MILLET, a grain, of which there are several kinds, the produce of species of 2anieuna, setaria, and allied genera. The genus panicum contains many species, natives of tropical and warm temperate countries, and some of which, as Guinea grass (q.v.), are amongst the largest fodder grasses. The flowers are in spikes, racemes, or panicles; the glume.s very unequal, one of them often very- minute; each spikelet containing two florets, one of which is often barren. The genus setaria has a spike-like panicle, with two or more bristles under the glumes of each spikelet. COMMON MILLET (ranieum miliaceum) is an annual grass, 3 or 4 ft. remarkably covered with long hairs, which stand out at right angles. It has a much branched nodding panicle; the spikelets are oval, and con tain only one seed. It is a native of the East Indies, but is extensively cultivated in the warmer parts of Europe and other quarters of the world. It succeeds only in those climates in which wine can be produced. It is called warree, cheena, and leadikane in India. The grain, which is very nutritious, is only about one-eighth of an inch in length. It is used in the form of groats, or in flour mixed with wheat-flour, which makes a good kind of bread; but bread made of millet alone is brittle and full of cracks. Poultry- are extremely fond of millet. The straw is used for feeding cattle. Other species, P. miliare, P. frumentaceum, and P. pilosum, are cultivated in different parts of India, chiefly- on light and rather dry soils, yielding very abundant crops. GERMAN MILLET, or Moulat (setaria Germanica), and ITALIAN MILLET (S. Italica), 'regarded by many as varieties of one species, and probably originally from the east, although now naturalized in the south of Europe, are cultivated in many of the warmer parts of Europe, in India, and other countries. Italian millet is 3 or 4 ft. in height; German millet much dwarfer, and its spike comparatively short, compact, and erect; and less valuable as a corn-plant. The grains of both are very small, only about half as long as that of common millet; but they are extremely prolific, one root producing many stalks, and one spike of Italian millet often yielding 2 oz. of grain. The preduce is estimated as five times that of wheat. Italian millet is called koongoonie, kala-kangnee, and Icora-kang in India. The g-rain of these millets is imported into Britain for feeding cage-birds, and for use as a light and pleasant article of food, although for this purpose it is little used in Britain, whilst it is very extensively- used in soups, etc., in the south 'of Europe. It does not
make good bread. To the same tribe of grasses belong the geperapaspalum, pennisetum, penicellorkt, dig itaria, and ma/um—species of which are cultivated in different parts of the world for their grain. Raspalum exile is thepandi (q.v.) of Africa; and P. scrobiculatum is the koda of India, where it is cultivated chiefly on poor soils. Penicilla7ia spicata, or pennisetum typhoideum, is very extensively cultivated in Africa, and to a considerable extent in India. Its cultivation has been introduced into the south of Europe. It succeeds best on light soils. Its Indian name is bajree. It often receives the names EGYPTIAN MILLET and GULNEA Conx. It ha.s a somewhat spiked cylandrical panicle. Pennisetum distkhum abowads in central Africa, on the southern borders of the Great Desert, where it is called uzak, and is described by Barth as causiug much inconveni ence to the traveler, the little bristles which are attached to its seeds making them stick like burs to the cIothe.s they also pierce the skin, and cause sores, so that it is necescary to be provided with Small plii4ers for their extractiOn, and none'eVen of/the wild roving natives is ever without such an instrument. But its seed is a common and pleasant article of food, in some places the principal food of the people, and a pleasant beverage is made from it. Digitaria sanguinalis is called Fount 3IILLET, being cultivated in cottage gardens in Poland, where the grain is used like rice. It is a common grass in many parts of Europe, although very rare in Britain. The spikes in this genus are com pound, and from their appearance give it the names digitaria and finger-grass. The 31ILLET GRASS (milium effusum) of Britain, occasionally found in shady woods, is a very beautiful grass, 3 or 4 ft. high, with a spreading pale panicle of small flowers; and has been much recommended for cultivation as a forage grass, and for the sake of its very abundant small seeds, an excellent 'food for game. Another species of the same genus (M. nigricans) is the Maize de Guinea of Peru, where its seeds, after being dried by heat, are converted into a very white flour, a pleasant article of food; and a beverage called ullpu is made from them. The name INDIAN MILLET is sometimes given to durra (q.v.), but it belongs to a different tribe of grasses from the true millets.