March, 1912.] 



211 



Edible Products. 



poultry, and, of course, may be fed to 

 pigs and cattle as well. The difficulty 

 in using the small seeded varieties is 

 largely in hulling, grinding, and freeing 

 the flour from the "bran." 



Generally speaking, the sorghums re- 

 quire less rain during their growing 

 season than the maize varieties. This 

 fact, together with their very rapid 

 growth and heavy yield of seed make 

 the crop one which should be given 

 much more attention than it receives at 

 present. While not ^o rich in oil and 

 gluten as maize, there is no question 

 but that sorghum grain made into meal 

 is almost as valuable for the table and 

 for feeding domestic animals, poultry, 

 etc., as the former. Throughout the 

 entire Continent, as well as large dis- 

 tricts in India, south and eastern Asia, 

 these sorghums are very largely grown 

 and in many districts they furnish the 

 chief article of diet. At least 200 named 

 sorts are grown in India and the number 

 cultivated from the Sudan to the 

 Kalahari desert is probably not less 

 than 50, and may be nearly 100. The 

 writer once measured stems in a field of 

 sorghum grown by the Ronga Kafirs of 

 Mozambique and found that some of the 

 stems were about 6 metres (over 19 feet) 

 in height. As grown by the Kafirs in 

 East Africa the plants run very largely 

 to stem instead of seed, through too 

 close planting, but even under adverse 

 conditions a yield of grain in the fields 

 of these savage tribes is probably twice 

 or three times the yield of maize on the 

 same area. One of the types, or groups 

 of varieties, of the sorghum are now 

 known as "kafir,"on account of their 

 origin among the Kafir tribes of south- 

 east Africa. Eastern China has furnished 

 another class of sorghums known as the 

 "kowliangs ;" these are rapidly gaining 

 favor in the great sorghum belt of the 

 Middle and Western States. Another 

 type, comprising the " durras," are sup- 

 posed to have originated in Egypt and 

 the Levant ; still another group, the 

 " milos," are largely grown in India, 



Nearly 350,000 hectares of land are 

 now planted in sorghum in the State of 

 Kansas alone, while Oklahoma has prob- 

 ably about the same amount. The yield 

 of the grain sorghums of America is 

 from 25 to 45 bushels (750 to 1,000 liters) 

 per hectare ; the value of the grain is 

 about 80 to 90 centavos per bushel (2£ to 

 3 centavos per liter), which gives a 

 hectare value of about P 30 for the grain 

 alone. The yield of forage is about 7 to 

 8 tons per hectare. 



New varieties are continually appear- 

 ing on the American market, largely due 

 to artificial selection on the part of 



intelligent farmers who have learned 

 the method from their experience in 

 growing corn and other grains; and in 

 this they have been very largely 

 assisted, of course, by the various ex- 

 perimental farms and stations of the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



The proportion of seed to the weight 

 of the entire plant is gradually in- 

 creasing, " One plat of milo at the 

 Dal hart experimental farm, Texas, in 

 1908, yielded 47'2 per cent, of its weight 

 in grain." 



The Bureau of Agriculture has grown 

 sorghum for several seasons at the 

 Alabang stock farm, with uniformly ex- 

 cellent results. However, it is proposed 

 to introduce a considerable number of 

 better vaiieties from America and 

 other countries and to try them out 

 at the various experiment stations 

 of this Bureau during the coming 

 year. Some of the varieties which 

 are suitable only for forage will be 

 tested at the various forage testing 

 stations, under the direction of Col, 

 J. C, Gresham, of the quartermaster 

 department, United States Army. It 

 should be remembered that sorghum 

 gained its prominence in America not so 

 much through the yield of grain as from 

 the fact that some of the first varieties to 

 be introduced were very rich in sugar, 

 and are still used, to some extent, in the 

 production of sorghum syrup ; unfor- 

 tunately it is difficult to crystallize this 

 syrup, so that it is probable that no 

 sorghum will ever be able to compete 

 with cane and sugar beets. 



Among other crops which should be 

 grown in the Philippines to break up 

 the single-crop idea — which has unfor- 

 tunately held such a prominent place 

 in Philippine agriculture — may be 

 mentioned the following ; 



Peanuts, inferior varieties of which 

 are grown to some extent in nearly all 

 provinces of the Archipelago. 



Taro, or gabe, inferior varieties of 

 which are grown to a limited extent, 

 especially in the visayas. 



Yautias, which were introduced by 

 the writer and Mr. Wm. S. Lyon from 

 tropical America in 1904, but which have 

 never received more than a small frac- 

 tion of the attention they deserve as 

 first class root-crops. 



Cassava, a few varieties of which are 

 cultivated to a slight extent in some 

 districts, but which are seldom used 

 as they should be in the preparation of 

 dried flour, tapioca, etc 



Yams, or ubis, which are recognized as 

 valuable foods throughout the trophy 



