304 



MILLET. 



Tons. Tons. Tons. 



1847 . . 38,736 . . 3,033 . . 28,375 



1848 . . 21,226 . . 4,631 . . 15,468 



1849 . . 19,397 1,410 .. 14,961 



Total imported. Ee -exported. 



1849 .... 976,196 cx^ts. . . 290,732 cvts. 



„ in the husk . 31,828 qrs. 



IS^jO .... 785,451 cxvts. . . 248,136 „ 



,, in the husk . 37,150 qrs. 



1851 .... 714,847 cwts. . . 345,677 „ 

 ,, in the husk . 31,481 qrs. 



1852 .... 989.316 cwts. . .. 414,507 „ 

 „ in the husk . 23,946 qrs. 



The quantity of rice retained for Home consumption, hj tlie 

 corrected returns, in 1850, was 401,018 c^vts. and 35,119 quarters; 

 in 1851, 399,170 cwts. and 31,481 quarters ; in 1852, 574,809 

 cwts. and 23,946 quarters. The aggregate imports range from 

 40,000 to 80,000 tons annuaUy, of wliicli about 500 to 800 tons 

 are in the husk. 



Among culmiferous plants and legumes used in the East, are the 

 Fanicum italicum, P. miliaceum, Eleusine coracana (the meal of 

 which is baked and eaten in Ceylon under the name of Corakan 

 flour), and Pasimluni of several varieties. The pigeon pea {Cytisus 

 Gajaii), and a very valuable and prolific species of bean, called the 

 Mauritius black beau {Mucuna utilis), growing even in the poorest 

 soil, is cultivated in India and Ceylon. Sorghum vulgar e is the 

 principal grain of Southern Arabia, and the stems are also used 

 extensively for feeding cattle. The plant bears its Indian name 

 of joar, or jim, and is cultivated throughout Western Hindostan. 

 Job's tears (Q^oicc lachryma) is another cereal grass, native of the 

 the East Indies.- 



MILLET. 



Millet of different kinds is met with in the hottest parts of 

 Africa, in the South of Europe, in Asia Minor, and in the East 

 Indies. It is a small yellowish seed, growing in dense panicles or 

 clusters, the produce of a grassy plant with large and compact 

 seeds, growing to the height, in India, of seven or eight feet. 



The millets, known to Europeans as petit mais, are troj)ical or 

 sub-tropical crops. In India they hold a second rank to rice alone ; 

 and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance. In 

 "Western Africa they are the staff of life. The red and white 

 millets shown by Austria, Eussia, and the L'nited States, at the 

 Great Exhibition, were beautiful, and Ceylon exhibited fair sam- 

 ples. Turkey abounds in small grains. 



JPanicum miliaceum and P.frmnentaceum are the species grown in 

 the East Indies. Loudon says there are three distinct species of 

 millet ; the Polish, the common or G-erman, and the Indian. Setaria 

 Germanica yields German millet. The plants are readily increased 



