Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-31
aflistrllanrous Readina.
MILLET FOR FORAGE PURPOSES

MILLET FOR FORAGE PURPOSES.
Ono of the Best Supplementary Crops
Grown.
Clemson College, May 23.-Mr. J.
n. Harper, director Of the South Caro-
lima experiment stations, has the fol-
lowing to say, in substance, about
millet as a supplementary crop:
The millets are among the oldest
of all agricultural crops. History
states that varieties OF millets were
grown in China thousands OF years
ago, and today they furnish food to
millions of people throughout Asia
and Europe. In this country they are
used only for hay and forage pur-
poses.
There are three main types or
groups of millets grown in this coun-
try, barnyard millet, the foXtail millet
and the broom corn millet. OF these
three groups the foxtail is the only
one worth cultivating in the south
The foxtail millets are subdivided in
to the following varieties: German
millet, Hungarian and common millet
The German is the best variety for
rich bottom and we'll improved up
land soils, and the common millet is
the best for poor upland soils. Mil
let Is chiefly valuable as a supple
mentary or catch crop. 1t can be
planted any time during the late
spring and summer months. On
bottom land, where the corn crop has
been drowned by summer floods, it
can be planted with success as late
as the middle of July 1t is a splendid
crop to plant in the late summer
where other crops have failed, and it
Is good crop to follow bur clover
that has been allowed to go to seed.
The Clemson experiment station
has obtained four tons of millet hay
per acre, grown after the bur clover
seed had been saved. Millet also
does we'll after crop Of oats and
vetch or after crimson clover. AS 1t
is a shallow feeder 1t will catch the
nitrates formed in the soil by the
decaying of the roots of the winter
legumes 1t is a heavier feeder up
on the nitrateS and for this reason
has been condemned as an exhaustive
crop to the soil. However, if it is
followed by bur clover, crimson clover
or vetch, planted in October, no in
furious effect vii be noted. II sown
broadcast millet will choke out weeds
as no other crop will do. 1t is, there
fore, an excellent crop to plant in
new ground. 1t also has a most bene-
ticial effect upon the physical condi-
ton of the soil. Millet makes a hay
but slightly inferior to timothy and
1t can be easily substituted for tim
othy in feeding work stock. 1t is
a hay easily saved and handled. 1t
should be cut when beginning to
bloom. If it is allowed to stand un-
til the seed ripen, the hay will be in
ferior in quality and there will be
some danger in feeding 1t, owing to
the injurious effects the seed have on
the kidneys of horses and mules. The
stiff boards of rim millet are also
harmful to liv, ..Jck. When cut for
hay it should Je allowed to remain in
the winrow for a day and then placed
in cocks, where it should remain
three or four days before being
stacked or housed. Millet Is especially
we'll adapted for use as forage crop.
1t can be cut and fed green as soon
as the heads begin to appear All
kinds Of stock relish it and it is well
suited to dairy cattle. With sorghum
ii is a splendid crop to have on hand
in case of a dry spell occurring dur
ing the late summer, which cuts OH
pastures. If planted for hay the seed
should be sown broadcast or with
drill, using about three pecks per acre.
If intended for forage or seed II
should be planted with a drill in
rows about go inches apart using one
or two pecks of seed per acre. If
planted in rows it should be cultivated
two or three times. To obtain the
best results the land should be thor
oughly prepared and good seed bed
obtained. This can very often be
done by using a disk harrow. follow
ed by q smoothing harrow or drag.
If. however, the land Is hard, 1t
should first be ploughed with turning
plough. running shallow, and after
wards narrowed. The German millet
makes a much coarser hay than does
the common and Hungarian varieties,
but it will withstand more moisture.
There are thousands of acres or loW'
wet lands in South Carolina that are
now lying idle that could be planted
to millet profitably. These low-lying'
wet soils should have lime applied to
them at the time they are ploughed::
Milet is strictly a surface feeder and
II should, therefore, be well fertiliZed
with commercial fertilizers rich IN
ammonia or, better still, with stable
manure.
Millet grown after bur clover is
splendid preparatory crop for Grim
son clover, alfalfa and vetch.. as 1t
puts the soil in excellent physical
condition and destroys weeds: Com
mon millet can be planted the mid
die of July and be ready to cut tor
hay by the middle of Septempr;;
Every farmer should have small
patch of millet planted near the feed
lot where chickens run as no 1eed Is
better for laying hens than Is mll'e'
seed.