Yield. 



Total Food 

 Supply. 



Grain and 

 Fodder. 



Value of Crop. 



Diseases. 



Smut. 



Striga. 



Watching. 



Climatic 

 Disturbances. 



Poisonous if 

 Diseased. 



SORGHUM 



VULGARE THE GKEAT MILLET 



Diseases 



distribution exists in the Native States : judr becomes important on land 

 not inundated. Out of the total mentioned, Gwalior takes usually close on 

 half, that is, a little over one million acres. This is followed by Mysore 

 with about half a million acres, by Kotah State with 350,000, and by 

 Tonk and Jaipur, having about the same acreage between them. 



It has been estimated that a yield of 6 maunds (or, say, 500 Ib.) an 

 acre might be a safe though probably a low average for the crop. To be 

 rather under than over the mark, therefore, this would come to an annual 

 production of, say, 5 million tons of grain. Mukerji (Handbook Ind. 

 Agri., 1901, 254) says of judr, " It yields a nourishing grain about the 

 same quantity per acre as wheat or rice (900 Ibs.) and ten times as much 

 in fuel and fodder as ordinary cereal crops." Mollison (I.e. 8-9), speaking 

 of the Deccan Jcharif judr, remarks : " An average crop in the Deccan 

 will vary, according to the quality of soil, from 500 to 900 Ib. per acre 

 of jowdr and 100 to 200 Ib. subordinate pulses with 350 to 450 bundles of 

 kadbi " (fodder). Keferring to the Gujarat rabi judr, Mollison continues : 

 " An acre produces 800 Ib. to 1,000 Ib. grain and 300 to 400 bundles of 

 kadbi ; each bundle weighs 4 to 6 Ib. The fodder is usually of excellent 

 quality, because the crop stands fairly thick upon the ground and the 

 stalks are neither very tall nor very coarse. A rabi crop in other black 

 soil districts yields generally in a fair season 550 to 700 Ib. per acre." 

 In the Report of the Experimental Farm at Surat for 1903, the yield is 

 given as 1,213 Ib. grain, by-products 3,974 Ib., the value of the outturn 

 Ks. 34-3-1, and the cost of cultivation Es. 30-14-0 an acre. These 

 returns, as also Mollison's figures, may be accepted as in accord with the 

 numerous crop experiments that have been performed in Bombay. 



DISEASES AND PESTS. The Sorghum crop is exposed to four chief adverse 

 circumstances : (1) fungal blights; (2) parasitic flowering plants; (3) insects 

 and other animal pests ; and (4) climatic disturbances. Massee (Textbook 

 Plant Diseases, 216) gives particulars regarding smut. Much advantage might 

 be anticipated from the systematic washing of the seed in hot water (at a 

 temperature of 135 to 150 F.), or in sulphate of copper ( per cent, solution), 

 before being sown. By this process the crop would be protected against 

 smut and bunt. Of the parasitic flowering plants found on this crop the 

 most curious is the small striga, (known in the vernacular as tavli or taluk), 

 which sometimes effects frightful havoc. One or two parasitic insects do 

 much damage (such as the sugar-borer and an aphis), but birds and squirrels 

 are by far the most destructive. To safeguard the crop, the owner watches it 

 from sunrise to sunset for some twenty days before the harvest. For this pur- 

 pose he and his assistants sit on elevated platforms, placed at intervals all over 

 the field, and make discordant noises by beating on old tins, or cast by slings 

 small stones or hardened pellets of mud at the flocks of birds which every now 

 and again settle on the field. The climatic disturbances may be briefly stated 

 as want of rain at the proper season, excessive humidity and cloudy weather, 

 or unnaturally high temperatures. In a further paragraph, while dealing with 

 the production of this plant as a source of fodder, reference will be made to the 

 evil reputation of the stems for becoming poisonous. This peculiarity is not 

 constant, though it often occurs in an epidemic form such as to justify belief 

 that the germ concerned in the production of the poisonous property is dependent 

 upon accidental climatic or disease conditions. The plant stunted because of 

 deficiency of rain is always a dangerous fodder for cattle. A study of the races of 

 the plant, more critical than hitherto attempted, might therefore be looked to as 

 likely to result in the discovery of forms better suited to certain tracts of country 

 than those at present grown. On this aspect Mollison's pertinent observation 

 may be given here : " Some varieties mature much more quickly than others. 

 It is important to know which varieties reach maturity earliest ; because after 

 a period of scarcity or famine, varieties which produce grain and fodder in the 

 least time would be most in demand." 



1034 



Early Maturity. 



