244 



FIELD CROPS 



fall. It supplies a cultivated crop to use in rotation with the 

 small grains in sections where the production of corn is un- 

 certain, and takes the place of that grain for feeding to stock. 

 The average area devoted to the grain sorghums in Kansas in 

 the three years from 1915 to 1917 was 1,600,000 acres. In 

 the same years, Oklahoma averaged 1,245,000 acres of these 



Figure 00 — Harvesting kafir for foratre w itli a rorn binder. 



crops and Texas averaged 1,251,000 acres. The average 

 production of these three states and of Colorado, New 

 Mexico, and Arizona is 81,395,000 bushels, or one half more 

 than the country's total production of rye in the same years. 

 310. Methods of Growing the Crop. The usual methods 

 of preparing the land, planting the seed, and cultivating the 

 grain sorghums are not different from those employed in the 

 same district for the corn crop, except that the seed is sown 

 more thickly in the rows. The plants should stand about 

 4 to 6 inches apart for the best yield of grain and forage. 

 From 4 to 6 pounds of seed will plant an acre. The sorghums 

 are usually planted a little later than corn, as they are not 

 quite as resistant to cold and grow very slowly till warm, 

 settled weather, The crop is usually harvested by cutting it 



