232 THE SOILS AND CROPS OF THE FARM. 



regions with fertile soil but not abundant rain-fall. 

 It is there sometimes grown as a cultivated crop, 

 and sometimes sown broadcast, harvested with a 

 mowing machine and treated as a coarse hay crop, 

 often being left in the fields in large shocks until 

 needed for use. 



In parts of the country where the winters are mild 

 and growth commences early in spring, the practice 

 of sowing the seed in the autumn has been recom- 

 mended, thus securing an earlier growth. 



Several varieties of the non- saccharine sorghums 

 have been grown, to some extent, as fodder crops in 

 different parts of the United States for years. They 

 are known by many names. There are several varie- 

 ties of Durra, spelled also in three or four other ways. 

 Some of these are grown in enormous quantities in 

 Africa, India and China, where the seeds are a staple 

 food of multitudes of men. 



Under such names as Millo maize, Guinea corn, 

 Egyptian corn, Jerusalem corn, different varieties of 

 these non- saccharine sorghums have been introduced, 

 and extravagantly praised, both as seed and fodder- 

 producing plants. No one of them has come into 

 common or continued use in this country, except in 

 some of the Western States, in parts where the rain- 

 fall is not always sufficient for the safe culture of 

 corn. For such regions they promise to be very val- 

 uable. The yield of the seed, which is a valuable 

 food for any class of stock, is often equal to that of 

 corn in the same region, and the fodder is valua- 

 ble. They are sometimes sown broadcast, and treated 

 fiB a hay crop, or may be planted in drills and cul- 



