GRAIN SORGHUMS IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. 13 



and August was abnormally wet. Had the distribution been such 

 that the crop could have made better use of the moisture much higher 

 yields would have resulted. 



The season of 1918 was very poor for crops, resulting in low yields. 

 Each month from April to September was below normal in rainfall. 

 The moisture received was reasonably well distributed, but in many 

 small showers which made no impression on a dry soil. 



In 1919 the seasonal rainfall was about normal in each month ex- 

 cept July, which was 1^ inches less than the normal. At seeding 

 time the temperatures were rather low, and much of the seed rotted in 

 the ground or failed to germinate from other causes, which resulted 

 in thin stands in many plats. Otherwise the season was favorable to 



Fig. 5.— Early-sown and late-sown plats of Dwarf milo in the date-of-seeding experiment at the 

 Amarillo Cereal Field Station, Amarillo, Tex., on July 2, 1913. 



crop growth, and fair to good yields were obtained, considering the 

 thin stands in many plats. 



DATE-OF-SEEDING EXPERIMENTS. 



The plan followed in the date-of-seeding experiments was to sow on 

 three dates each year. The first or early seeding was made as early 

 as conditions were at all favorable, which usually is about May 10. 

 The normal time for seeding grain sorghums at the Amarillo Cereal 

 Field Station is about May 25, and the latest these crops can be sown 

 in that locality with any assurance that they will ripen before cool 

 weather or frost is about June 10. The early seeding was made on 

 May 10 in 1915, 1916, and 1919, and on May 11 in 1914 and 1918, but 

 in 1917 seeding was delayed by rains until May 16. The normal seed- 

 ing was made on May 25 in 1914 and 1917, on May 26 in 1915, on 

 May 27 in 1916, and on May 29 in 1919, but was delayed by rains until 



