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 



