SORGHUM. 37 



yield v.ould be even under ten tons per acre. Whether 

 the largest yield will be obtained from one or two 

 cuttings per aci'e will be largely dependent on the 

 character of the season, but with sufficient rainfall 

 larger yields will be obtained from two cuttings, and 

 the sorghum from the second cutting is of increased 

 fineness because of the more abundant stooling of 

 the plants caused by the first cutting. 



Distribution. — Sorghum can be grown for soil- 

 ing food in all the tillable portions of the United 

 States that will produce Indian corn. This means 

 that it can be grown successfully in every state in the 

 Union. It can also be grown in Canada over simi- 

 lar areas, but in those sections of Canada that mark 

 the northerly limit of corn production, it cannot be 

 grown as successfully as corn, because of insuffi- 

 ciently high temperatures in the growing season. 



As this plant is possessed of greater power to 

 withstand drouth than corn, it has a higher adapta- 

 tion for much of the area lying west of the tier of 

 states which border on the Mississippi river and east 

 of the Rocky Mountains. The extent to which sor- 

 ghum will yet be grown for pasture, soiling food 

 and fodder within the area named, can only be sur- 

 mised. The conditions for its abundant growth in 

 much of the said area are not at all unfavorable. 

 The tillable areas on the continent which are least 

 adapted to the growth of sorghum are those which 

 border on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and north 

 from Portland in Maine on the one hand and from 

 San Francisco on the other. 



Soil. — The soils that possess highest adaptation 

 for corn also possess highest adaptation for sorghum. 



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