THE SORGHUMS— THEIR USE AS FORAGE AND 

 GRAIN CROPS IN NEW YORK 



H. N. ViNALL 



Agronomist, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of 



Agriculture. 



INTRODUCTION 



The group of plants included under the botanical name, 

 Aiidropogon sorghum (L.) Brot. or IIolcus sorghum L. is one of 

 immense importance in the Cld World, and, on account of their 

 ability to withstand drought, will become a leading crop in the 

 semiarid regions of the United States where it is too dry for 

 Indian corn. 



Many botanists have considered Johnson grass (Andropogon 

 halepensis) , a perennial plant with rootstocks, as the original type 

 of our cultivated sorghums that are annuals. However, wild forms 

 of sorghums have been found in Africa that are annual and are 

 without rootstocks. Examples of these are Sudan grass and Tunis 

 grass, two forage plants lately introduced into the United States. 

 Several other wild grasses similar to these are known to exist in 

 Africa. Sudan grass and Tunis gTass cross very freely with the 

 cultivated sorghums, while it is rather difficult to make a cross 

 between Johnson grass and sorghum. It is reasonable to suppose, 

 therefore, that these annual forms are at least the immediate pro- 

 genitors of our cultivated sorghums. 



Th* culture of sorghum is prehistoric. Figures representing 

 some variety of sorghum were found on Egs'ptian ruins dating 

 from about 2200 b. c, and they are known to have been grown 

 in China and India at almost the beginning of the Christian 

 era. The sorghums very likely originated in Africa and spread 

 from there to Asia and Europe, a great diversity of forms develop- 

 ing through cross-pollination and selection. Sorghum was brought 

 to the West Indies under the name "Guinea corn," and is 

 reported * to have been under cultivation in the Carolina Colony 



* Lawson, John. A History of Carolina, p. 76 (1718). 



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