VIII 



THE MILLETS 



he term 1 1 millet 1 ' is applied in this country to 

 g I four distinct groups of grasses. The most im- 

 BUSS 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 Chcetochloa 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- 

 galli, of which our common barn-yard grass is the best- 

 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 debris 



103 



