26 



HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SORGHUM. 



continent of Asia, have one or two varieties, apparently of Indian or 

 American derivation. In Australia the standard varieties are all 

 importations from the United States. Numerous native varieties 

 from India and the British colonies in Africa have been tested in 

 Australia recently and a few are likely to persist in cultivation, at 

 least for some years. 



EuRorE. 



Pliny (TO A. D.) records that a variety of sorghum was intro- 

 duced from India into Italy about ten years previously. Its cultiva- 

 tion in Italy has ap- 

 parently been con- 

 t i mi o u s since the 

 earliest introduction, 

 and it was there that 



sorgo, was first ap- 

 plied to the crop. 

 In the extensive com- 

 merce of Greece and 

 Rome with Africa 

 and Asia it is prob- 

 able that other im- 

 portations of sor- 

 ghum reached the 

 northern shore of the 

 Mediterranean Sea 

 from time to time. 

 By the end of the fif- 

 teenth century the 

 cultivation of one or 

 more forms of sor- 

 ghum had become 

 quite general in all 

 of southern Europe 

 from Greece to Por- 

 tugal. It had also 

 gradually extended 

 northward to Ger- 

 many (fig. 10), 

 France, Belgium, Holland, and even to England. In these more 

 northern countries it was probably grown as a curiosity in botanic 

 gardens and did not always mature. It was generally known as 

 Indian millet or reed millet to distinguish it from the smaller millets. 



175 



the 



name surgo, or 



Fig. 10. — Plant of sorghum, after Fuchs, 1542 



