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reasons why the sorghum plant may not be improved by diligent, iivse 

 of similar methods. 



THE METHODS OF IMPROVING THE PLANT. 



The principal methods of improving the plant may be staled as fol- 

 lows : 



(1) By growing and testing all known, varieties and selecting the most promising. 



(2) By hybridizing or crossing these varieties. 



(3) By preserving "sports" or variations. 



(4) By selecting seed from the finest individual canes of each variety. 



(5) By improved methods of cultivation. 



All of these methods have been practiced to a greater or less extent 

 in the work at this station, and the results will be set forth in the order 

 given above. It must be remembered, however, that the results ac- 

 complished in this direction by one season's work can be at best but a 

 mere beginning. To attain the end desired in the improvement of the 

 plant the continuation of such work over a series of years is indispen- 

 sable. If this season's work and the methods pursued will serve to 

 point out the necessity and importance of this line of investigation, 

 and, in general, the manner in which it may be best carried out, a great 

 deal will have been accomplished. It is hardly necessary to call atten- 

 tion to the desirability of following up the system of development thus 

 opened up; and it is to be hoped that opportunity may be afforded the 

 Department in the future to carry on this work, which promises to be 

 of the greatest value to the sorghum industry. 



I. .EXPERIMENTS IN GROWING DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF CANE. 



It is probable that all varieties of sorghum are not equally well 

 adapted to all localities where sorghum is grown. 



Some varieties have peculiarities which cause them to succeed best 

 in certain places. The Early Amber, for instance, probably succeeds 

 better and has more valuable qualities in Iowa than in Texas. 



There is an analogy in this with other plants. A Ithenish variety of 

 the grape succeeds best in dry soil. A Swiss variety succeeds best in 

 wet climates. Spanish varieties of wheat do not succeed in Germany. 

 English wheat does not thrive in India. 



To select the best varieties of sorghum for a given locality it is nec- 

 essary to grow jill known varieties there and to select those which pros- 

 per best under its conditions. 



It is not now easy to collect seed of numerous varieties of sorghum. 

 The common varieties only are for sale by seed dealers ; other varieties 

 can only be found among distant cane-growers in this and in foreign 

 countries. In collecting many varieties, duplicates of some varieties are 

 obtained, because a single variety often has many names. This is nat- 

 ural in foreign countries, where different languages are used; but in 

 our own country Uie sauie variety often has many names, which are 



