MILLET (Fr. f, diminutive of »tit, OP. ?nil, mei!, lt. nti file, from Lat. milimn, millet 1. A name applied to certain cereal and forage grave; of several distinct genera and species.
fillets are extensively used as fot•age crops in countries and it has been estimated that they furnish food for about one-third of the in habitants of the globe. Williams states that "be tween :35.01i0,000 and 40,000,000 acres of millets are grown annually in India, and Japan alone uses about 35,000,000 bushels of seed each year human food." In the States the vated varieties of millet may be divided into three group:. namely foxlail millets, h:u•nyard millets, and btnnmn•eorH foxtail perhaps the most important group. are of very ancient cultivation. They are believed by some writers to Lave been included in the order of rhinnong, 27011, relilliring OVTI:1111 pinnta to be sown each year by the Emperor of Chine in a piddle ceremony. De t'andolle considers this kind of millet a native of China. Japan, and the Indian .\rehipelago. Th,- most common varieties of this group all belong to one species, Sctaria italica, and arc grown in North America, Europe, India, China, Japan, and North Africa. The barny:u•d millets include the cultivated varieties of the widely distributed species I'anic•urn Urns galli, or barnyard grass, and also the varieties belonging to other species of the genus Panietun, especially l'anicum colonum and l'anieum fru mentaccum. The varieties derived from Pun icon Crus-galli are considered the true barnyard mil lets, and among them a variety of Japanese barn yard millet and the 'Ankee' grass of the South western United States are the most important. Shama or Sanwa millet, or jungle rice ( Punicum colon um), a tropical plant, closely allied to true barnyard grass, is a valuable food and forage plant in ninny tropical and subtropical regions and extensively grown in Southern and Eastern .Asia, but little in the United States. The third group, or broomeorn millets. comprises the varie ties of Panicum miliavemn. This species, univer sally known to agriculture, has been in cultiva tion in Enrope'sinee prehistoric times and is still the 0/111111011 millet of the Old 1Vorld. Its origin is very uncertain, but it is probably a native of the warmer regions of Asia. The classification of varieties of this species is basis! mainly upon the color of the ripe `APOI—yellow. white, and red. The term Indian or African millet is often loosely applied to certain of the min-saccharine sor ghums, such as durra. Kafir corn, and pearl millet (Pcniisei utu typhoid, um), which last is also called Egyptian or eat-tail millet.
Millets are not well adapted to heavy clay or wet soils, lint succeed best on fertile friable looms. The preparation of the soil is the satin. as for other grass crops. In the United State;
the seed is usually sown late in the spring to prevent the harvest of the millet from interfering with the harvest of the cereal:. The seed is usually sown broadcast at the rate of one-half bushel to the acre. It is, however, often drilled. For hay, millet is usually harvested with a mower when the crop has jnst finished heading, and for the seed with a reaper like cereals a little before it is fully ripe. If harvested when fully ripe there is usually a heavy loss of seed in handling. Where the self hinder is used in har vesting this crop, the sheave; are bound loosely and put up in slicks to cure. The yield of cured hay per acre ranges from four to ;ix ton; and the yield of seed from forty to fifty bushels. This crop is practically free from attacks of insects and plant diseases.
Fm-auxe; VALVE. Millet is valuable principally as hay and as a soiling crop. It is also useful for silage. The ripened seed; are seldom fed to stock, but are much used as food for poultry and birds. if used as stock food they should be crushed or ground. The seed of boom-corn mil let has found more favor in the l'nitcd States as it cattle feed than that of other varieties. Gorman millet cot when the heads are well filled hut the seed; still soft has the following percentage com position; protein. 2.7: fat. 0.5: nitrogen-free extract. 11.3; mule fibre. 9.3; and ash, 1.5, (lerman millet hay: Water, 7.7; pro tein. 7.5; fat, 2.1; nitrogen-free extract. 49.0: ern& iilrc. 27.7: and ash, 00. tither millets fresh and cured resemble in composition the examples quoted more or less closely, The aver age percentage composition of millet seed fol lows: Water. 14.0; protein, 11.9; fat, 4.0; nitro gen-free extract, 57.4; crude fibre, 9.5; and ash, 3.3. In the case of barnyard millet hay 57.t per en t., of the protein 63,7 per cwt., of the nitrogen-free extract 51.6 per cwt., and of the r•rude fibre 61.6 per cwt. Was on the average found to be digestible. Millet hay i• a useful coarse fodder for vows, but not more than six or eight pounds shoubti be fed daily. When fed to lambs care should be exercised, as millet hay causes scours unless fed in small quan tities. It has been observed that when horses were fed millet hay exelusively as coarse fodder, painful conditions called 'millet disease' were in duced. It is believed that the trouble may be avoided by using this hay in limited quantities, and not continuously. It is also possible that millet grown in some regions is 'harmless. while that grown in others is harmful. The plant has been used for farm animals since very early times, and generally speaking has proved a satisfactory feeding stuff, See Colored Plate of CEREALS.
Consult United States Department of .1grieul ure Year Book for 1898 and Fornicr's Bulletin 101.