SUDAN GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. 



21 



to predict what the results would be if the plants were grown in soil 

 with a limited or suboptimum soil-moisture content. The careful 

 work of these investigators can not be used, therefore, as a basis for 

 estimating the value of Sudan grass under dry conditions. 



RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CROP. 



Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas are now the leading States, re- 

 spectively, in Sudan grass acreage, and will be likely to remain so. 

 Statistics are available for Kansas only, where, according to reports of 

 the State board of agriculture, 79,166 acres were grown in 1918. 

 So far, the leading locality is in northwestern Texas, around Lub- 

 bock (29), where the crop has been grown in large acreages for seed 

 and forage since 1913. The acreage in other States is still small, 



Fio. 13. — Outline map showing the forage value of Sudan grass in different parts of the United States. 



but the crop has been widely grown experimentally all over the 

 United States since 1912, and its use is increasing. 



The principal regions of production in the United States are 

 shown on the map (fig. 13) as follows: 



Region 1. — Two or three good cuttings of hay are obtained without irrigation in this 

 region, the yields varying from 2 to 4 tons to the acre. This is the region of its greatest 

 importance because of the need for a better hay grass in these States. Profitable seed 

 yields are obtained west of the ninety-eighth meridian only, the sorghum midge usually 

 preventing seed formation in the more humid district east of this meridian. 



Region 2. — Sudan grass thrives here almost as well as in region 1, making good 

 yields both of hay and of seed. Timothy, clover, and alfalfa, however, meet the hay 

 requirements of this region so fully that Sudan grass is valued chiefly as a catch crop 

 or for limited culture on soils not suited to these forage crops. 



Region 3. — This comprises the region west of region 2, where the rainfall is too low 

 for the successful cultivation of timothy and clover. Sudan grass commonly makes 



