The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-04-01


second growth started, and was cut Au
gust 15th, foriy-five days from the time
of the first cutting. its height was nine
feet; it weighed this time at the rate Of
fofty-fiye tons to the acre green, and eight
tons dried. The third crop started as
rapidly as the second, but the cool Sep
tember nights lessened its tropical luxu-
rance, so that this crop, which was cut
October /, only weighed ten tons green
and one and one-half tons dried The
growth was simply enormous, thus:
FIRST crop in 45 days gave 80 tons green,
or 611z tons dry; second crop IN 10 days
30 tons green or 8 tons dry; third crop
in As days gave 10 tons green and II
tons dry; the aggregate weight being 50
tons of green fodder in 135 days from
date of sowing. and 1G tons when dried
to hay. This exceeds the clover mead
ows of Midlothian, which, when irri-
gated by the sewerage from the city of
Edinburg, and cut every four weeks,
gave an aggregate of seventy-fiye tons of
green clover per acre. There. is little
doubt that Pearl millet is equally as nu-
| tritious as corn fodder, which il resem-
bies even more than it does any of the
other millets. We found that all our
horses and cattle ate it greedily whether
green or dry. If sowing in drills is not
| using double the quantity of seed, say
sixteen quarts per acre. The ground
should be smOothed by the harrow, and
| again lightly narrowed after sowing; If
rolled after narrowing all the better. l
know of no farm crop that viii better re-
| pay high manuring; but so great is its
luxuriance that il will produce better
crop without manure than any other
plant know of. In those parts of the
southern states where hay cannot be
raised this is substitute of the easiest
culture, and being of tropical origin, it
| Will luxuriate in their long hot summers.
| Even though our northern seasons may
be toe short to mature the seeds, our ex-
| periments in New Jersey this summer
show what abundant crops may be ex-
| pected if the similar conditions are Sc
cured. Pearl millit as a fodder plant
| presents q new feature in our agricul-
/ ture, and I feel sure that within ten
/ years we shall wonder how we ever got
on without it."
There is one very important matter
that / failed TO state in the foregoing
method of culture, namely, the impor-
| lance of firming the seed after sowing.
| The seed of the Pearl millet is small,
and consequently easily shriveled up if
long exposed TO a driving atmosphere.
For that reason to make certain Of q
good termination of the seed, care
should be taken, if sown in drills, to
tread along the rows over the seed with
the feet before leveling the rows; this
places it in close contact with the soil,
SO that il is less affected if dry weather
ensues. When sown on large scale, OF
broadcast, this firming with the feet Of
course would not be practicable, but in
such cases g roller should be used after
narrowing or raking in, as the next best
thing; also always keep in mind that il
is a tropical plant and that it must never
be sown sooner tSan the crops of corn
cucumbers, or melons are sown. Hun
dreds of failures have occurred owing tC
its being sown too early.
When pearl millet is grown for the
purpose of drying or making "hay'' Of
it, would advise that 1t be grown il
beds, say twelve feet wide,and alleys say
six or eight feet between, on which i
may be dried, or, better yet, if croI
such as early potatoes were grown in thu
beds, say twelve feet wide parallel will
beds of millet of the same width, the pc
tato crop could be got out IN time 10 al
low the first crop of millet to be drieC
on the space were they grew, say by Jul.
10Th, for the millet crop is SO heavy tina
if dried like timothy or clover, on the
ground where it is cut, it would destro,
the second crop. The second growtl
is so enormous on rich land that it woult
bush out and nearly cover in the spac
where the potatoes had been grown
:. this practice were adopted.