578 



SORGHUM 



SORGHUM 



elongated upper branches. It is one of the original 

 Natal varieties, introduced and at first grown 

 under the native name, Neeazana. It matures in 

 105-125 days, about 15 days later than Amber, 

 and, after it, is the most widely grown variety in 

 this country, where it is one of the most valuable 

 for forage, silage and syrup. It is found abroad 

 only in France and Australia. 



Colman, as now grown, is apparently identical 

 with Orange. It is said to have been a cross be- 

 tween Amber and Orange, 

 but now shows almost none 

 of the Amber characters. 

 Kavanaugh is also an Orange 

 sorghum. 



Fig. 812. 

 Sumac soighum. 



Fig. 813. 

 Gooseneck sorghum. 



7. Sumac. (Pig. 812.) The Sumac is a stout, 

 erect variety, 6-9 feet high, about one inch in 

 diameter, with an average of 14-16 nodes, good 

 foliage and short, very compact, cylindrical, red 

 heads, 4-8 inches long. Glumes very short, black. 

 Seeds deep red, obovate, smaller than in any other 

 variety, but much exserted from the very short 

 glumes. It is also one of the original Natal varie- 

 ties, introduced under the native name, Koombana, 

 but apparently not long grown under that name. It 

 matures at about the same time as Orange or slightly 

 later, and is an especially valuable variety for for- 

 age, silage and syrup. For forty years this has 

 been the most popular variety in the South, espe- 

 cially in the Piedmont districts. It is now largely 

 grown in Texas and Oklahoma also. It has been 

 variously known as Liberian and Red Liberian, 

 Redtop African, Redtop' and Sumac. It is the 

 most uniform of our varieties, apparently not 

 being crossed readily by pollen from other va- 

 rieties. 



8. Sapling. This is a tall and slender variety, 

 8-12 feet high, J to 1 inch in diameter, with 12- 

 15 nodes and slender, cylindrical panicles, 10-14 

 inches long, with long and mostly appressed 

 branches. Glumes narrow, elliptical, red to black, 

 about three-fourths as long as the oval, red and 

 well-exserted seeds. It matures in 110-125 or 130 

 days. Owing to its tall, slender habit of growth. 



and consequent tendency to lodge, it is, like Collier, 

 not likely to prove a valuable variety. 



The origin and history are unknown, but it is 

 probably one of the original Natal introductions. 

 It was first grown at the sorghum-sugar experi: 

 ment stations in Kansas many years ago, under the 

 name of Red X or Red Cross, and is still grown at 

 Fort Scott, and locally in Missouri and Texas. It 

 has recently been found in the mountains of north- 

 ern Georgia and in Texas (from North Carolina 

 seed) under the name of Sapling. 



9. Gooseneck. (Fig. 813.) This is the largest 

 and one of the latest varieties in cultivation. The 

 stalks are 8-12 feet tall, 1-2 inches in diameter at 

 the base, with 12-20 nodes ; lower internodes usu- 

 ally red ; leaves very large, frequently over three 

 feet long and nearly four inches wide, often red or 

 purple at the base. Peduncles recurved ("goose- 

 necked") or erect ; panicles black, contracted, 

 rather dense, ovate or one-sided (secund) and tri- 

 angular, 10-50 per cent pendent; spikelets broadly 

 obovate, awned ; seeds small, reddish, shorter than 

 the black, more or less silky glumes. It requires 

 120-135 days to reach maturity. 



Gooseneck is one of the original Natal varieties, 

 but the native name is not known. It was a favor- 

 ite in the South many years ago, and is still spar- 

 ingly cultivated there. Four years ago this variety 

 was brought to public notice in Texas under the 

 name, "Texas Seeded Ribbon Cane," erroneously 

 said to be a seed-producing variety of the true 

 sugar-cane or ribbon cane. Since then it has been 

 widely advertised and grown in the Southwest 

 under that name. It is a very valuable variety be- 

 cause of the large yield of syrup, but it is too late 

 to mature north of Tennessee and southern Missouri. 



IV. Kafir. 



Description. — Stems stout, 1-2 inches in diame- 

 ter, 4J-6 or 9 feet tall, with 12-15 nodes ; pith 

 semi-juicy but juice subacid or only slightly sweet ; 

 internodes much shorter than the sheaths (equal- 

 ing them in Old kafir), the leaves thus closely 

 crowded ; peduncle erect ; rachis about as long as 

 the heavy, compact, oblong or cylindrical panicle ; 

 glumes about half as long as the seeds, never 

 awned. With the exception of Old kafir, the kafirs 

 form a very uniform and well-defined group of low, 

 stout, stocky, heavily-seeded plants, most closely 

 related to the sweet sorghums. 



History. — The kafirs are native to eastern 

 Africa, from Abyssinia to Natal. Old kafir was in- 

 troduced about 1875, and distributed by the "Rural 

 New-Yorker" in the spring of 1881 as Rural 

 Branching Sorghum. It soon after became known 

 as milo maize or White milo maize, and later as 

 African millet. Two varieties, one the White kafir 

 and the other probably the Red, were exhibited by 

 the Orange Free State at the Centennial Exposi- 

 tion, Philadelphia, in 1876. Seed of the White 

 kafir was secured by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture of Georgia and transmitted in February, 1877, 

 to Dr. J. H. Watkins, still living at Palmetto, Ga. 

 He grew and selected it for several years and 

 began to distribute it in 1885. It was widely dig- 



