2 BULLETIN 383, u. S:'']!)Et'!AKtovi:iNa^ or ageicultuee. 



varieties, such as Blackhull kafir, Dwarf milo, Orange sorgo, and 

 Sumac sorgo. 



Farmers should be slow to discard the standard varieties for new 

 ones. A small acreage of the less known variety should be grown 

 first for comparison, or the recommendations of the State agricultural 

 experiment stations or of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, should be followed in the matter of adopting the newer sorts. 

 In order to be in a position to advise farmers in regard to these new 

 varieties the experiment stations conduct extensive variety tests. 



Breeding work with the sorghums is a complex process, owing 

 to the freedom with which they cross-pollinate and the resulting 

 difficulty of establishing a stable variety. A farmer can rarely ailord 

 -to engage in creative plant-breeding work; that is, the production 

 of new varieties by cross-pollination. This assertion is based on 

 several reasons: (1) The percentage of success is very small, that 

 is, the breeder must expect to discard numberless forms before one 

 is found that will be of sufficient value to replace the varieties now 

 being grown; (2) the development of a variety yields little profit 

 to the originator, because he can control neither its propagation nor 

 its distribution; (3) the farmer is working at a disadvantage when 

 compared with experiment stations, because in most cases he lacks 

 a knowledge of the range of existing forms aA^ailable as a basis for 

 his breeding work; (4) extreme care and patience are necessary in 

 j)lant breeding, and if the farmer devotes to it the required time his 

 general crops are likeh^ to be neglected and financial loss ensue. 



The devotion of a farmer's time to creative plant breeding can 

 be justified, therefore, only from an altruistic standpoint. Unless 

 his income is assured from outside sources, it is unwise for him to 

 engage in plant breeding except in the improvement of the standard 

 varieties by consistent seed selection. This phase of crop improve- 

 ment is well worth his time and effort. 



DESCRIPTION AND ADAPTATION OF THE NEW VARIETIES OF 



SORGHUM. 



Most of the new varieties of sorghum described in this bulletin were 

 obtained by selection from importations made by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, but others have been picked up among 

 farmers, and their exact origin is obscure. All of these have given 

 very satisfactory results in experimental trials, and a few of them are 

 already grown locally by farmers. In view of these facts they are 

 deemed worthy of wide distribution, so that they may be tried under 

 field conditions in competition with the varieties usually grown. 



Typical plants of Dwarf hegari, Improved feterita, and Schrock 

 kafir are shown in figure 1, and figure 2 shows the comparative sizes 

 and shapes of the heads of all the varieties. 



