B. r. I.— 5-)5. 



THREE MUCH-MISREPRESENTED SORGHUMS." 



SHALLXJ ("CALIFORNIA WHEAT")- 



The following extracts are from letters received on November 4 and 

 8, 1909, respectively, from a well-known seed firm. They indicate 

 that attempts are beino; made to sell seed of shallu, a variety of sor- 

 ghum, at exorbitant prices, by unwarranted claims of enormous 

 yields. 



We inclose a sample of grain \vhich an Oklahoma man is selling under the name of 

 -California wheat," at 50 cents a pound. He claims it will produce from 200 to 400 

 bushels per acre. * * * We corresponded with him and bought a pound of the 

 seed to investigate. We have it over his own signature that this grain will produce 

 from 200 to 400 bushels per acre. lie sells the seed at 50 cents a pound, or 40 cents in 

 100-pound lots. Of course, the grower may be sincere in thinking that he has a 

 wonderful new grain, but we think the public ought to be guarded against the repeti- 

 tion of the Alaska wheat excitement of last year. 



HISTORY OF THE VARIETY. 



The writer has had this variety under experimental cultivation 

 since the season of 1905. It has been grown at different stations in 

 the Great Plains area and also at the Arlington Experimental Farm, 

 near Washington, D. C, under Agrostology No. 2650 and Grain 

 Investigations Nos. 85, 100, 125, and 165. It has also been tested by 

 a few of the state agricultural experiment stations, particularly 

 Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Its known history in this 

 country may be related briefly. 



a Numerous varieties of sorghums have been brought to this country during the past 

 hundred years for use as forage, grain, or sugar crops. Many such importations are 

 soon discarded frojn general cultivation a.s being inferior, unsatisfactory sorts, but 

 remain in limited use in scattered localities. From time to time these localized crops 

 arc discovered anew by persons unacquainted with their history and habits and are 

 brought to public notice as wonderfully desirable varieties. Sometimes they occasion 

 little more trouble than a burdensome correspondence on the part of those handling 

 such crops. In other instances they are exploited for profit by individuals whose 

 statements are misleading, though often made without such intention. The great need 

 for profitable drought-resistant crops in the dry regions of the West leads many 

 farmers to invest in such over-advertised seeds. This paper gives the known facts 

 concerning three varieties of sorghum about which much confusion of ideas exists and 

 eome misleading statements are being made. — B. T. Galloway, Chief of Bureau. 

 [Cir. 50] 3 



