SORGHUM VULGARE, Pers. 



[Vide Plate VI.] 



English, great millet? Vernacular, juar, junri (N.-W. Provinces Districts west of Allaha- 

 bad), choti juar or junri (Districts of Oudh and the Benares Division, where maize is called bari 

 junri), also called bajra jhupanwa (in the Azamgarh District, where the ljulrush millet (Penicillaria 

 spicatd) is known as hdjra tangimamva) . The cholum of the Madras Presidency. 



A tall handsome grass belonging to the tribe Anclrojwgonece, of the natural order Gramineai. 

 Stems erect, variable as to height, thick and succulent, often tinged with red or yellowish blotches. 

 Leaves broad, narrowing gradually to their tips, smooth except at the junction with the sheath ; 

 midrib prominent beneath channelled above ; sheaths very long. Flowers in dense ovate panicles, 

 heads nodding before ripening. Spicules in pairs, 1-flowered, one sessile and hermaphrodite, 

 the other stalked and bearing only stamens. Glumes about equal, hard and firm, especially those 

 of the fertile flowers, lower 3-fid ; pales 2, somewhat transparent, lower one rather larger, con- 

 cave, acute, upper bifid, awned ; awn jointed. Stamens 3. Styles 2. Grains about | in., smooth, 

 white or red. 



There are numerous varieties of judr as might be expected from the large extent to 

 which it is cultivated. They may be primarily grouped according as the seed is white 

 or red, the former class being the most esteemed from the superiority of its stalks as 

 cattle fodder, as well as from the better quality of its grain. Three well marked varie- 

 ties are (1), the double seeded, which has two grains within a single husk ; (2), the 

 dwarf, grown in the Allahabad District, in which the stalks do not grow to a greater 

 height than 3 or 4 feet instead of 7 or 8 ; and (3), the variety, known as chdhcha in the 

 Cawnpore District, in which the grain is completely covered by the husk, and which is 

 said to suffer less from the depredations of birds than the ordinary kinds. 



The dry stalks and leaves of juar chopped into small pieces form the ordinary cattle 

 fodder of the country for some months in the year, being known by the name of karbi. 

 Occasionally juar is grown solely for cattle fodder and not for its grain at all, in which 

 case the stalks are cut while green before the seed has had time to mature. It is almost 

 the only green fodder crop grown as such in the Provinces, and hence when grown for 

 this purpose has no more distinctive name than chari, which simply means fodder. Chari 

 cultivation is, however, almost entirely restricted to the Districts of the Meerut Division, 

 where the cattle are mostly purchased from the outside, and are of a far better quality 

 than those in other parts of the Provinces. Its value as a green fodder may be infer- 

 red from the following analysis, made by Professor Voelcker, in which its nutritive qual- 

 ities are compared with those of turnips : — 



Chari. Turnips. 



Water, ... ... ... ... - «5-17 90-43 



Flesh forming matters, ... ••• ••• 2-55 1"04 



Fatty and heat producing matters, ... ... 1M4 7'89 



Inorganic matters, ... ... ••• ••• I'l^ '•^^ 



100-00 100-00 



* Synonyms ■.— Andropogim Sorghum, Koxb. Fl. Ind. i. 269. Holcus Sorghum, Liun. 



E 



