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MILLET (Fr. millet; Ital. miglietto, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 468 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILLET (Fr. millet; Ital. miglietto, diminutive of miglio= See also:Lat. mille, a thousand, in allusion to its fertility) , a name applied with little definiteness to a considerable number of often very variable See also:species of cereals, belonging to distinct genera and even subfamilies of Gramineae. See also:Common millet is Panicum miliaceum (See also:German Hirse). It is probably a native of See also:Egypt and See also:Arabia but has been cultivated in Egypt, See also:Asia and See also:southern See also:Europe from prehistoric times. It is See also:annual, requires See also:rich but friable See also:soil, grows to about 3 or 4 ft. high, and is characterized by its bristly, much branched nodding panicles. One variety has See also:black grains. It is cultivated in See also:India, southern Europe, and See also:northern See also:Africa, and ripens as far See also:north as southern See also:Germany, in fact, wherever the See also:climate admits of the See also:production of See also:wine. The See also:grain, which is very nutritious, is used in the See also:form of groats, and makes excellent See also:bread when mixed with wheaten See also:flour. It is also largely used for feeding poultry, for which purpose mainly it is imported. Hungarian grass, Setaria italica (also called Panicum italicum), a native of eastern Asia is one of the most whole-some and palatable See also:Indian cereals. It is annual, grows 4 to 5 ft. high, and requires dry See also:light soil. German Millet (Ger. Kolbenhirse, Mohar) is probably merely a less valuable and See also:dwarf variety of S. italica, having an erect, compact, and shorter spike.

The grains of both are very small, only one See also:

half as See also:long as those of common millet, but are exceedingly prolific. Many stalks arise from a single See also:root, and a single spike often yields 2 oz. of grain, the See also:total yield being five times that of See also:wheat. They are imported for poultry feeding like the former species and for cage-birds, but are extensively used in soups, &c., on the See also:Continent. Numerous other species belonging to the vast genus Panicum—the largest among See also:grasses, of which the following are among the most important—are also cultivated in tropical or subtropical countries for their grain or as See also:fodder Setaria italica. grasses, or both, each variety of soil, from swamp to See also:desert, having its characteristic forms. See also:Polish millet is P. sanguinale; P. frumentaceum, shamalo, a See also:Deccan grass, is probably a native of tropical Africa; P. decompositum Is the Australian millet, its grains being made into cakes by the See also:aborigines. P. maximum is the See also:Guinea grass, native of tropical Africa; it is perennial, grows 8 ft. high, and yields abundance of highly nutritious grain. P. spectabile is the coapim of See also:Angola, but has been acclimatized in See also:Brazil and other tropical countries. Other gigantic species 6 or 7 ft. high form the See also:field-crops on the See also:banks of the See also:Amazon. Of species belonging to allied genera, Pennisetum typhoideum, bajree, sometimes also called See also:Egyptian millet or See also:pearl millet, is largely cultivated in tropical Asia, See also:Nubia and Egypt. Species of Paspalum, Eleusine and Milium, are also cultivated as millets.

End of Article: MILLET (Fr. millet; Ital. miglietto, diminutive of miglio= Lat. mille, a thousand, in allusion to its fertility)

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MILLET (or MILE), JEAN FRANCOIS (c. 1642–1679)

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