386 



KAFIR AND DURRA 



KAFIR AND DURRA 



for hay, soiling or silage,- being used almost exclu- 

 sively for grain and,' fodder. The fodder is usually 

 considered less valuable than that of either sor- 

 ghum or kafir, as the stalks are less leafy, and 

 the crop is generally much more mature when cut. 

 It is rather more difficult to harvest than kafir, as 



ks«; 



Fig. 581. Field of Red kaflr. 



the heads often turn down and the. stalks are not 

 uniform in height. Thick planting is advisable, 

 using at least fiire. pounds of seed to the acre,' as 

 the perceiitage of goosenecked heads will be re' 

 duced, and the time of maturity will be more uni- 

 form. If planted thinly. Yellow milo stools and 

 branches yigor9usly, and the heads on the various 

 suckers do not ripen at the same time as the main 

 head. It is most useful in the western part of the 

 states' of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska ; 

 eastern Colorado ; and in New Mexico and Arizona; 

 In the warm, dry parts of the small grain-grow- 

 ing sections, milo is an excellent crop to plant 

 after the cereals are harvested. It may prove of 

 value in eastern Oregon and Washington, especially 

 if earlier strains can be developed. 



The so-called White milo is an inferior, tall- 

 growing true kafir. 



Brown durra is grown rather extensively in 

 California under the name Egyptian corn, although 

 this latter name is applied to other sorts, especially 

 to White durra. It' is very similar in many re- 

 spects to Yellow milo, but the grain is darker in 

 color and the heads are rather more uniformly 

 goosenecked. The crop is less valuable than Yellow 

 milo, as the grain shatters readily when ripe. Its 

 cultivation is in every way the same as that of 

 kafir and Yellow milo. 



White durra or Jerusalem corn is little grown in 

 .this country. The heads are very compact, usually 

 turn down, are frequently injured by insects and 

 fungous diseases, and the grain shatters badly. 

 Any of the three preceding varieties will prove 

 more satisfactory than will this sort. Either kafir 

 or Yellow milo usually 

 proves more satisfac- 

 tory than White durra. 



Cvlture. 



Soils. — Kafir is capa- 

 ble of considerable 

 adaptation, and seems to 

 do equally well on a 

 good clay or on a loam 

 soil. It succeeds much 

 better on a poor soil 

 than many other crops, 

 but does proportionately 

 better on rich land. 



Soil-preparation and 

 seeding. — Land is pre- 

 pared for seeding in 

 much the same way as 

 for maize. If the kafir 

 is to be grown for grain, 

 the land- is often plowed 

 early in the spring, 

 thoroughly worked down 

 with harrow and disk 

 and planted with a corn- 

 planter, using the drill- 

 ing attachment. List- 

 ing, however, seems to 

 be a more popular 

 method in the West, 

 especially on warm soils and in late planting. To 

 prepare for listing, the land should be disked early 

 in the spring to conserve the soil moisture. At 

 planting time. furrows are thrown out with a lister, 

 and the seed drilled in. The rows should be three 

 to three and a half feet apart, and the plants three 

 to five inches apart in the row. Three to six 

 pounds of seed will plant an acre. 



When kafir is grown for forage the land is pre- 

 pared and planted in the same way, except that the 

 plants should be about one inch apart in the row. 

 However, a great deal of kafir forage is raised by 

 sowing either broadcast or with a press drill at 

 the rate of one to two bushels of seed per acre. 



Kafir should be seeded when the weather is 

 warm and settled. If the ground is cold the seed 

 may rot. The seed should be kept in a dry place 

 over winter, and not in bulk, to avoid heating, 

 which destroys the germinating power. Seed from 

 long, rather compact heads is preferred. 



The after-care of the crop is essentially the same 

 as for maize. Because of the shallow root system, 

 the cultivation should not be deep. The first one or 

 two cultivations may be given with the sled culti- 

 vator or with the spiketooth harrow. Later plow- 

 ings may be given with any of the shallow-running 

 shovel, sweep; or disk cultivators. Kafir is fre- 

 quently planted on freshly broken sod, and in that 



