39^ THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



an acre. The principal acreage is in the Southern States. None 

 of the North Atlantic or Western States produces any consider- 

 able quantity. Kansas and Missouri are the principal producers 

 among the North Central States. The yield per acre of cane 

 was 6.5 tons and of sirup fifty-eight gallons. The total acreage 

 of Kafir varieties in Kansas in 1899 was reported at 619,00c 

 acres, of which 155,000 acres were raised for seed. 



565. Yield per Acre. — As a grain crop, sorghum is more 

 productive than maize in the semiarid districts. The Kansas 

 Station reports an average yield for eleven years ending 1899 of 

 forty-six bushels per acre of Kafir corn and thirty-five bushels 

 per acre of maize. Their highest yield in any one year was 

 Kafir corn ninety-eight bushels and maize seventy-eight bushels. 

 In the semiarid districts west of the Kansas Station it is believed 

 that the relative difference in yield is still greater. The average 

 yield of broom corn in 1889 '^^'^.s 509 pounds of brush per acre, 

 averaging four cents per pound, which has been the average 

 price of broom corn brush in Illinois for the twenty-five years 

 ending 1901. One-third of a ton of standard brush or one-fifth 

 of a ton of dwarf brush per acre is considered a satisfactory 

 crop. 



566. History. — Sorghum is probably indigenous to tropical 

 Africa, whence it was introduced into Egypt in prehistoric times 

 and from there into India and finally into China.^ Sweet sor- 

 ghum was introduced into the United States in 1845 and widely 

 disseminated through the influence of Orange Judd. The Kafir 

 varieties now generally grown for seed were introduced 

 about 1885 by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 Their cultivation has been rapidly extended in the regions 

 to which they are especially adapted. Broom corn has been 

 cultivated in this country for more than 100 years. Brewer 

 believes the use of sorghum for the production of broom origi- 



1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 382. 



