Proso is largely used for the grain, and this use is ap parently increasing. For such purpose the seed should be allowed to mature before cutting, but care should be taken that the crop does not stand until it is over-ripe, as in such case there will be much loss of seed by shat tering. One is likely to be de ceived in this matter if inexperi enced. The seed itself must be examined. It may be ripe even though the general appearance of the crop would indicate that it is yet green.
In all cases of harvesting for the seed, millet is best handled if cut and bound with a self-binder. The bundles should be placed two by two in narrow shocks. Even when intended for hay many of the millets can be cut with the binder in dry weather. Ordina rily, however, harvesting for for age is best done with the mower or self-rake, leaving the millet to cure dry in the swath or bunches, after which it is cured in cocks before stacking or housing.
Uses and nutritive value.
As before stated, the foxtail mil lets are generally used for forage in this country. However, suffici ent attention is not being given, it seems, to soiling and the produc tion of silage in the cultivation of these crops. Experience so far indicates that they are excellent for these purposes. The chief care to be taken is to feed sparingly and in combination with other foods because of the laxative ac tion of these crops, when green, on the digestive organs. If cut late, when the seed: are well formed, the feed has an injurious effect on the kidneys of the horse. The millets may ale( be of much value in pasturing, especially for sup plementing exhausted pastures.
Proso is not so good as the other millets for forage, though it is uses considerably in this way. It is mutt more valuable for the seed. An in creased amount of seed is being use for feeding to stock each year. See( should be ground. In this way pros( even acts as a substitute for core where that crop will not succeed anc the sorghums will not mature. Thew millets have been found so well adaptec for hog-feeding that they are ofter called hog millets. They are also ex cellent poultry food, and in North Da.
kota are profitably fed to sheep. Because of the large percentage of protein the seed contains, prose should be well adapted for feeding to dairy cattle.
In Kiinig's work on "The Chemistry of Human Food Materials," the protein content of the common millets in the hulled form is given as 7.40 per cent ; of the Hungarian millets, 12.46 per cent ; of the prose millets, 10.51 per cent ; and the barnyard millets, 9.14 per cent. It will be noted that the Hungarian millets and the prosos stand rather high in their percentage of protein, the amount being about the same as the average for ordinary wheat. It is highest in the Hungarian millet. Hungarian millet is not nearly so much grown as other millets in this country. Of the millets commonly grown in the United States, therefore, the proso group has the highest pro tein content. Shepard, in Bulletin No. 69 of the South Dakota Agricultual Experiment Station, gives the protein content of a few millets on the air-dry basis, as follows : Barnyard millet, 9.69 per cent ; Tambov millet, 14.28 per cent ; Black Voronezh, 15.68 per cent. No analysis of the common mil lets is given. Tambov and Black Vo ronezh are prosos. It may be stated also that the Black Voronezh has so far proved to be much the best of the prosos in South Dakota. According to these analyses, the protein of i.roso in South Dakota runs very high. In Russia and Oriental regions the seed of these millets is one of the most common food grains not only for stock, but also for man, Enemies.
The millet crops are apparently fortunate in being less subject to attacks of insect and fungous pests than probably any other cereal crops. Al though several fungi may be found on millet, the only one that does any considerable damage is the millet smut (Usti(ago Crameri, Korn.), and it has been shown that this smut can be prevented by the ordinary formalin treatment. It seems to suc cumb also to the hot-water treatment. [See report by W. Stuart in the annual report of the Indiana Experiment Station, 1901. See also Index.] Several insects occasionally attack millet, but ordinarily they are of little importance. At cer tain periods and in certain districts the chinch-bug becomes a rather serious pest. In such cases the millet should not be planted in proximity to other grasses and should be grown in complete rotation with other crops.