GKAIN-SOKGHUM EXPERIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS. 19 



The Kafir Group. 



The kafir varieties are known by their stout, stocky, semijuicy 

 stems, with short internodes and, overlapping sheaths; leaves 11 to 

 16, broad; panicles erect, cylindrical, linear or narrowly to broadly 

 oblong, heavy; spikelets obovate, 2.5 to 4 mm. wide; glumes much 

 shorter than the seed; lemmas not awned. 



The six varieties grown in this country may be distinguished by 

 the following key: 



Seeds white. 



Glumes black. 



Stalks 1.5 to 2.4 meters tall. 



Maturing late BlacTchull kafir. 



Maturing midearly Sunrise kafir. 



Stalks 0.9 to 1.3 meters tall ; maturing midearly .Dawn {Dwarf Blackhull) kafir. 



Glumes white White kafir. 



Seeds pink. 



Glumes white Pink kafir. 



Seeds red. 



Glumes black Red kafir. 



The Kaoliang Group. 



Stems slender, dry, pithy, 0.8 to 3 meters tall; leaves 8 to 11, 

 small, narrow; panicle variable, mostly narrowly oval to oblong or 

 clavate; spikelets obovate or oval, 2.5 to 3.3 mm. wide; lemmas 

 always awned; seeds oval, often pointed, white or various shades 

 of brown. 



A large number of varieties of kaoliang have been grown in 

 adaptation and classification studies. Most of these have been dis- 

 carded, however, and it is not necessary to classify and separate them 

 here. " 



Only one of these varieties has become established as a farm crop. 



This variety, the Manchu (Cereal Investigations Nos. 171 and 328), 



is now grown to some extent in South Dakota, and its use there seems 



to be increasing. It is a very early maturing variety, of medium 



height, 1.2 to 2.1 meters tall, with a narrowly oval, semicompact 



panicle 8 to 10 inches long, black glumes, and dark-brown seeds. 



The varietal name, Aero, has recently been given by the South 



Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station to a selection of the Manchu 



variety. 



The Shallu Group. 



Only one variety of the shallu group is found in the United States, 

 and it apparently has little or no value for dry-land conditions. 

 It grows from 1.5 to 2.4 meters tall, has slender, dry stems bearing 

 11 to 15 leaves of medium size, and large, loose, conical, pale-yellow 

 panicles, 2 to 4 dm. long. The glumes are yellowish and at maturity 

 spread wide apart and the edges become inrolled, completely exposing 

 the small, oval, pale-buff seed. 



