ARABIAN EVERGREEN MILLET—A NEW FORAGE PLANT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 828, 28 December 1882, Page 2

ARABIAN EVERGREEN MILLET— A NEW FORAGE PLANT.

From a pamphlet published in San Francisco we take the annexed account

of what appears to be a most valuable plant:—“The following are some of the leading points in the character of this extraordinary millet:—lt is a perennial hay and grazing grass. It requires sowing but once. It can be cut for hay four times a year, and produces two to four tons per acre each cutting. No irrigation is ever required for it. It has been tried on all kinds of soils and variety of climates, and everywhere has been a perfect success. It makes more hay than alfalfa, and of greatly superior quality. It is succulent, and contains much saccharine matter, and is very valuable for dairymen and farmers generally. And, besides all this, no animal was ever known to bloat from eating it, and all kinds of stock eat it with the greatest avidity. It also makes a greater summer and winter growth than any other forage plant. And, to crown all, it cannot be injured by drought or flood, freezing or gophers. Wherever sown, it will thoroughly establish itself, and will run out all kinds of ! weeds, and take possession of the soil without any help whatever. It will be asked, is this a new grass ? and where is its native habitat ? In reply, it may be stated that it is not a new grass, though it may be quite new to the farmers of these colonies. In the' Old f World it appears to have been grown from the earliest ages of which there is any record, grown, too, both for pas,tur/e and hay, in the driest lands. Origin- , ally it came from near the city pfv Aleppo, in Asia Minor, and was extensively grown between the river Jordan and the Euphrates.” The following is an extract from an Australian paper in regard to the Arabian evergreen millet —“ This new millet is quite distinct from all other species, and is, without doubt, destined to take the'front rank of valuable forage plants. Sown in light sandy soil the plants at first appear feeble, but when a few inches, above ground they begin to tiller, and new shoots appear rapidly from the original root until the number is half-a-dozen to : a dozen or more. The stems at first are nearly prostrate, but when about two feet long they begin to assume anj upright position, reaching a height ‘of eight or ten feet, not differing in color or substance from Indian corn. When the stems have reached nearly their full height the seed or flower spikes appear at the summit. As soon as the first or principal flower spikes appear, the stems throw out lateral branches from every joint, these, in turn, producing leaves and flower spikes. When cultivated for fodder the seeds should he dropped in drills, and given plenty of room on account of the habit of tillering, and, judging trom our brief experience with it, we think a quart of seed, or, at most, two quarts, abundant for an acre.” As to the great success and unprecedented growth of this new forage plant, the following extract from a letter written by Mr Cox, of New York, and which appeared in the August number of the Tropic , will be read with interest : —He says: “The seedsman who has it (one of the most reliable in New York), experimented with it himself, and tells me that here in New Jersey soil and climate he obtained the following results :—He sowed the seed on the 15th of May, in drills 18 inches apart at the rate of fourpounds to the acre. In 12 days the plants were up so that he ran a cultivator between the rows, after which no cultivation was necessary or for the growth was astonishing, and crowded down every weed and other vegetation, The first cutting was made on the Ist July, just 45 days after sowing; it was then seven feet high, covering the whole ground, having filled up the spaces between the drill rows, and the crop, cut three inches above the ground, weighed in the green state--30 tons to the acre. This, when dried, gave six and one-half tons of hay to the acre. After this cutting the second growth started, and was cut again on the 15 th of August—just 45 days after the first cutting. Its height' was then nine feet, and weighed in the : green state 55 tons to the acre, and when dried eight tons of hay to the acre. The third crop started as rapidly as the second, but the cool nights of September lessened its tropical lukuriance, so that this crop, which was cut on the Ist of October, only weighed 10 tons to the acre in the green state, and one and one-half tons when dried into hay—making in days an aggregate weight of 95 tons of green fodder, or 16 tons of dried hay to the acre. He further says that all his horses and cattle ate it greediy in both the green and dried states, and it seemed in every way an excellent feed for them. Just ‘think of this rapid growth, between the xst of July and the .15th of August, nine feet—nearly two and onehalf inches every 24 hours.” A gentleman in California, writing on behalf of his firm, says : —“ The growth of this grass is surprising, VVe are now cutting it for seed; it is eight feet high. We expect to sow 200 acres of it this season, as we think it far ahead of alfalfa. The roots are known to go down into the earth from 5 to 15 feet, according to the character of the soil. The grass has a head something like English oats, and the seed resembles that of flax seed, but a little more full and round when ripe.”