Vegetable substances used for the food of man / [Edwin Lankester. Revised and partly rewritten].

  • Edwin Lankester
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vegetable substances used for the food of man / [Edwin Lankester. Revised and partly rewritten]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3'ellow-seedod millet. Use is made of these in a similar manner with rice, Cor the j)reparation of puddinsrs. This variety is likewise a native oC India; it is enl- tivated largely in China and Cochin China; and has been introtluced into the island oC Jamaica. Philip Miller reared it in his garden in 1759. In warm climates millet is usually sown in Ma>' and June, and perCects it seeds within four months. The j)lant is not subject to Iditrht, nor is it easih' injured by either drought or rain. The only care reciuired in its cul- tivation is to allow sufficient space Cor the tillering oC the plants, and to weed and hoe the intervals during the early part oCthe growth; after which it will overtoj)and smother all weeds. When millet is ripe, the panicles are cut off near to the toj) oC the stalk, and colleeted in sacks or baskets. They are then laid up in heaps, and carefidly covered during five or si.v days ; after which they are spread on the barn fioor, and the grain is threshed out in the or- dinary manner with a Hail. The more primitive method of treading out the grain by means oCo.ven is resorted to in some parts of India. If millet is not perfectly diy when deposited in the granary it will soon bo si)oiled ; but, on the other hand, if this ])rccaution bo jjroperl v taken, there is no grain that will keep longer or better. The weevil will not touch it, and although it is doubtless the better for being turned over occasionalI3', that process, so indis- pensable with other grain, ma\' be omitted here without ])roducing any serious injurv. In aildition to the use made of the stalks as fodder, the Nubians employ them in the construction of temporary huts. In the barren districts of Hornou a species ot millet is produccal, which is called by the inhabitatits s^iissvh, and upon which both men and animals arc almost e.x- clusively fed. By the ])Oorer class it is fre(|itently eaten, sim|)l3' parched, or even withotit any culinary prepara- tion. Other ])crsons crush and then steep the .seeds in water ])revious to eating them ; and some few, who are tlie epicures of the land, clear the grain from the husk,
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