B. P. I.— 839. 



SUDAN GRASS, A NEW DROUGHT-RESISTANT 



HAY PLANT. 



INTRODUCTION. 



For several years past, beginning with 190G, the writer and his 

 assistants made a careful stndv of Johnson gi-ass wdtli the view of 

 finding a strain lacking the underground rootstocks which make 

 Johnson grass so objectionable. While variations in this character 

 were found, no single plant was detected which had the rootstocks 

 wholly absent. Coincident with these studies packages of Johnson 

 grass seed were obtained from various foreign sources, in part wdth 

 the assistance of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 

 Among those received are two other varieties bearing rootstocks like 

 Johnson grass but differing in other characters, and two very distinct 

 varieties that have the rootstocks wdiolly absent. The first of the lat- 

 ter Avas received in 1909 under the name " garawi," through Mr. R. 

 Hewison, Director of Agriculture and Lands of the Sudan Govern- 

 ment at Khartum. After growing this for one season at Chillicothe, 

 Tex., it was inventoried as Seed and Plant Introduction No. 25017. 



In further correspondence with Mr. Hewison some additional in- 

 formation has been secured. The Sudan botanists were under the 

 impression that garawi is a form of Andropogon Kalepensis^ or John- 

 son grass. According to Mr. Hewison, the following note appears 

 in Broun 's Catalogue of Sudan Flowering Plants : 



Andropogon haJcpensis Brot. Adder or Adra (wild variety) and Garawi 

 (cultivated), Arab. Tall grass cultivated for fodder. The seeds are eaten in 

 times of scarcity. When wild it grows to a height of 12 feet and is found in 

 damp localities along the river banks or edges of pools. Found in Sennar, 

 White Nile, and Kordofan. 



Whether the wild plant is the same as the cultivated Mr. Hewison 

 is not sure, and promised specimens have not yet been received. In 

 Sudan, garawi is cultivated only to a limited extent, mainly at the 

 experiment station and at military hay farms, two cuttings of hay 

 being secured there each season under irrigation. The seed was 

 brought to Sudan from Egypt, where it is also cultivated to some 

 extent under the same name. It is probable that it is the grass that 

 all writers on Egyptian botany have called Andropogon halepensis. 



[Cir. 125] 



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