337 



These figures show eccentricities from year to year in the same vari- 

 ety, but the peculiarities of the varieties are nnicli hirger than these 

 eccentricities, Sturtevant suggests that actinism has an influence 

 scarcely second to temperature. 



SOBGHXTM. 



UNITED «TATES. 



^y. E. Stone (Agr. Sci., Vol. IV, p. 160) siinunarlzes the results 

 of the experiments on sorghum published by Wiley in Bulletins Nos. 

 20 and 26, Division of Chemistry, United States Department of 

 Agi'iculture. He says the controlling conditions of success are suit- 

 able soil and climate, proximity of cane fields to the factorj^, supply 

 of water and fuel, cost of the factory, and careful control of its 

 operations. All experience points to southern central Kansas as the 

 region best adapted to the growth of the sorghum. In New Jersey 

 the plant, which at one time gave hopeful results, has deteriorated 

 until it has become a worthless variety for sugar making, or even for 

 the production of sirui3. In Louisiana the results were disappoint- 

 ing in seasons which were the most favorable for the sugar cane. At 

 Conway Springs, Kans., the average percentage of cane sugar was 

 12.42 in 1888 and 11.98 in 1889, being the best record of all. 



In general, with a normal amount of moisture, and other things 

 being equal, the percentage of sugar depends upon the amount of 

 sunshine received; excessive moisture is detrimental, as it directly 

 interferes with nutrition and indirectlj'^ as being accompanied by 

 cloudiness. 



A mean temperature of 70° F. is the minimum necessary to mature 

 early varieties. The semiarid region south of the isotherm of 70° F. 

 in the southwest central portion of the United States is best adapted 

 to the groAvth of sorghum. East of the Mississippi the recurrence of 

 wet seasons renders the crop uncertain. A pernuinently improved 

 plant can certainly be developed from existing varieties by selection, 



OATS. 



During the drought of 1890 the Kansas Agricultural Experiment 

 Station secured the following comparative observations: On un- 

 plowed land the yield of listed oats was 2.4 bushels per acre better 

 than on plowed land; the yield of drilled oats was 1 bushel per acre 

 better on unplowed land; the yield of oats cultivated into the soil 

 was 5 bushels jjer acre better on the unplowed land ; the oats sown 

 broadcast on plowed land gave the same results as the oats cultivated 

 into unplowed land ; the oats jilowed under gave the least harvest of 

 2667—05 M 22 



