ABSTRACT
The millet grains take no considerable part in international commerce; they are, in all countries, the food of the poorer classes, and are little cultivated in the more advanced agricultural regions. On the other hand it must never be forgotten that they form the principal food of perhaps a quarter of the world’s population. The millets have certain advantages over any of the more usual forms of cereal. Some of them, notably the various Panicum millets, grow very rapidly and ripen more quickly than any other cereal crop. In their distribution, however, the Middle East has only a minor place, though they are of very ancient use there. By far the most important of the millets is Sorghum vulgare or the Great Millet. There are four important species of Panicum millet: Panicum miliaceum, Panicum miliare, Setaria italica, and Echinochloa frumentacea.
