Millet As A Dry Weather Crop

The following is from a December bulletin from the Michigan experimental station: The recent failures of the clover :rop in central Michigan, due chiefly to the ravages of the imported dover root borer {Ifylckscs obscurus) and apparently increasing difficulty Df obtaining a good seeding of the ordinary grasses and clovers, owing to dry weather, have created an unusual demand for ome plant which can be employed instead to furnish at least a temporary supply of fodder. Indian corii serves admirably for that purpose, and is deservedly coming to be better appreciated and more largely grown for its fodder as well as its grain. But there are times when corn cannot be used, as when labor is scarce, the land rough, or the season too far advanced for planting corn. Under such circumstances millet has long been a favorite erop. The millets thrive best on a warm, open, fertile soil. They are gross feeders and are well adapted to new land, where fertility is abundant and the soil loose and porous. On old land it is important for this erop that the soil be well prepared, particularly if it is heavy; but under nearlv all circumstances sandy land, unless very poor, gives the best results. Millet grows best in the hottest weather, and should not be sown until the ground has become thoroughly warm, generally about the tirstofjune. It is time enough to sow millet after corn is planted. It will then come on rapidly and get the start of the weeds. For the large Germán millet, the sowing should not be delayed much after that time, as that variety requires the entire season in this latitude. The smaller variety, known as comrnon millet, may safely be sown as late as the first week in July, and in seasons not too dry it will produce a good erop when sown on land from which hay or wheat has been harvested. Where practicable, however, all the varieties should be sown early in June in order to escape, as far as possible, the influence of the late summer drouths. In seeding for hay, if too little is used the fodder will be coarse and unpalatable. A moist, fertile soil will bear heavier seeding than a poor, dry one. If seed instead of fodder is wanted, less should be sown. For that purpose, especially where the soil is poor or weedy, better results are obtained by sowing the erop in drills and cultivating it. The amount recommended to be sown per acre varies from one peck to one bushei, and these limits are sometimes exceeded. Three pecks per acre was the standard adopted the past season in seeding for hay at this station, but as the season was very dry the amount proved to be large, and our yield would undoubtedly, in most cases, have been greater if we had used less seed. I think half a bushei per acre sufficient, ia most cases, if sown for hay, and one peck if sown broadcast for seed. Millet is generally regarded as being exhaustive erop, and not without reason. It draws largely on the available fertility of the soil and its small surface feeding roots give aack but little in return. Still this s not always an objection. On new timber land, or on nch prairie soil, a erop like this to take the ' fire" out of the soil is often an advantage, particularly if grain crops are to follow. W. M. Hays, of the Minnesota experiment station, says: " Wheat seems to do as well after millet as on a summer fallo w." n Nebraska millet is said to put he land in excellent condition for ugar beets. Millet is often used for this pur)ose, on account of its strong, rapid rowth. If a low, wet spot is to be edeemed it can be plowed in June, when too late to plant corn, and owed to millet, which will kill out most of the wild growth and leave he land in the fall in good condiion for timothy or some other permanent grasses. As a general erop for subduing weeds it has some advantages over juckwheat. lts seeds do not usually remain in the soil as do those of the buckwheat, and become a weed in after years. It also stands drouth better than buckwheat, and s therefore better in dry seasons, :hough under favorable circumstances buckwheat will grow up and Droduce a heavy shade somewhat quicker. Even when the millet :ails to produce a sufficient growth to overshadow the weeds and choke them out, it draws so strongly upon the soil moisture that they have ittle chance to grow. A writer in the Country Gentleman states that he completely rid a seventy-five acre lot of Canada this:les by sowing Hungarian grass and following with'giant clover. Hunjarian was sown at this station this season upon half an acre of Canada thistles and one-fourth acre of quack rass. Neither was entirely killed by the millet, but better results were obtained than on two similar patches of these weeds sown to buckwheat.