GEAIN-SOEGHUM EXPEKIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS. 79 



yield in 1916, when the later kafirs did not produce any grain. The 

 highest yield made was 45.8 bushels, in 1915. Many of the grain 

 sorghums made much better yields ia that year. The lowest yield, 

 excepting the failure of 1913, was 3.4 bushels, in 1916. In 1911 this 

 variety made the very good yield of 30.8 bushels as the average of 

 three plats. The annual and average yields of the Barchet are com- 

 pared with those of leading varieties of the White and Brown sub- 

 groups in Table XXXVI. 



THE BROWN KAOLIANG SUBGROUP. 



The Brown kaohang subgroup contains a numerous collection of 

 very diverse varieties. Some are early, some midseason, and some 

 late. Some are dwarf, some midsized, and some tall. Some have 

 very compact heads; others have open and spreading panicles. All 

 are introductions from China and Manchuria. Almost all of them 

 were mixed when received, and many of them contained hybrids, 

 probably due to their having been grown in mixtures in their native 

 land. 



Those varieties which the preliminary experiments showed to have 

 some promise for American conditions have been carefully selected 

 and better races developed. For the most part, however, they have 

 not been able to compete with the milo and kafir varieties in yield. 

 No less than 33 varieties and selections of these brown-seeded kao- 

 liangs have been grown. There were 19 when the experiment was 

 begun in 1908. The maximum number in any one year wus 23, in 

 1913, and the smallest number grown was 8, in 1915 and 1916. The 

 results obtained are presented in Tables XXXIV and XXXV. 



Since the varieties included in this subgroup are so very diverse, 

 it is impossible to interpret their performance and value by a dis- 

 cussion of average results. It is possible, however, to present the 

 average results obtained from two or three of the best varieties. 

 The most promising of all, and the only one that has any commercial 

 importance, is Manchu (C. I. No. 171). It was obtained from Japan, 

 but wdthout any doubt is a native of Manchuria, whence other 

 almost identical forms have been derived. Figure 11 shows a plat 

 of Manchu kaohang (C. I. No. 171) grown at AmariUo, Tex., in 1908. 



The most prominent characteristic of Manchu kaoliang has been its 

 earliness. In 1908, a fairly normalseason, it matured in 89 days, of 

 which the vegetative period occupied 62 and the fruiting period 27 

 days. The only other variety as early was C. I. No. 261, an almost 

 identical form of this variety, but not as good a yielder. The shortest 

 growing period was 80 days, in 1914, and the next was 83 days, in 

 1909. In these two years the yields were 20 and 18.1 bushels per 

 acre, respectively. The average duration of the growing period has 

 been 93 days, of which an average of 65 days has been occupied by 



