SORGHUM. 53 



grown on this continent that has a wider range of 

 distribution than sorghum. It can be grown for 

 forage with much success in nearly all parts of the 

 United States where the land can be tilled. And in 

 no part of the Union where crops are grown can it be 

 said to be a decided failure. It can also be grown 

 with more or less of success in every portion of 

 Canada that has been disturbed with the plowshare. 



Notwithstanding this wide range of adaptation, 

 there are certain areas where its mission as a forage 

 crop will be vastly more important than in other 

 areas. The areas which will be most benefited by 

 growing sorghum are those in which the summer 

 temperature is warm, where the rainfall is fitful 

 and insufficient, and where the winters are mild 

 enough and sufficiently dry to admit of feeding sor- 

 ghum out of doors, or of grazing it off where it grew. 

 And the areas that will profit the least by its growth 

 are those with much moisture and comparatively low 

 summer temperatures. Moisture is of course not 

 antagonistic to the growth of sorghum. On the 

 contrary, it is favorable, but where the mean tem- 

 perature in summer is low the sorghum grows too 

 slowly. And cool and moist climates are so well 

 adapted to the abundant production of grasses and 

 certain other forage plants that in these sorghum 

 pasture is much less needed. 



The states therefore that are likely to profit 

 most by the growth of sorghum for forage are those 

 that lie on the border of the semi-range country to 

 the west, as, for instance, South Dakota, Nebraska, 

 Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. And those that will 

 profit least by its growth are those parts of Wash- 

 ington and Oregon that lie west of the Cascades. 

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