14 BULLETIN 291, 17. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In comparing Dakota Amber sorgo and Dakota Kursk millet it 

 will be seen that the results are not consistent. At Ardmore in 1914 

 the yield of the millet was 25 per cent greater than the sorgo, while at 

 Newell in 1914 the millet produced only one-half as much forage as 

 the sorgo. At Newell in 1913 and at Akron in 1914 there was a slight 

 difference in yield in favor of the sorgo. It should be noted, however, 

 that Dakota Amber is not as productive in seasons of favorable mois- 

 ture conditions as the larger ^growing sorgos. The relative yield of 

 millet is less favorable when compared with Red Amber sorgo than 

 when compared with the smaller and earlier Dakota Amber sorgo. 



Red Amber sorgo produced a greater tonnage of fodder than Dakota 

 Amber in each of the five tests included in Table VIII. The relative 

 yield in 1914 of Red Amber sorgo where Dakota Amber equaled 100 

 ranged from 100 at Newell to 156 at Ardmore. The question arises, 

 Will it pay the farmer on the northern Great Plains to raise Dakota 

 Amber sorgo, in view of the higher average yields of Red Amber 

 sorgo ? It has already been suggested that the yields of Dakota 

 Amber sorgo can no doubt be increased under favorable moisture 

 conditions by thicker planting. It has been shown that under con- 

 ditions of drought Dakota Amber is likely to produce a larger crop 

 than Red Amber. Dakota Amber will mature in a much shorter 

 season than Red Amber and consequently can often be used as a catch 

 crop where earlier crops have failed. It will ripen seed much farther 

 north than Red Amber and the grower can therefore be certain of 

 raising his own seed. These advantages of Dakota Amber sorgo seem 

 to balance somewhat the disadvantage of lower average yields as 

 compared with those of Red Amber. 



In all the tests Sudan grass has been less productive than Dakota 

 Amber sorgo, the relative yield where Dakota Amber equals 100 

 ranging from 42 at Mandan in 1914 to 80 at Newell in 1913. 



Corn has produced less fodder than Dakota Amber sorgo. The 

 relative yield at Newell in 1913 was 78, in 1914, 69; at Ardmore in 

 1914, 69; at Mandan in 1914, 56. The comparative yield of sorgo 

 and corn fodder at Newell is discussed later. 



It will be seen that in nearly every case the yield of sorgo is greater 

 than that of corn, millet, or Sudan grass, and from the standpoint of 

 tonnage alone sorgo must be considered the most desirable crop. 



In comparing the yields of the three crops, millet, Sudan grass, and 

 corn, it will be seen that in all tests except at Newell in 1914 millet 

 has outyielded Sudan grass and corn. 



COMPARATIVE YIELDS OF SORGO AND CORN FODDER AT NEWELL FROM 1908 TO 1914 



The Office of Dry-Land Agriculture of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 has used an early strain of sorgo in its rotation experiments at the 

 Belle Fourche station and has furnished the writer with the results 



