Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/574

 556 MILLET MILLOT cient and modern agriculture is panicum mili- aceum. The genus panicum (the ancient name for a grass which is now placed in another genus) is a very extensive one, about 850 spe- cies being enumerated ; yet but few of them are ranked among the useful grasses, and mil- let is one of the few that furnish food ; this has been so long in cultivation that the history of its origin is very obscure. It has a strong stem, 2 to 4 ft. high, with a profusion of fo- liage ; its abundant flowers are in large, open, nodding panicles, and the plant has much the appearance of a miniature broom corn; the seeds afford a very nutritious flour. The plant requires a dry rich soil, and when now cultivated it is usually for forage, to be cut and cured like grass before the seeds are ripe enough to drop. The ease with which our farmers can raise crops of fodder corn (maize) precludes the growing of this and other for- age crops which are valued in Europe. Hun- garian, German, and Italian millets are va- rieties of setaria Itali- ca. The genus setaria is regarded by some botanists as a section of panicum, the only difference between them being that in se- taria the short pedicels of the flowers are pro- longed beyond them into bristles, which in the millet species are in clusters of two or three and longer or shorter than the flow- ers. In this as in most other setarias the spikelets or flow- ers are collected in a (Setaria verv dense spike-like panicle, which in some forms is a foot or more long, and usually interrupted at the base. None of these millets are cultivated in this country for their seeds, unless occasionally for feeding poultry, but they have obtained in some localities a place as forage plants. The most useful is the Hungarian millet, more gen- erally called Hungarian grass (S. Italica, var. Germanica), which is excellent to supplement a short hay crop; it is an annual, of very rapid growth, and on rich soils gives a very large amount of green fodder, or it may be made into hay. If to be cured, it should be cut as soon as it blooms, and before the nu- merous small bristles of the flowers become firm, as these when ripe and rigid may prove injurious to horses. This setaria is a most variable species, and every few years a new form of it is introduced with a new name, which does not prove essentially different from the old. Other species of setaria are known as fox-tail and bottle grasses; they are com- Hungarian Millet Germanica). mon in cultivated grounds as weeds. Longf before sorghum was cultivated in this country as a sugar plant, a variety of it was grown as Indian millet. (See SORGHUM.) MILLET, lime, a French sculptor, born in Paris about 1816. He studied under David d' Angers, and became famous in 1857 by his u Ariadne," which was purchased by the gov- ernment. The most celebrated of his recent works are a statue on the tomb of Henri Mur- ger, "Apollo" in the grand opera house, the monument of Baudin in Pere Lachaise, and a statue of a garde mobile for Leon Dupre's monument to the guards of the department of Eure who fell in the war of 1870-71. MILLET, Jean Francois, a French painter, born about 1815, died Jan. 18, 1875. He studied under Delaroche, and was distinguished for his genre pictures and landscapes, which repre- sent rural life according to the realistic school with remarkable fidelity. Among his finest works are "A Girl shearing Sheep" (1861), which was again exhibited with other works in 1867; " Teaching Tricot " (1869); "Novem- ber," and "A Woman making Butter" (1870). MILLET, Pierre, a French missionary, born in 1631, died in Quebec, March 22, 1708. He came to America in 1666, and was soon after sent to Onondaga, laboring there and at Onei- da till 1684, and making a few converts. He returned to Oneida in 1688, but because of the English influence could not restore his mission. While acting as chaplain at Fort Frontenac in 1690, he was lured out by the Indians and taken prisoner. The Christian Oneidas in the large Iroquois force claimed him, and he was sent to their canton, and finally adopted into the tribe. The New York authorities who had been hostile to him now endeavored to induce the Oneidas to give him up ; but they refused, and he remained there till October, 1694, to the great annoyance of New York, the gover- nors of that colony endeavoring to effect his release, and the governors of Canada to pre- vent it. His own account of his captivity was published at New York in 1865. MILLIN, A ii hi 11 Louis, a French archaeologist, born in Paris, July 19, 1759, died Aug. 14, 1818. He was keeper of the museum of an- tiquities in the national library. His principal works are : Peintures des vases antiques ; Monu- ments antiques inedits ; Qalerie mythologique ; Voyage dans les departements du midi de la France; and Histoire metallique de la revo- lution francaise. His "Medallic History of Napoleon," left incomplete, was published in English by J. Millingen (London, 1819). He was the founder of the Magasin encyclopedique and Annales encyclopediques. MILLOT, Claude Francois Xavier, a French ecclesiastic, born at Ornans, Franche-Comte", March 5, 1726, died in Paris, March 21, 1785. He entered the society of Jesus, and became professor of rhetoric at their college in Lyons; but his relation with them was brought to a close by their objections against his eulogy of