320 CORN CROPS 



Various plans for harvesting only the heads have been 

 tried, but all these have proved less satisfactory than 

 harvesting the whole' plant. 



249. Curing. — The grain sorghum, however harvested, 

 should be set up in shocks until well cured. Precaution 

 should be taken to set the base of the shock wide and to 

 tie well about the heads. The heads being heavy, the 

 shocks are very likely to fall over. 



Before threshing, the sorghum heads should be very 

 dry, as the grain heats and spoUs quickly when stored if 

 at all damp. This will require four to six weeks in the 

 shock. 



250. Hauling and storing. — Where the fodder is fed, 

 it is very common to haul from the field as used. Sorghum 

 will remain in very good condition for several months 

 when bound and set in large shocks. If not to be used for 

 three months, it is usually better to haul and stack. 



Baling is sometimes practiced, a hop or broom-corn 

 baler being used as the bundles are not broken apart. 



When the stover and grain are to be fed separately the 

 bundles are sometimes beheaded with a broadax or heavy 

 knife. The heads are then stored in a dry place, to be 

 fed whole or to be threshed. 



251. Threshing. — ■ The whole bundles are sometimes 

 run through an ordinary grain-thresher, or only the heads 

 run in and the bundles then withdrawn. The labor is 

 heavy in both cases and it is often considered better to 

 behead the bundles and thresh only the heads. 



Yields 



252. As shown by the table on page 306, the average 

 yield of grain sorghums in Kansas and Oklahoma is not 

 equal to that of Indian corn ; but in these States corn is 



