OATS AND OTHER CEREAL CROPS 89 



Constant change of water is necessary to prevent stagnation. 

 The rice should be covered from three to six inches with water. 

 This flooding begins in June and is continued until August. At 

 this time the water is drawn off, and in a few days the ground dries 

 and becomes hard enough to hold up the heavy harvesting ma- 

 chines. Rice may be harvested with the self binder used for other 

 grains and may be thrashed with the ordinary thrashing machines. 



Grading. The weight of a bushel of rice in the rough is forty-five 

 pounds; and the average yield per acre is about thirty-five bushels 

 in this country, but in Hawaii a yield of seventy-five or eighty 

 bushels is not unusual. The New Orleans Board of Trade has 

 established the following grades: extra fancy, fancy head, choice 

 head, prime head, good head, fair head, ordinary, screenings, 

 common, and inferior No. 2. 



Sorghum. It is supposed that this plant is a native of Africa. 

 It has long been cultivated in southern Europe and China. It was 

 introduced into the United States in 1757 by the Jesuits, who 

 carried it to Louisiana. The Kaffir varieties were introduced 

 about 1885 by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 These varieties are grown principally for forage and for their seed. 

 About two hundred thousand acres of sorghum seed were grown 

 in the United States according to the last census under the name of 

 Kaffir corn. Nearly all of this was grown in Kansas, Oklahoma, 

 Texas, and California. This did not include another variety usually 

 called broom corn. Sorghum thrives where it is too cool and too 

 dry for sugar cane. 



Sorghum plants have a sweet juice in their cells, which is ex- 

 tracted by crushing and pressing. This is boiled down to form 

 sirup or molasses. Many farmers in the Central Western States 

 make their own sorghum sirup. The seed is sown broadcast 

 frequently, but more often is drilled. 



Sugar Cane is a tropical plant and, like sweet sorghum, is culti- 

 vated for the sweet juice stored up in the cell of its stalk. It is 

 grown extensively in the South, especially in the States bordering 

 on the Gulf. It is also grown extensively in Cuba and Hawaii. 

 It requires a long time to mature and never ripens in any place 

 that has frost. The period required is from twelve to eighteen 

 months. Sugar cane is a perennial plant which reproduces itseif 



