58 BULLETIN 698^ U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



yields were between 3 and 6 bushels per acre. In two years, 1911 

 and 1914, small yields, averaging 18.7 and 10.1 bushels, respec- 

 tively, were produced. In 1908 there was a full yield, 33.8 bushels 

 per acre, while in 1915 the very large average of 51.9 bushels was 

 obtained. The average annual production in the entire 9-year period, 

 based on a total of 109 plats grown, is only 12.3 bushels per acre. 

 The highest average acre yield, in this period, is 17.3 bushels. Two 

 other lots grown in all nine years yielded 16.9 and 16.5 bushels, 

 respectively, while the average yield of five lots is 15.3 bushels. 



The comparatively low returns given by the standard forms of 

 Blackhull kafir led to efforts for improvement through breeding. 

 The Early, or Sunrise, kafir, and the dwarf variety discussed next 

 in order are two of the varieties resulting from the breeding opera- 

 tions. Both have yielded better in the years in which they have 

 been grown than any of the older forms, as will be seen in Table XX 

 and again in Table XXX, where the annual and average yields of all 

 leading kafirs are summarized. 



SUNRISE KAFIR. 



The Sunrise, or Early, kafir (C. I. No. 472) was developed from a 

 single head, which bore the selection number 30. It was selected in 

 the autumn pf 1906 by Mr. A. H. Leidigh, then superintendent of 

 the Amarillo Cereal Field Station. The Dawn (dwarf) kafir (C. I. 

 No. 340) has been developed from the same head, the exact origin of 

 which is not known. Probably it was selected in one of the Black- 

 hull kafir plats on the station at Amarillo, or at Channing, Tex., 

 where the station was located previous to 1906, but it may have been 

 found on some near-by farm. 



Head No. 30 was used to sow a head row in 1907. The resulting 

 plants were like ordinary Blackhull kafir in nearly all respects except 

 earliness and stature. This row was heading on August 14, while 

 none of the other selections headed until August 26, or 12 days later. 

 In height, row 30 varied from 3.5 to 5 feet, while the other selections 

 ranged from 4.5 to 5.5 or 6 feet. The heads were compact, but not 

 completely exserted from the upper sheath. The glumes were black, 

 and the kernels apparently were a little longer than those of ordinary 

 kafir. 



The earliness and variable stature, as also the scarcely exserted 

 heads, indicate hybridization. Since the plants in other respects are 

 so typically Blackhull kafir, the hybridization must have been be- 

 tween that variety and another having very similar characters. 

 Among all the grain sorghums, only White kafir could impart earli- 

 ness, dwarf stature, and shorter peduncles to Blackhull kafir without 

 changing its other characters. It seems safe to conclude, therefore, 

 that we have here the progeny of a chance hybrid between Blackhull 

 kafir and White kafir. 



