82 — BULLETIN 981, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
finer and more evenly distributed that later tillage was not difficult, 
and in some cases the soil seemed lighter and more mellow than 
before. | 
Sudan grass may be surface planted in rows with either a grain 
drill or corn planter. It may be planted in furrows directly with a 
lister, or, more safely but less economically, with the corn planter 
following blank listing. Surface planting is more likely to give a 
good stand and rapid early growth, because the soil is warmer and 
the plants are not exposed to being washed out, covered up, or 
drowned, as in listed furrows. Listing has the advantage in dry 
regions of putting the seed down into moist soil, often resulting in 
- good stands where the surface soil is too dry for seed to sprout. 
Listed fields may be cultivated easily and rapidly with the special 
Fie. 18.—The difficulty of putting a field in condition for cropping the year following acrop of Sudan grass 
seeded in 40-inch rows is shown in this illustration. 
2-row machine commonly used for listed corn and sorghums in the 
Great Plains area. It is much easier to cover up weeds in cultivating 
listed fields, but, on the other hand, surface-planted Sudan grass 
properly handled grows so rapidly that weeds give very little trouble 
and are soon overcome by the shade. 
Rows may be spaced any distance desired with a grain drill by 
stopping up the holes not needed. In drills with the vertical disk 
feed, rags tightly inserted serve this purpose, but in drills with the 
horizontal corrugated-cylinder feed it is usually necessary to tack a 
material like tin or wood over the holes. The grain drill used in this 
way is especially useful for rows less than 3 feet apart. For example, 
a drill with 10 holes 7 inches apart sows four 21-inch rows at once by 
seeding through the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth holes; or the 
