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Vol. XXIII, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., NOVEMBER, 1862. 



No. 11. 



EXPERIMENTS ON SORGHUM. 



During the past summer we made some experi- 

 ments on the Chinese Sugar Cane, with various 

 artificial manures, the results of which may not be 

 altogether without interest to the readers of the 

 Genesee Farmer. 



The soil on which the experiments were made 

 is a sandy loam. It has been under cultivation for 

 probably thirty years, and being on a detached 

 portion of the farm, a mile or so from the barn- 

 yard, it has never been manured. It is, therefore, 

 in good condition for showing the effects of dif- 

 ferent manures. It had been down in clover and 

 grass for three years, and was broken up last spring. 

 It was got into a fine mellow condition, and the 

 sorghum planted in hills about 3 feet 4 inches 

 apart on the 4th of June. 



The seed was treated as follows : Boiling water 

 was poured on to it, and allowed to stand one and 

 a. half to two minutes. Cold water was then 

 added, and the seed remained for twenty-four 

 hours, the water being changed once or twice. We 

 think if it had been allowed to soak longer it would 

 :iave been all the better, as the husk is very tough 

 wad hard. 



Each plot consisted of the twentieth of an acre. 

 Dne row was left between each plot, without any 

 Manure, in order to prevent, the plants on one plot 

 jetting any of the manure from the adjoining plots. 



The manures were applied in the hill. The soil 

 was scooped out with the hoe, the manures put in 

 md worked into the soil as thoroughly as possible, 

 ind the fresh soil drawn over and the seed planted. 

 Fhis was done so as to prevent the seed from 

 joining in contact with such manures as are known 

 x) injure the seed. 



The remainder of the field was planted to Indian 

 ;orn, without manure of any kind, and produced 

 l fair crop. As compared with the Indian corn, 

 ;he sorghum seed germinated slowly and the growth 

 )f the plants was quite feeble. When the plants 



had got fairly started, and the roots had firm hold 

 of the soil, the growth on some of the plots during 

 the hot summer weather was exceedingly rapid — 

 much more so than that of the Indian corn in the 

 same field. On the best plots the sorghum attained 

 a height of at least nine or ten feet. 



The sorghum was cut October 7 and 8, and the 

 stalks accurately weighed in the field. The follow- 

 ing is the result: 



MANUT.E USED PER ACF.K. 



ACTUAL YIELD OP 

 SOKGHUM PEE ACRE. 



No. 



1. — No manure, 



2. — 400 lbs. sulphate of ammonia, 4 



S. — 100 lbs. superphosphate of lime, 9 



4. — 400 lbs. sulphate of ammonia, ami | fi 



400 lbs. superphosphate of lime, f 



5—250 lbs. of plaster, (sulphate of lime.) ... 10 

 6. — 40 bush, unleached, hard-wood ashes, { K 



(2,000 lbs.) f ° 



7. — 40 bush, unleached ashes, and ) - 



250 lbs, of plaster (mixed together.) ) 



S.— 200 lbs of common salt, 8 



9. — 400 lbs. sulphate of ammonia, ) 



400 lbs. superphosphate of lime, and... V 4 



40 bush, of unleached ashes, | | 



10. — °40 bush, of unleached ashes, and. ... [ 7 



400 lbs. of superphosphate of lime, J 



11. — No manure, 1 



Tons. Owt. Qrs. Lift. 



17 



9 

 14 



4 

 16 



3 

 7 



14 



3 



8 



Before commenting on these remarkable results, 

 it may be well to state that on all the plots there 

 were more or less missing hills. The seed either 

 rotted in the ground or was injured by the manure. 

 There should have been 201 hills on each plot; but 

 the actual number of hills at the time of cutting 

 was as follows : 



No. No. of /Tills. 



1. — No manure, 128 



2. — Sulphate ammonia, 122 



3. — Superphosphate, 184 



4. — Sulphate ammonia and superphosphate, 142 



5.— Plaster, i«4 



6.— Ashes 1 62 



7. — Ashes and piaster, 169 



8.— Salt 161 



9. — Sulphate ammonia, ashes and .superphosphate, 112 



10. — Ashes and superphosphate, 176 



11. — No manure, 171 



On the uninanured plot (No. 1,) it will be 



seen, there were 72 missing hills. Some of 



them came up, but seemed to die off for want 



of nourishment. The plot presented a very sorry 



appearance. Here and there a hill appeared to 



have got hold of something that gave it a little 



start, but the greater proportion of the stalks 



