152 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



from similar dry climates of the Old World. A giant millet, called 

 proso, and a grain sorghum, called kaoliang, have recently been intro- 

 duced to meet this need. 



In the dry interior desert region north of the Sea of Aral in Turke- 

 stan and north into Siberia, proso is a great food staple of the Kirghiz 

 nomads, tent-dwellers in the desert. It is a great advantage to have 

 a grain like proso, that can be sown in the spring after it gets too late 

 for other grains, a grain that will serve as a catch crop and yet ripen 

 early enough to afford a satisfactory yield. The value of proso as a 

 feed for cattle, sheep, and swine has been investigated, and these 

 experiments demonstrate that stock may be fattened ready for the 

 Chicago market without any other grain than proso. That proso 

 may be raised successfully as a field crop in South Dakota has been 

 shown through a number of years by the Agronomy Division of the 

 Station. We now know that a number of varieties of proso may be 

 profitably raised anywhere in the state and are specially suited for 

 the western half. One point in its favor is that the grain may be 

 sown after it is too late to sow wheat, although for the best results it 

 should not be sown too late. 



In the western part of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas crops known 

 in a general way as grain sorghums have been the mainstay of the 

 settlers. It is indeed doubtful whether the western part of these 

 states could have been permanently settled except by cattlemen had 

 it not been for such crops as kafir and milo. 



This being the case, it was but natural that investigators who were 

 on the lookout for crops for the dry regions should desire some sort of 

 a grain sorghum that would do the same thing for the northern part of 

 the Great Plains that kafir and milo had done for the southern part. 

 Some progress was made by selecting the earliest dwarf plants from 

 the kafir and milo, and the resulting varieties, dwarf kafir and dwarf 

 milo, are matured successfully as far north as the southern part of 

 South Dakota. For the principal part of western South Dakota 

 something still earlier was needed. The United States Department 

 of Agriculture learned through its explorers and agents in the Orient 

 of a very early-ripening grain sorghum grown by the people of Man- 

 churia. This crop was known as kaoliang, a word made up of the 

 Chinese kao and liang, meaning tall or great millet. The Man- 

 churians use the leaves for fodder, the stalks for building and basket 

 material, and the seed for food for themselves and their live stock, 



