8 THREE MUCH-MISKEPEESENTED SORGHUMS. 



especially for forage, Blackliull kafir averaged over 12,000 pounds, 

 Red kafir over 13,000 pounds, and the two best sorgos,^ or sweet 

 sorghums, over 15,000 and 17,000 pounds to the acre, respectively. 



(5) Value of the forage. ^There is also no reason for believing that 

 the quahty of the forage is better than that produced by kafirs and 

 sorgos. The stems are dry and pithy, like those of corn, milos, and 

 the kowliangs. The kafirs have somewhat juicy stems, while the 

 sorgos are both juicy and sweet. The average number of leaves to 

 the stalk is very close to 13, which is slightly lower than the average 

 for kafirs and all sorgo varieties except the Amber group. These 

 facts concerning the dry stalks, the ordinary number of leaves, and 

 the comparatively low tonnage of forage do not indicate a variety of 

 high forage value, either in quantity or quality. 



OBJECTIONABLE CHARACTERS IN SHALLU. 



While growing shallu on a small scale in 1905 and more exten- 

 sively in 1906, some serious faults were found in it. The four most 

 prominent of these are stooling, lodging, retaining the base of the head 

 in the boot, and shattering. Experiments with shallu in recent years 

 have been largely directed toward getting rid of these undesirable 

 characters. 



Stooling, or producing suckers at the base of the main stalk, is not 

 desirable in grain sorghum, however it may be regarded in forage 

 varieties or in small grains generally. The heads borne on suckers 

 are always later in maturing than those on the main stalk. More- 

 over the suckers are not usually of the same height as the main stalks. 

 This lack of uniformity in ripening and in height causes difiiculty in 

 harvesting the grain, especially with any type of header. While a 

 smaller quantity of seed may be required in sowing a freely stooling 

 variety, so little seed is used for any of the grain sorghums that this 

 small saving is not worth considering. 



Its habit of lodging is one of the most serious objections to shallu. 

 Just at the time when the heads are heavy with the green seeds the 

 stalks begin to lodge. In the writer's experiments it has happened 

 more than once that by the time one-tenth of the heads were ripe 

 fully one-fourth of the stalks were down in a hopeless tangle. 



The failure of the heads to come completely out of the boot is often 

 a serious matter to the grain grower. On a considerable proportion 

 of the stalks the base of tlie head remains inclosed by the sheath, even 

 in favorable seasons. No seed is producetl on this included portion, 

 and the yield is reduced to that extent. This basal part of the head 

 also becomes infested with plant lice and worms and usually becomes 



a Sorgo i.s the name which has been adopted for the group called variously sweet, 

 saccharine, or sirup sorghums, and commonly, but erroneously, "sugar cane." 

 [Cir. 50] 



