64 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



the plants to gather moisture under circumstances 

 more favorable than -would result from ordinary 

 cultivation. 



When rainfall is usually abundant, the aim 

 should be to secure friability rather than impac- 

 tion in the surface soil, hence it would have to 

 be more deeply stirred during the preparatory 

 cleaning process. But when these crops come 

 after a winter crop pastured off or plowed under, 

 there is not much time for thus attempting to 

 clean the land. 



The fertilizers suitable for non-saccharine sor- 

 ghums are practically the same as those suitable for 

 sorghum. When, however, farmyard manure is 

 applied under very dry climatic conditions, it must 

 not be applied in large quantities lest the too rapid 

 escape of moisture near the surface of the soil should 

 be promoted. 



Solving the Seed. The method adopted in 

 sowing the seed of these crops will vary somewhat 

 with the kind of crop, with the percentage of mois- 

 ture present in the soil, with the percentage in the 

 same that may be expected in the growing season, 

 and with the precise object sought in growing the 

 different varieties. The more branching, for 

 instance, the habit of growth in the plants, the more 

 distant from one another do they require to be 

 grown. The less the degree of moisture the more 

 distant also should they be from one another. If 

 fineness of leaf and stem are sought, the plants may, 

 under some conditions be sown broadcast or 

 with the grain drill on what may be termed the 

 broadcast plan. But when a more vigorous and 



