The Sorghums ^>^»!^ 



the West, however, many farmers cut their hroadcast sorghum 

 with a grain binder. This method is preferable whenever it can be 

 cured in bundles, as it is much easier to handle. 



In New York, sorghum can be cut only once for fodder or hay ; 

 but in the southern states two, and sometimes three, cuttings are 

 obtained in a season, as new shoots develop quickly from the 

 stubble and make a rapid gi'owth. This feature makes sorghum 

 rather valuable as a crop to be used for soiling purposes. For 

 green feed it can be cut at any time after it is two or three feet 

 high, but it is better not to cut until after the plants are in head. 

 The average vield of o-reen forage is no doubt above 15 tons to the 

 acre, although no accurate figures are available. 



A considerable part of the sorghum acreage harvested for grain 

 alone was formerly topped in the field by cutting the heads off 

 with a knife. Several machines designed to facilitate this pro- 

 cess have been developed, some of which can be attached directly 

 to an ordinarv' wagon box. The most efi^ective way of gathering 

 the heads of grain sorghums, especially wdiere they are erect in 

 growth, is to raise the platform of an ordinary grain header to 

 th^ proper height and cut the crop wnth that machine. 



Care must be used when the heads are gathered separate from 

 the stalk to prevent them from heating in the granary or cribs, 

 otherwise the germinating power of the seed will be lowered or 

 destroyed entirely. It is necessary to store the seed heads in 

 narrow ricks under cover, or in cribs having open sides with venti- 

 lators at frequent intervals underneath. The seed can be thrashed 

 in an ordinary grain separator by removing part of the concaves 

 and decreasing the speed of the cylinder. If these adjustments are 

 not made, a great many seeds will be cracked ; and, while this does 

 not injure their feeding value, it does lower their germination, 

 •Cracked and poorly cleaned seed is much more apt to heat dur- 

 ing shipment than is that which has been properly thrashed. 



The varieties of sorghum more especially adapted to grain 

 production, such as kafir, milo, feterita, and kaoliang, commonly 

 yield 20 to 30 bushels an acre, but yields of 80 and 90 bushels an 

 acre are frequently reported. The sweet sorghums which have not 

 been developed for grain production ordinarily yield less seed. 

 The seed of sorghum varies in weight from 55 to 60 pounds a 



