THE SORGHUMS 241 



kafir and may make a crop where the rainfall is onlj' 10 

 to 14 inches. 



Other advantages over kafir are its earlier maturity and its 

 freedom from attack by liernel smut. The disadvantages of milo 

 as compared -svith kafir are : (1; the leaves are fewer and the 

 stems more pithy; i2j the fact that the leaves of milo do not 

 keep perfecth' green up to the time of the ripening of seed, 

 making its forage less palatable. 



The methods of planting, cultivating, and harvesting milo are 

 the same as for kafir. In experiments made in the northwestern 

 part of Texas, a distance of 6 inches between plants in the row 

 afforded the largest yield of seed. 



Selection has resulted in a dwarf variety and also in strains 

 ha\Tng erect heads, thus making harvesting easier than with the 

 pendant heads, usual in the plants of milo. 



Broom-corx 



223. Description. — Broom-corn is a tall, nonsaceharine 

 sorghum. It is distingui.shed from other sorghums bj- the 

 great length and toughne.ss of the branches that make up 

 the panicle 'Fig. 120j. The valuable part of broom-corn 

 consists of these long heads after the removal of the im-. 

 mature seed ; this useful part is called the " brush," and 

 from it brooms anrl various kinds of brushes are made. 



A fair yield of cured and prepared brush of the standard varie- 

 ties is about one third of a ton per acre. The dwarf varieties 

 ordinarily jdeld about one fifth of a ton of brush per acre, but 

 this dwarf brush commands a higher price. The price of broom- 

 corn is subject to \-iolent fluctuations ; eighty dollars per ton of 

 brush may be taken as an average, but the price sometimes sints 

 below this and sometimes rises to about double this figure. The 

 fluctuations in price are largeh- due to the fact that only a rela- 

 tiveh- small area fusuallj- less than 40,000 acres and some years 

 less than 20,000 acres; is required to furnish the entire American 



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