BREAD PLANTS 53 



pasture, but the full-grown stalks, even when 

 stripped of seed, haVe more value as fodder. 

 White-seeded durra is called " Jerusalem corn." 

 " Kafir corn" and " African millet " are the same 

 thing. The color of the seed glumes, or hulls, 

 give the names to different varieties of kafir. 



During any check in growth the leaves of sor- 

 ghums contain a poison, hydrocyanic acid, that 

 may kill cattle that eat the plant during this time. 

 When the fodder is dry, the danger of poisoning 

 has passed. 



MILLETS 



In India, millet takes the place of rice in the dry 

 regions of that vast country. A great abundance 

 of small seed is borne in the thick spikes of certain 

 robust grasses of several different kinds. In 

 several oriental countries the food of the people 

 is made, to a considerable extent, of millet seed. 

 We know nothing about how it tastes and looks, 

 for the millets here are raised entirely for feeding 

 to cattle, or as a catch crop to plow under, for the 

 enrichment and lightening of heavy soils. 



Millets are ancient grains, the first that man 

 gathered in the wild, and sowed seed of to get a 

 better harvest on better ground. The seed is 

 prepared in various ways: in porridge by boiling 



