AGRICULTURAL HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SORGHUM. 17 



the groups found farther south in the various colonies of the Guinea 

 coast. However, it seems not improbable that more extensive ex- 

 ploration may discover, in the dry, hot territory forming the south- 

 ern border of the Sahara, other varieties adapted to our western 

 plains. 



UPPER GUINEA. 



Varieties have been obtained from Senegal, French Guinea, Ivory 

 Coast. Gold Coast, Togoland. Dahomey, and Nigeria. The leading 

 group is one with large, oval, flattened seeds, varying in color from 

 white through pale red to deep reddish brown ; red, brown, or black 

 glumes, and semicompact heads. A striking peculiarity is the lateral 

 rotation of the seed in the glumes at maturity, the axis of the move- 

 ment being a line from the hilum to the apex of the seed. This 

 movement of the seed is apparently characteristic of the whole 

 group, which includes HackeFs variety orulifer and probably some 

 other botanical varieties. The different forms in this group all have 

 the appearance of being good grain producers. An effort should be 

 made to find -some suitable for cultivation in this country. Those 

 heretofore secured are much too late for any but tropical regions. 



Another sorghum group found in this region is closely related to 

 the shallu (fig. 4) of India, and probably represents Hackel's variety 

 rooeburghii. It is characterized by rather slender stalks, loose, open, 

 pyramidal heads with more or less drooping branches, small, oval 

 seeds, and slender, acute glumes, which spread apart and become 

 involute at maturity, completely exposing the seeds. One of these 

 varieties from Senegal, called by the French " Mil Cigne," is appar- 

 ently meeting with some favor at the Florida Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. It seems adapted as a combined forage and grain crop. 



BRITISH-EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 



A recent importation of several varieties from the region of Khar- 

 tum shows that the leading varieties are of the durra type found in 

 Lower Egypt, some of the varieties being identical. The seeds average 

 smaller, but this ma}^ be due to the less luxuriant growth of the 

 Sudanese plants. Besides the usual forms with white, pale-yellow, 

 and pale-brown seeds, there is one with gray seeds. This last variety 

 has proved quite early and a fair yielder, and may ultimately become 

 a profitable crop in the United States. The seeds tend to become 

 white under our climatic conditions. The other varieties are now 

 being grown for the first time, and their maturity will be watched 

 with interest in the hope of finding some of value. 



Abyssinia. 



The sorghums of Abyssinia are yet but little known. In a consid- 

 erable collection of the seeds sent from that country to France in 1840 

 L'lT.TS— Bui. 175—10 3 



