THE SORGHUMS 237 



potash. Fertilizer should be applied in the same way as 

 to corn. 



217. Preparation and planting. — Because of the slow 

 growth of the young plants, preparation of the land should 

 be thorough, to promote as rapid growth as possible of the 

 young plant and to free the soil from all growing weeds and 

 grass. On well-drained land, planting is usually practiced 

 without ridging, which, however, may be necessary on poorly 

 drained bottoms. In the dry climate of the Southwest, 

 sorghum is sometimes "listed"; that is, planted in an un- 

 filled furrow, considerably below the level of the field. 



A customary distance between rows is 3^ feet, and 

 between single plants grown for sirup, 3 to 8 inches. Seed- 

 ing is performed with a planter, a few quarts sufficing for 

 an acre. 



When practicable, tillage should be given with a weeder 

 or harrow before the plants appear and again when they are 

 large enough to escape injury. Several cultivations or till- 

 ings with one- or two-horse cultivators^ and in the Gulf 

 States one or more hoeings, are usually given. 



Sorghum should be planted several weeks later than the 

 earliest corn. The greater part of the crop is planted in 

 May. However, in the cotton-belt sorghum for forage 

 may be planted as late as July, though such late planting 

 reduces the yield. 



218. Harvesting. — When the plant is thoroughly ma- 

 ture, as shown by the sweetness of the juice and the ripening 

 of the grain, the heads are cut for seed, the leaves stripped 

 from the stem and utihzed for forage, and the stalks cut and 

 made into sirup in practically the same way in which sugar- 

 cane is handled. 



