GEAIN-SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OP TEXAS. 63 



inches in Blackliull kafir and 5.2 inches in Sunrise kafir. The pro- 

 portion of suckers to main stalks has exceeded 1 to 1 appreciably 

 only once, in 1910, when the suckers formed 63 per cent of the total 

 stalks. In general, it may be said that the Dawn kafir shows about 

 the same reactions to environment as does the Blackhull kafir except 

 in the matter of earliness and consequent yield, especially in un- 

 favorable seasons. 



The average acre yield of Dawn kafir, as shown in Tables XX and 

 XXII, has been 18.8 bushels in the 9-year period, while that of all 

 lots of the ordinary Blackhull kafir has been only 12.3 bushels. 

 During this period the best lot of Blackhull has averaged 17.3 bushels 

 and the average yield of five lots has been 15.3 bushels. During the 

 eight years in which the Sunrise kafir also has been grown and com- 

 parison can be made, the average yield of the best selection of 

 Blackhull kafir (C. I. No. 71) was 14.2 bushels, that of the Sunrise 

 kafir was 15.4 bushels, and that of the Dawn kafir was 17.5 bushels 

 per acre. It is in the dry seasons that the Dawn shows its signifi- 

 cant advantage over Blackhull kafir. In 1908, a normal season, 

 the Dawn was outyielded by ten selections of Blackhull kafir and by 

 the average of all. In 1915, an abnormally favorable season, its 

 yield was exceeded by those of three out of the six Blackhull selec- 

 tions grown, though not by the average of all. In every other 

 year except 1913, when no yields were obtained from any varieties, 

 it markedly outyielded Blackhull kafir. Not only did it exceed that 

 variety in average yield, but also in the comparative yield of the best 

 plat each year. In fact, the poorest plat of Dawn outyielded the 

 best j)lat of standard Blackhull in every one of the dry seasons. 



WHITE KAFIR. 



White kafir has been grown in the United States since the begin- 

 ning of the experiments with the kafirs. In recent years, however, 

 it has been displaced by the Blackhull kafir, and now it is rarely 

 found in field culture. It differs from the Blackhull kafir in, three 

 characters, namely, in white glumes instead of black, in smaller and 

 shorter plants, and in the inability to push the heads completely 

 out of the boot or upper leaf sheath. This last defect probably is 

 only a coroUary or expression of the lower vegetative vigor of the 

 variety. 



Selection to improve its habits in the matter of the exsertion of 

 the head was begun as early as 1907. The YfTiite kafir was normally 

 earlier than the Blackhull kafir. If a race with good heading habits 

 could be produced, it might be a valuable crop in unfavorable seasons 

 and at higher altitudes where the seasons are short. While some . 

 progress has been made in producing a race with a more completely 

 exserted head, it has not proved a very high yielder. The results 

 obtained since 1909 are shown in Tables XX and XXIII. 



