sorghim. J 13 



SORGHUM.- 



All sorghums were at first supposed to be derived from ;i wild species of 

 grass, namely, Andropogon fialepensis, of which .Johnson grass is a typical 

 representative The underground creeping rootstocksof Johnson grass, hov 

 ever, and its perennial character, make i1 extremely difficult to reconcile it 



with our annual sorghums. Sudan grass, which is really half a grass and halt' 

 a sorghum, appears more closely related to the sorghums ; and it seems more 

 feasible to believe that the sorghums have been derived from a wild species 

 of grass, such as Sudan grass, than from such a plant as .Johnson grass 



Sorghums have been known and cultivated almost from time immemorial, 

 and Egyptian records of this class of fodder plants have been discovered 

 dating as far back as 2500 li.C. At the present time they are grown for 

 one of three purposes — for forage, for grain, or fur brush. The principal 

 groups may he divided as follows : — 



(1 ) The sweet or saccharine group, the members of which are distinctly 

 sweet. 



(2) The grain or non-saccharine group, the varieties of which have large 

 heads of nutritive grain. The stems contain no sweet juice, and 

 are sometimes more or less pithy. 



(3) The broom-corn group, which has varieties with long branching 

 heads, and which are valuable only for broom-making. (See 

 Broom Millet, page .) 



(4) The grass-sorghum group, embracing Sudan grass and the less 

 important Tunis grass. 



THE SWEET OR SACCHARINE SORGHUMS. 



The qualifications of these sorghums render them exceedingly valuable 

 members of the list of crops available to the dairy-farmer, pig-raiser, or 

 sheepowner in most parts of this State. Perhaps no other crop has the 

 same range of adaptability to soil or climate, and at the same time produces 

 such a large quantity of excellent feed. 



The essential requirements of a forage crop are that it can be cheaply 

 produced and easily handled, the yield must be fairly large and the feed 

 must be nutritious and relished by stock. We find these conditions in the 

 highest degree in maize, and where that crop can be satisfactorily grown, the 

 sphere of usefulness of sorghum is much restricted. Unless maize, however, 

 is grown under congenial circumstances it does not give good results, and 

 then sorghum profitably takes its place. It will thrive on poorer soil, when 

 mature will stand more frost, and has greater power of withstanding drought. 

 This latter quality renders it of exceptional merit as a fodder crop in the 

 drier districts of the State. 



Breeding ewes require green feed during the lambing period to maintain 

 the flow of milk, and where irrigation cannot be practised, no other crop is 

 so fitted to supply it as sorghum. 



The spread of dairying into the drier districts has further created a demand 

 for suitable green crops, and sorghum — with its powers of growing under a 

 low rainfall, or of withstanding without harmful effects long periods of 



* A. H. E. McDonald, Chief Inspector of Agriculture, and E. Breakwell, B.A., B Sc. 



