THE SACCHARINE SORGHUMS , 385 



476. Soils and fertilizers. — Sweet sorghum may be 

 successfully grown bn soils o^ almost any character provided 

 they are reasonably fertile and well-drained. These crops 

 are strong feeders and excellent drought resisters, which 

 qualities often cause them to be planted on the poorest 

 land of the farm. The fertile soils are often avoided for 

 sorghums grown for forage because the stems are finer on 

 the less productive soils. The tendency of sorghums to 

 produce coarse stems when planted on rich soils can be 

 > overcome by sowing the crop thicker. For sirup produc- 

 tion a rather fertile, medium textured loam is preferred. 



While it is customary to grow the sorghums without 

 fertilizer, they are surface feeders and will respond to 

 judicious fertilization as readily as will corn. The charac- 

 ter, amount and method of apphcation of fertilizer for sor- 

 ghum are the same as for corn. 



- 477. Preparation of the land. — The sweet sorghums 

 require no special preparation of the soil other than that 

 recommended for corn. As the young plants grow very 

 slowly, the seed-bed should be plowed early and harrowed 

 frequently before seeding in order to kill any weeds that 

 may have started. , 



478. Time, rate, and method of planting. — The sweet 

 sorghums are usually planted from two to four weeks after 

 the earliest corn. In the cotton-belt the greater part of 

 the crop for sirup is planted in May. For forage, sorghum 

 may be planted in the central portion of the Gulf states 

 at any time from April 1st to July 1st, although reduced 

 yields are usually secm-ed from the very late plantings. 



When grown for sirup, the raws should be 33^ feet apart 

 and the plants from 4 to 8 inches apart in the row. Plant- 

 ing is best doiie with an ordinary corn or cotton planter 

 fitted with special sorghum plates. Sometimes the corn- 



