THE GRAIN SORGKUM AREA 261 



323. Importance of the Sorghums. The grain sorghums 

 are largely grown in India, the warmer portions of China, 

 and Africa. In the United States, they are almost entirely 

 confined to the Great Plains area, the country lying between 

 the 98th meridian and the Rocky Mountains. In western 

 Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, they are important 

 crops. Only the earliest maturing varieties can be grown as 

 far north as South Dakota, or at the ordinary elevations in 

 New Mexico and Colorado. Sorghums are grown to some 

 extent in the interior valleys of California, the type most 

 common there being white durra, locally known as Egyptian 

 corn. The value of the grain sorghum lies in its ability to 

 resist drouth and to mature a crop of grain with little rain- 

 fall. It supplies a cultivated crop to use in rotation with the 

 small grains in sections where the production of corn is 

 uncertain, and takes the place of that grain for feeding to 

 stock. The area devoted to the grain sorghums in Kansas 

 is about three-fourths of a million acres, and Oklahoma 

 grows practically the same amount. No figures are published 

 for other states, but the total crop of the United States 

 undoubtedly occupies more than 2,000,000 acres. This is 

 about the area devoted to rye. 



324. Methods of Growing the Crop. The usual methods 

 of preparing the land, planting the seed, and cultivating the 

 grain sorghums are not different from those employed in the 

 same district for the corn crop, except that the seed is sown 

 more thickly in the rows. The plants should stand about 

 4 to 6 inches apart for the best yield of grain and forage. 

 From 4 to 6 pounds of seed will plant an acre. The sorghums 

 are usually planted a little later than corn, as they are not 

 quite as resistant to cold and grow very slowly till warm, 

 settled weather. The crop is usually harvested by cutting it 

 with the corn binder and shocking it like corn, or by cutting 



