BEEEDIXG DEOUGHT-EESISTANT SOKGOS. 23 



Selection No. 9. — This was about the best row in the breeding plat; 

 the plants stooled freel}', the stalks were small, and the plants uni- 

 form in height and type. It was early and uniform in ripening seed. 



Selection No. 10. — This row was very similar to that of selection 

 No. 9 except that the plants were later in maturing and the stalks 

 were slightly thicker. (See PI. II, fig. 2.) 



Selection No. 12. — This was a fairly good row; the stalks were 

 small and the plants stooled freely and were early in ripening. A 

 pecuHarity of this row was that a large percentage of the outer glumes 

 of the seed were free from hairs. 



Bulk seed was saved from each of the above selections. This seed 

 was harvested September 16, when nearly all the plants in the breed- 

 ing nurser}" were mature. Seed from each row was harvested sepa- 

 rately by cutting the mature panicles from all the plants that showed 

 the type characteristic of the row. No comparisons of yields of either 

 seed or forage were made, as the differences in stand in the different 

 rows would have made the comparison of little value. The bulk seed 

 from each row was planted in field plats in 1910 for comparison of 

 their drought resistance, yield, uniformity, earliness, and other char- 

 acteristics. The writer believes that sorgo can be made a valuable 

 crop in the northern sections of the Great Plains if this early-matur- 

 ing type is planted. Since no strain that will ripen seed is at present 

 generally grown in this region, it would seem desirable to increase 

 seed of these superior selections as rapidly as possible for distribution 

 to farmers. 



SORGO BREEDING AT THE AKRON DRY-LAND STATION. 



Seed of each of the selections made at Belief ourche in 1908 was 

 planted in single rows 8 rods long at the Akron Dry-Land Station in 

 1909. Each of the plants selected in 1908 bore two or more panicles 

 of mature seed. The seed from one of these panicles was planted at 

 Bellefourche and the seed from the other at Akron. The progeny 

 was very similar in type of plant and general characteristics to that 

 grown at the two stations, l:)ut it is evident that extreme earliness in 

 ripening is not of first importance at the Akron station. Tlie progeny 

 of selection Xo. 13 was considered the best row there, while at Belle- 

 fourche it was decidedly too late in maturing and the stalks had a 

 tendency to be coarse and pithy. This row, No. 13, was harvested 

 for seed, and the seed was planted for comparison with other varieties 

 in 1910. 



It is probable that later maturing varieties (for example. Orange 

 and Red iVmber) may be grown to good adA^antage at Akron, and in 

 future drought-resistance breeding work at that locality such varieties 

 will be considered. 



196 



