CROPS THAT MAY BE GROWN IN DRY AREAS 201 



grain may be made to follow it almost any season with- 

 out the hazard of failure. 



It is not to be understood that corn can be grown 

 so successfully in the semi-arid country as in the corn 

 belt. So large a tonnage of forage cannot be obtained 

 from it, nor so large a yield of ears. In its habit of 

 growth it is more dwarfish, and only quick maturing 

 varieties can be grown in the more northerly areas of 

 the semi-arid country. In much of the same it is neces- 

 sary that it will mature in from 90 to 120 days in order 

 to escape the frosts of autumn. The coolness of the 

 nights are against the rapid growth of the corn, but 

 the long hours of the summer sunlight tend to counter- 

 act that handicap. 



While the corn crop in the dry area will probably 

 be grown more for fodder than for any other purpose, 

 this does not mean that it will not be grown in numerous 

 areas mainly for the grain. The yields, while relatively 

 less than in the corn belt, are relatively large in propor- 

 tion to the production of stalk, hence; when the farmer 

 can afford the time, he may husk his corn, but, since it 

 is labor-saving to feed it in the bundle and since it is 

 greatly important that large areas shall be grown, be- 

 cause of the influence which such growth will have upon 

 grain production, it is probable that for every acre that 

 is husked several acres will be fed without husking. In 

 some instances, also, small varieties may be grown and 

 grazed down by sheep or swine when ripe. 



The place for sorghum is not so wide in the semi- 

 arid region as for corn. In northern areas the mean 

 temperature is too low to grow sorghum at its best. In 

 southern areas some of the non-saccharine sorghums will 

 do better, as, for instance, Milo maize and Kafir corn. 

 The place for sorghum will be in the central portions 

 of the semi-arid country rather than in the extremes 

 thereof, and in the warm rather than the cool portions 



