38 FORAGE CROPS. 



ing up near to the surface, since sorghum plants 

 are more delicate when young than corn plants. In 

 order to clean the land, therefore, it is essential, first, 

 that it shall be plowed in the fall or in the early 

 spring, and, second, that it shall be occasionally 

 stirred on the surface with harrow or cultivator from 

 the opening of spring until the sowing of the seed. 

 It is evident, therefore, that the longer the period 

 between the dawn of spring and the sowing of the 

 seed, the better is the opportunity given to clean the 

 land. And that this process may be secured in a 

 more complete degree, it may be a wise plan to defer 

 sowing the sorghum for a week or two or even for a 

 longer period. 



But when sorghum is to follow a crop of forage, 

 as, for instance, winter rye, crimson clover or winter 

 vetches, there will not be sufficient time to clean the 

 land in best form before the sowing of the sorghum 

 seed. And here, also, it may be wise in some 

 instances to defer sowing the sorghum immediately, 

 that opportunity may be thus given to secure a more 

 perfect degree of cleanness in the land. But the 

 seasons are in many places too short to admit of so 

 doing, and in many other places they are too dry. In 

 any event, as soon as the land has been plowed after 

 one of these pasture crops, it should be at once rolled, 

 to keep in the moisture. And before the seed is 

 sown the pulverization of the soil should be thor- 

 ough. Too much care cannot be taken when prepar- 

 ing a seed bed for sorghum. 



Substantially the same manures and fertilizers 

 may be supplied for sorghum as for corn, and by the 

 same methods. (See Page 19. ) As previously inti- 

 mated, nitrogenous fertilizers are not so essential for 

 sorghum as for corn. 



