ARID AGRICULTURE. 157 



when grown for forage, about one and one-half 

 bushels of seed may be sown per acre. When 

 grown for grain, from six to twelve pounds of 

 seed should be used which will distribute it 

 from four to eight inches apart in the rows. The 

 grain may be sown broadcast and harvested with 

 a mower for hay. The usual method of harvest- 

 ing when grown in rows is by the use of either a 

 mower or a corn binder. The yield of grain 

 varies from twenty bushels to ninety bushels of 

 grain in Kansas, the average being forty-five 

 bushels. These crops will yield from four to 

 eight tons of dry forage. 



While sorghums may be more easily raised 

 than corn, their fodder is not so valuable. 

 They are drought resistant. They are some- 

 times cut early in order to produce two 

 crops in a season. It is more advisable, how- 

 ever, to let the plants become more mature. If 

 cut early, they are succulent and cattle cannot 

 eat enough to furnish them with sufficient nutri- 

 ment. They are best cut for food when the grain 

 is in the milk or early dough stage. Dr. Head- 

 den found that good sweet sorghum gives poor 

 feeding results compared with corn fodder or 

 other forage. 



VARIETIES The earliest and the best variety of sweet sor- 



OP SORGHUM oj uim f or general planting is the Early Am- 

 ber. Early Orange is good, but it requires a lit- 

 tle longer season. The best variety of Kafir 



