GARDEN MANUAL FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



P9 



boards on a house. '! his inexpensive implement 

 dragged over the land crushes small clods, covers 

 the seed sufficiently, and levels the ground verv 

 uniformly, giving it a good surface drainage and 

 preventing the washing away of seeds hy small 

 trenches or gullies. 



We have paid little attention to any of the spring 

 or summer grasses, as our native Bermuda, (rub 

 Grass, White Clover and Pea vines afford good 

 summer forage and pasturage. Nothing that we 

 have tried has been as satisfactory as the Kye for 

 winter pasturage, and we will not plant anything 

 else for that purpose. Any planter who has from 

 25 to 100 mules t© feed will find their condition 

 from December 1st to April 1st much improved by 

 a few hours grazing each week on a Eye patch 



from live to twenty acres. 



The Butter Plate both in the fullness and color 

 of its contents otters the highest testimonials by 

 its appearance to those whose laud means limit 

 them to an area not measured by acres. 



We cannot speak of ther« lative merits of North- 

 ern and Southern grown seed, as we have not used 

 any excepting those supplied by you, and we do 

 not know where they came from. Confident that 

 they were the best, we have planted every year 

 with uniform good results. Any further informa- 

 tion we can give on this subject will always be at 

 your disposal. With kindest regards and wishes 

 for a prosperous business season, followed by a 

 bountiful harvest to your patrons. 



H. WILKINSON. 



DESCRIPTIVE LIST 



OF THB DIFFBRNT VARIETIES OF THE SORGHUM FAMILY, 



SUITABLE EOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



Sorghum is planted for feeding stock during the spring and 

 early summer. For this purpose it should be sown as early in 

 spring rs possible in drills about two to three feet apart; three 

 or four quarts per acre. It makes excellent green fodder. 



As a forage plant for early cutting, to be fed to stock, we do 

 not think that anything is equal to the Amber Sorghum, such 

 as we have been selling for years, imported from Kansas. 

 After several cuttings, the branching varieties of Sorghum, 

 also called Millo Maize, may be preferable, but more so for 

 seed than forage. The Teosinte will give more fodder than 

 any of the Sorghums. Some varieties not before described and 

 rather new here are the following: 



White Millo Maize, or Branching Dhouro, should be planted 

 in four or five foot rows and two to three feet in the drills, ac- 

 cording to the strength of the land. The cultivation is like 

 corn. It gives an abundance of leaves and seed; the latter are 



good feed for fowls. We have dropped the Yellow Millo 

 Maize, as fowls do not eat the seed as readily as the white. See 

 Price List. 



KAFFIR CORN. 



Sorghum Kaffrorum. 



This is a variety of Sorghum non-saccharine, and distinctly differing in habit of growth 

 and other characteristics from all others of that class. _ The plant is low, stalks perfectly 

 erect, the foliage is wide, alternating closing on either side of the stalks. 



It does not stool from the root, but branches from the top joints; producing from two 

 to four heads of gram from each stalk. The heads are long, narrow and perfectly erect, 

 well filled with white grain, which at maturity is slightly flecked with red or reddish 

 brown spots. Weight, 60 lbs, per bushel. 



The average height of growth on good strong land, 5^ to 6 feet; on thin land 4^ to 5 

 feet. The stalk is stout, never blown about by winds, never tangles, and is always man- 

 ageable, easily handled. A boy can gather the grain heads or the fodder. The seed heads 

 grow from 10 to 12 inches in length, and product of grain on good land easily reaches 50 

 to 60 bushels per acre. . . , 



It has the quality common to many Sorghums of resisting drought. If the growth is 

 checked for want of moisture, the plant waits for rain, and then at once resumes the pro- 

 cesses, and in the most disastrous seasons has not failed so far to make its crop. On very 

 thin and worn lands it yields paying crops of grain and forage, even in dry seasons in 

 which corn has utterly failed on the same lands. 



Amber Sorghum. 



