THEEE MUCH-MISREPRESENTED SORGHUMS. 7 



handle ref!:ion of Texas, 2 plats at the Channing Experimental Farm 

 yielded at the rate of 19^ bushels to the acre. On the same farm 

 milo yielded as high as 46 bushels, Blackhull kafir 35, and Red kafir 

 47. In 1906 the yield of shallu .at the Amarillo Experimental Farm, 

 from seed grown in that vicinity, was only 25.2 bushels. At the 

 same time Blackhull kafir yielded from 43 to 54 bushels and a plat of 

 Red kafir, 45.9. Most of the milo was destroyed by hail. In the 

 years succeeding 1906, shallu has never done quite as well in compari- 

 son with the other grain sorghums as it did in that year. 



A considerable correspondence with farmers wdio are raising this 

 crop has brought to light only one high yield in which actual w^eighing 

 or measuring of the thrashed grain is claimed. This yield is said to 

 have been 60 bushels to the acre, figured at 56 pounds to the bushel. 

 It was secured in the favorable season of 1908, in the southern part 

 of the Plains region, where the season is comparatively long and the 

 elevation less than 2,000 feet. 



(3) Feeding value of the grain. — No experiments in feeding shallu 

 grain have been made by any of the state agricultural experiment 

 stations, so far as known. Other grain sorghums are known to have 

 a feeding value about 90 per cent as great as that of corn. It is with 

 them that shallu must be compared. The chemical analysis of shallu 

 does not indicate a different composition in any particular. One 

 grower has published the statement that as a feed for milch cows he 

 finds shallu superior to cottonseed in the production of milk and 

 butter. This opinion is no doubt honestly entertained, but such a 

 general statement is likely to lead many to believe that the starchy 

 grain sorghums, rich in carbohydrates, can be used as feeding sub- 

 stitutes for bran, cottonseed, and other products rich in protein. 

 This, of course, is not the case. 



(4) Yields of forage. °- — From the forage standpoint shallu does not 

 make any better showing. At the Channing farm in 1906, the 2 

 grain plats yielded an average of 3>227 pounds of forage to the acre, 

 including the w^eight of the seed. On the same farm, the 12 grain 

 plats of milo averaged about 4,800 pounds of forage, the 5 plats of 

 Blackhull kafir about 6,300 pounds, while 1 plat of Red kafir yielded 

 7,800 pounds to the acre. On the Amarillo Experimental Farm in 

 the same season, the grain plat of shallu yielded at the rate of 7,100 

 pounds of fodder to the acre, including the seed. In comparison, 6 

 grain plats of milo averaged 9,000 pounds of fodder to the acre, and 

 17 grain plats of Blackhull kafir and 6 grain plats of Red kafir aver- 

 aged over 10,000 pounds each to the acre. In the plats grown 



a The forage plats of sorghums on the Amarillo Experimental Farm were maintained 

 by the Office of Forage-Plant Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Mr. 

 C. V. Piper, agrostologifst in charge, agrees in the conclusions drawn regarding the 

 forage value of shallu, and the figures presented in this connection. 

 ICir. 50] 



