448 SORGHUM. 



of these j-ounger men, when a j-ielrl of 8 or 10 bushels to the acre will be all 

 that j'ou will obtain from your whe.it crop. There is another thing; in connec- 

 tion with the sorghum crop, and it is a remarkable thing — it is not an exhaus- 

 tive crop. It was said to you to-da}- by Prof. Swenson, and it has been said by 

 professors of chemistry of numerous agricultural colleges, that j'our sugar and 

 sj'rup are obtained from the sunshine and the air, and not from the soil. The 

 ash of the sorghum is simply nothing, the amount which it obtains from the 

 earth very small indeed. Some of our farmers believe that sorghum acts upon 

 the soil something like clover, that it is a fertilizer. I have heard, at different 

 sorghum convention.s, farmers talking among themselves, and' saying that they 

 did not know what crop of grain thp.v could safely plant after a sorghum crop. 

 If they planted oats, or wheat, or barley, it was so productive and grew so rank 

 that it would lodge, and they would have to put some other crop upon it on that 

 account. Here is Seth H. Kenney, who was spoken of by your worthy presi- 

 dent this afternoon. He said that for sixteen years sorghum had been raised 

 upon the same field, and the last crop was just as productive a^ the first that 

 was put upon it, and no fertilizer employed during that time. I think, however, 

 I heard Mr. Kenney say that, a j'ear or two ago, he did apply some fertilizer. 

 Mr. Swariz, who lives in Illinois, near St. Louis, for 12 years has grown a crop 

 upon the same soil Avithout the application of any manure, and he says that 

 every year the juice is purer, and the syrup and the sugar are better from tliat 

 land. This is a remarkable qualitjr in this crop. It is not going to impoverish 

 j-our land. 



Without qtiestioning any of the iuterestiup; facts above stated, as to 

 this remarkable plant, it would be difficult to draw conclusions more 

 erroneous, or ultimately more fatal to successful agriculture. 



The fact that the acreage yicdd of wheat has fallen off in many sec- 

 tions of the country, is beyond question, but it is also true that many 

 crops may be successfully grown upon lands whicli will not yield a 

 good return in wheat. 



Clover, for example, has been long used as a crop preparatory to 

 wheat, and yet clover makes a far greater demand upon the soil than 

 does wheat, as is established by analysis. So, also, sorghum really 

 exhausts the land far more rapidly than wheat or even clover, and yet 

 it may be grown for years upon the same land successfully. 



It is also a matter of common experience, that sorghum is capable 

 of withstanding a period of drought, which would be fatal even lo the 

 crop which most nearly resembles it, maize (or Indian corn). 



We must look further, for the solution of wheat appears contradic- 

 tory. 



The mutual relations of wheat and clover have been thoroughly 

 investigated, and their apparent anomalies fully reconciled. Wheat is 

 a plant of a short period of growth, of a very scanty leafage, and, with 

 mo.stly surface roots, comparatively limited in amount; while nearly 

 opposite conditions are found in the clover plant, with its abundant 



