BREEDING MILLET AND SORGO FOR DROUGHT ADAPTATION. 19 



Plains. Ill each of these varieties a strain has been selected which 

 is believed to be much superior to the parent stock. Dakota Kursk 

 millet, one of these selections, is an early variety of good forage type. 

 The plants are 30 to 34 inches high when mature, have many rather 

 fine stems, and many leaves. The yield of hay from this variety has 

 averaged 2\ tons per acre at Akron, Colo., and If tons at Newell, 

 S. Dak. In seed production this variety is excellent, producing under 

 ordinary conditions from 15 to 25 bushels per acre. The seed head 

 is close and firm and does not allow the seed to shatter readily. 



Siberian millet (A. D. I. No. 4-3) is a larger type of millet than 

 Dakota Kursk, growing from 36 to 40 inches high. It has. coarser, 

 stems and leaves and makes a somewhat poorer quality of hay. It 

 does, however, produce a larger yield per acre than the Dakota 

 Kursk. The seed head is much larger and less firm than in the 

 Dakota Kursk, and the seed shatters more readily. In regions of 

 greater rainfall this variety may be more valuable than Dakota 

 Kursk on account of its higher yield, but for the northern Great 

 Plains it is believed that the latter variety is the better type. 



A strain of early sorgo is much needed for cultivation in the north- 

 ern Great Plains, where at the present time very little sorgo is 

 grown. A strain of sorgo has been developed by selection which is 

 especially promising for this region and for higher altitudes farther 

 south in the Great Plains. In favorable seasons the larger growing 

 sorgos produce a larger tonnage than this dwarf type, but in dry 

 seasons the latter will yield at least as heavily as the larger varieties. 

 This type is very early, maturing seed in a period of about 90 days, 

 and can often be used as a catch crop where other crops have failed. 

 It produces seed freely, and the farmer can easily raise his own supply 

 of seed for forage planting. On account of the smaller size of the 

 plants this dwarf sorgo can very well be planted thicker than the 

 larger growing varieties. This new variety has been named Dakota 

 Amber sorgo. 



Sorgo will probably produce a larger tonnage of fodder than any 

 other annual forage crop of this region. At Akron, Colo., sorgo has 

 produced 40 per cent greater yields than millet. At Newell and Ard- 

 more, S. Dak., also the results have been in favor of sorgo. In a 

 7-year test at Newell sorgo has produced 51 per cent more fodder 

 than corn. Dakota Amber sorgo has produced on the average 40 

 per cent more forage per acre than Sudan grass in tests at Newell, 

 Akron, Ardmore, and Mandan. 



It is believed that Dakota Kursk millet and Dakota Amber sorgo 

 will prove valuable additions to the list of forage crops adapted to 

 the northern and central Great Plains. 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1916 



