THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



85 



ical manures have been tried by many 

 with fair results, but with what a waste of 

 money! All the constituents paid for 

 except the nitrogen might generally have 

 been dispensed with. 



For arid lands, as a rule, good stable 

 manure from animals fed on leguminous 

 hay is by far the best fertilizer, and a lib- 

 eral use of it by the first settlers is essen- 

 tial io full success. 



Next to this the best results will prob- 

 ably be had by the plowing in of legu- 

 minous crops such as clover, alfalfa, cow- 

 pea vines, etc., and they should be plowed 

 in in the fall and the ground kept moist 

 through the winter. 



Every farmer, too, should so manage 

 his farm as to have a leguminous crop 

 come off all his arable land at least once 

 every other year if possible, and he should 

 take care to see that his very soluble 

 nitrates are not leached out of his soil 

 during the process of irrigation. I think 

 he will find that heavy winter irrigation 

 will go very far to prevent this. The 

 nitrates have not formed to any extent 

 by then, and the water deep down in the 

 soil will act as a supply for half the sum- 

 mer, rendering a minimum of irrigation 

 necessary in the hotter growing months. 



The humidity of the atmosphere may 

 but be obtained by the planting of trees 

 and covering the ground with crops. I 

 think it will be found that with young 

 orchards, especially in new districts, more 

 and better growth will be had amid corn 

 or other tall plants than in the open with 

 clean cultivation. The moisture evapo- 

 rated from the large leaf surface is ac- 

 countable for this in great part. I need 

 hardly add that the water evaporated thus 

 into the air must be met by increased irri- 

 gation for the trees. 



SORGHUM FOR SYRUP AND FEED. 



BY MARY BEST. 



MANY readers of THE IRRIGATION AGE 

 have written asking for further in- 

 formation about sorghum, especially the 

 varieties best suited for syrup. I am glad 

 to be able to answer such inquiries as far 

 as possible through the magazine. 



Mr. A. A. Denton, who had charge of 

 the extensive government station at Ster- 

 ling, Kansas, has kindly permitted me to 

 use any of his reports pn this subject, and 



I have also availed myself of the results 

 gained at the station at Medicine Lodge. 

 It is singular how little people appear to 

 care as to what variety of sorghum they 

 buy, and yet it is of the first and last im- 

 portance to learn which kind is best suited 

 for their purpose, and then, above all else, 

 to see that pure seed alone is used. 



I have been looking through the cata- 

 logues of several large seed houses and, 

 while they advertise new and improved 

 varieties of almost every other grain or 

 forage plant, not one word is said about 

 sorghum except the same old song. "Am- 

 ber and orange" as special for syrup, and 

 a general lump sum of "other kinds for 

 fodder." This is the more remarkable 

 when we know that any one interested can 

 so easily learn from the reports that in the 

 thorough and comprehensive work done 

 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 "amber and orange" have been entirely 

 superseded by Folgers and Colman, and 

 that out of the hundreds of other varieties 

 Collier alone stands equal with the two 

 last named. The United States through the 

 Department of Agriculture have spent an 

 immense amount in the work of sorghum 

 seed improvement and selection, not only 

 showing how to accomplish this, but act- 

 ually doing it on a scale never equaled, 

 not even by the work in Europe on beet 

 seed. Perhaps about no other plant in 

 America is the information so complete 

 and definite, or so little appreciated. It 

 may be that the very luxuriance of the 

 plant, its ease of cultivation, and grateful 

 response to a little care and attention 

 make people careless and indifferent to the 

 great possibilities under the best condi- 

 tions. 



There is really little difference in the 

 so-called varieties, being more agricultural 

 than botanical. In 1888 there were many 

 hundred different names; the whole work 

 since then has been to select the best, dis- 

 carding all others, and to improve the few 

 chosen. In 1892, four varieties were ac- 

 knowledged ahead of all others and espe- 

 cially desirable from a sugar standpoint 

 for their quality of remaining true to 

 parent feed. These were Folgers. Colman, 

 Collier and Planter. The latter had no 

 special advantages not embodied in the 

 otherthree, and therefore has been dropped 

 for general cultivation, as it lacked some 

 of their virtues. 



At Medicine Lodge and Sterling gov- 



