200 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



over, they are actually able to draw more moisture from 

 the soil than is the corn plant. 



Corn which has once been stunted by drouth or by hot 

 winds never fully recovers. The sorghums do recover, 

 usually producing satisfactory crops of grain in spite of 

 these adverse conditions. They have made possible the 

 cultivation of a great deal of land in the semiarid West, 

 which, but for them, could not be made to yield profitable 

 crops. 



136. Planting and cultivating Kafir Corn and Similar 

 Drouth-Resistant Crops. — Notwithstanding the fact that 

 these crops endure drouth to a remarkable degree, they 

 require a moist, mellow seed bed at the time the young 

 grain is sprouting, and rather exacting conditions as to 

 the way in which the seed is put into the ground. If the 

 ground is too dry, or if the seed is planted too shallow, 

 the young plants will not succeed. If planted too deep, 

 or in a situation where the loose dirt will be washed over 

 them during dashing rains, the young plants can not push 

 their way to the surface, owing to the limited supply of 

 food in the seeds which are comparatively small (Exer- 

 cise 24.) 



Those fields which produce the best yields of Kafir 

 com and other similar crops are the ones in which (1) the 

 soil has been put carefully into condition to receive and 

 hold the moisture as explained in Sections 30 and 31, and 

 in which (2) the furrows have been opened with the lister 

 in such a way as to prevent so far as possible the water 

 from running down the rows. The latter is accomplished 

 by keeping the bottoms of the furrows as nearly level as 

 possible, as, for example, by following around the hills 

 with the Hster rather than simply up and down their 

 slopes. 



