THE MILLETS THAT HELP FEED THE WORLD 
79 
The photograph from which this picture was made was taken on the 
side of the leases that do not show the opening at the top, but the top of 
the leaf folds over so neatly that a person not accustomed to the nature 
of the plant would pass it by as a common leaf. Those who are acquaint¬ 
ed with the flower jack-in-the-pulpit will recognize something of a sim¬ 
ilarity in the Way the upper portion, or lid, folds over the lower part. 
THE MILLETS THAT HELP FEED THE WORLD 
IV/T EMBERS of the vegetable kingdom as well as members of the 
animal kingdom are grouped into families. The millets form a 
very interesting family. They are a relative of the grasses. Their 
family is a very old one; for their ancestry can be traced back to the 
Stone Age, a period when men had not yet learned how to make imple¬ 
ments of metal with which to cultivate. They do not thrive well in 
heavy clay or wet soils, but prefer living in ai crumbly loam. In the old 
countries millions of bushels are ground every year for bread or mush. 
The three chief members of this family are foxtail millet, broom- 
corn millet, and barn-yard millet. Foxtail millet with its long, fat, 
bushy head seems to be the most important. It is a native of China, 
Japan, and the Indian Archipelago-, and is said to have been found in 
China more than two thousand years before Christ. 
Barn-vard millet is grown largely for liay. It furnishes a useful 
coarse fodder, and when raised for hay is harvested with a mower when 
the crop has just finished heading. If it is raised for the seeds, harvest¬ 
ing takes place a short time before the grain has fully ripened. 
Broom-corn millet is perhaps the most widely known. It is prob¬ 
ably a native of warmer Asia. We sweep our floors every day with its 
straws that have been made into brooms. In the United States, Italy, 
France, and Germany it is cultivated solely for this purpose. But in 
India, China, and parts of Africa it is cultivated for various purposes. 
It is cultivated in the Himalayas in altitudes up to 11,000 feet. It 
thrives on the dry uplands of central Asia, when the durum wheats and 
other grains are a failure. In Crimea it furnishes food for the Tartars, 
and has been found to be one of the best grains for poultry. It is a great 
food staple of the Kirghiz tent-dwellers ini the desert. They thresh it 
by pounding a sack of it with a stick and then winnowing it in the wind. 
