CULTURE OF SORGHUM 39 1 



sorghum are large they are apt to retain their juices, which 

 when frozen ferment, and rapid deterioration of the fodder 

 results. Where sweet sorghum is grown for seed for subse- 

 quent planting or for sirup two to three pounds per acre are 

 sufficient 



551. Method of Planting. — ^Any form of maize planter may 

 be used for planting sorghum by substituting special plates. In 

 case special plates are not available the rotary disk plate of the 

 maize planter may be filled with melted lead and bored out the 

 proper size. The wheat drill can also be used as suggested for 

 maize. (305) 



" Perhaps the best and most practical is the ordinary grain-drilL As the rows 

 should be thirty to thirty-six inches apart, the holes may be stopped by tacking a 

 piece of pasteboard over all except those which will plant the rows the proper dis- 

 tance. On an eleven-hole drill, by stopping all but the outside holes and the mid- 

 dle one, the rows will be thirty inches apart; or by arranging a thirteen-hole drill 

 the same way the rows will be thirty-six inches apart, providing the distance 

 between the shoes is six Indies. A marker may be put on the drill by bolting a two- 

 by-four timber to the middle post of the frame and letting it project behind to 

 fasten the marker to, and pull the other end by a rope or chain from the marker to 

 the doubletree. Or a slat may be fastened to the frame of the drill and project out 

 to the sides in front of the wheels, and a light chain or wire be fastened to the slat 

 to drag in the wheel mark made the previous round, and so adjusted as to indicate 

 the proper distance from the last row planted." 1 



Listing is frequently practiced, but more difficulty is experi- 

 enced on account of the weeds and the slow growth of sorghum 

 than in the case of maize. More injury also is experienced 

 from flooding for the same reasons. 



552. Cultivation. — The principles underlying the cultivation 

 jf sorghum and the tools used are the same as those for maiae, 

 the only difference being that greater vigilance must be exer- 

 cised to prevent weeds from getting a start. (312) The land 

 should be kept harrowed sufficiently before the sorghum comes 

 up to prevent weeds getting a start, and after it is up may be 

 harrowed with a weeder or light harrow as suggested for maize 



* Rpt Kan. St Bd. Agr., March, 1900, p. 56. 



