8 BULLETIN" 291, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Great Plains should grow all the seed required for their own 

 planting, and it is not unlikely that much of the eastern demand for 

 mill et seed can be supplied from this region. 



Table IV. — Seed yield of millet strains at Akron, Colo., and Newell, S. Dak., in bushels 



per acre. 1 



Variety and number. 



Akron. 



Newell. 



Aver- 



1909 



1910 



1911 



1912 



1912 



age. 



Dakota Kursk: 



A. D. I. No. 3 



29.5 



16.6 



20.4 

 10. 4 



32.0 

 30.5 



26.0 

 31.0 

 31.0 



23.0 



28.4 

 39.0 



39.0 

 36.3 

 36.5 



35.8 



24.3 



24.4 



18.8 

 17.7 



""23.T 



28.6 



A D. I. No. 3-2 



27.6 



Kursk: 



A. D. I. No. 5 



34.0 

 28.5 



29.5 



A.D.I. No. 10 



28.4 



A. D.I. No. 10-3 



29.3 



A. D. I. No. 13-3 





24.7 











30.7 



17.8 



28.9 



• 35.8 



21.7 



27.0 







Siberian: 



A. D. I. No. 4-3 





24.4 

 20.4 



20.5 

 24.0 



37.8 

 39.8 



15.2 

 13.4 



24.5 



A. D. I. No. 4-5 





24.4 













22.4 



22.3 



38.8 



14.3 



24.5 









1 For seed production the millets were grown in cultivated rows Zk feet apart. Fifty pounds of seed is 

 considered a bushel. 



BREEDING SORGO FOR ADAPTATION TO DROUGHT. 



In breeding sorgo * it has been the object to secure a type which 

 matures early, in order that it may be grown with greater profit in 

 the northern Great Plains, where at the present time very little sorgo 

 is grown. The drought resistance of sorgo and its heavy forage pro- 

 duction make it a valuable crop for the dry-land farmer, while its 

 many varieties and types, which cross-fertilize readily and are ex- 

 tremely variable, offer great opportunities for the plant breeder in the 

 improvement of the crop. 



The sorgo-breeding work described in this paper was begun with 

 an early strain of the Minnesota Amber type, known as South Dakota 

 No. 341. The original seed of this strain was noted by Prof. W. A. 

 Wheeler at the Highmore (S. Dak.) substation in 1903, where it was 

 being grown under the name "Montana." The variety was extremely 

 variable and contained a few very early and desirable types. Indi- 

 vidual plants representing these types were selected and several more 

 or less uniform strains were developed from these. Comparative- 

 yield tests of these strains in cultivated rows at Newell, S. Dak., and 

 Akron, Colo., have resulted in the selection of one of the best for 

 increase and distribution on the northern Great Plains. This is the 

 earliest and most distinct of the selected types and is described in 

 this paper under the name Dakota Amber. 



1 The term "sorgo" is here used in accordance with the practice established by Mr. Carleton R. Ball 

 (The history and distribution of sorghum, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 175, p. 8, 1910) to 

 designate the saccharine as distinguished from the grain types of sorghum. 



