb., postage. 



