iest falls out. It should be closely
watched, and cut in just about the same stage that it is proper to cut
wheat, while the grain may be crushed between the fingers. It may be
cut with a grain cradle, and, when dry, bound and shocked like grain;
but it should be threshed out as soon as practicable, on account of
its being usually much attacked by birds, many kinds of which are very
fond of the seed. In particular localities they assail the crop in
such numbers, from the time it is out of the "milk," till it is
harvested and carried off the field, that it is no object to attempt
to ripen it. This crop is sometimes sown in drills, when it is only
intended for fodder, being cut and cured in bundles, as the stalks of
Indian corn are. It is best to pass it through a cutting machine
before feeding it to stock; indeed, all millet hay will be fed with
less loss in this way, than if fed to animals without cutting.

The seed is used in various European countries as a substitute for
sago, for which it is considered excellent. It is likewise a valuable
food for poultry, particularly for young chickens, which from the
smallness of the grain can eat it readily, and it appears to be
wholesome for them.

In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into
bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other
respects, as a substitute for rice. A good vinegar has been made from
it by fermentation, and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit.
Millet seed--the produce of _H. saccharatum_--is imported into this
country from the East Indies for the purpose chiefly of puddings; by
many persons it is preferred to rice. It is cultivated largely in
China and Cochin-China. The stalks, if subjected to the same process
that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which
an excellent kind of sugar may be made.

Millet will grow best on light, dry soils. The ground being first well
prepared, half a bushel of seed to the acre is ploughed in at the
commencement of the rains, in India. The crop ripens within three
months from the time of sowing. The usual produce is about 16 bushels
to the acre. The Canary Islands export annually about 212,400 bushels
of millet.

_Great Indian Millet, or Guinea Corn_.--This is a native of India (the
_Sorghum vulgare_, the _Andropogon Sorghum_ of Roxburgh), which
produces a grain a little larger than mustard or millet seed. It is
grown in most tropical countries