Millet--chapter Ii

Continaing the subject of Millet, the December Agricultural bulletin says: The aniount to sow per acre should vary with the variety, condition and character of the soil, whether for hay or for seed. There is an impression that millet hay is particularly difficult to cure. So sar as this is true, it seems to be due solely to the heavy growth which it malees under favorable circumstances, and to its rather large, fleshy sterns. The treatment required to make good millet hay is in no way different from that required in making hay of any other kind, except that usually more of the cunng should be done in the cock, since if the hay is left spread out until fit to be put in the mow, the leaves will often be over-dried and the sterns rendered by the exposure more hard and woody than they would otherwise be. The difficulty in curing millet hay is largely due in many cases to the lateness of the season at which it is performed, for if millet is sown late, as it often is, it may not complete its growth until well into the autum, vvhen damp, rainy weather prevails. The best that can then be done is to cut it on a fair day, and when about two-thirds cured bunch the hay into sraall cocks to stand until ready for the barn. Sometimes millet can be put up in cocks the same day that it is cut, but often it will have to lie until the second or third day. Dew or rain upon it before it is fully cured seems to injure millet less than other grasses, certainly much less than clover. VVhen well put up, millet hay sheds rain much better than that of most other grasses, and the cocks may stand in the field some time if necessary before being hauled. Millet hay settles down very solid and will weigh considerably more tnan the same bulk of other hay. This is evidently due to the fact that the sterns of millet are solid and not hollow as in most meadow grasses. Millet is often cut and fed green. It makes a quick growth and comes at a time when other green food is apt to be scarce. On rich soils it produces a large erop, and it is better for sowing broadcast than corn. If fed to horses not accustomed to green feed it should be used with moderation, or undue salivation, and perhaps colic, may result. A succession of Lreen fodder to supplement the ordinary grasses may be obtained by sovving rye early in September, to be cut off the succeeding May and followed by Hungarian. By the time this is gone, about the tïrst of August, a erop of sweet corn may be ready for use. Millet has been employed to a limited extent for ensilage with satisfactory results. A trial of millet for this purposu is now in progress at this station. lts yield per acre will not, however, usually equal that of Indian corn.