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British Dairy Farming. 
do almost anjthing to get it. Professor Lecouteux, who has 
written so much, and done such good service upon his own 
farm in promoting the cultivation of heavy forage crops, sajs 
that sorghum, like maize, merits the title of one of the giant- 
plants of agriculture, whether we regard it from its height, or 
from the large return it makes in forag-e. The cultivation of 
the two plants is so similar, that details which apply to one are 
entirely appropriate to the other. In France, the green sorghum 
varies between 24 and 40 tons per acre. It is cut for use in 
August and September, and is manured in a similar manner to 
the maize crop. There is another advantage consequent upon 
the cultivation of sorghum, which is second only to its value as 
a feeding crop. It enables the grower to take two crops from 
the same land in the same season, and, indeed, as in the case of 
maize, there is no reason why a third should not be planted, as 
I have seen it, the sorghum following a crop of trifolium incar- 
natum, or winter vetches, and being succeeded after cutting at 
the end of August, while it is still young, by rape or cabbages. 
There is practically no risk as to the germination of the seed 
if it is genuine. Unfortunately this remark does not apply to 
the maize-crop in this country, for unless the greatest possible 
care is taken to protect the seed, as well as the young plants, 
an entire field will be destroyed by rooks in a week. These 
birds have an affection for the seed of sorghum, which seems to 
have no other energetic enemv. It was once thought that birds 
took maize for the sake of the sweetness of its plant, but, if 
anything, the young sorghum plant is sweeter than that of 
maize, an additional proof that the maize plant is pulled up 
for its seed. When sorghum is some two to three feet high 
the stem is exquisitely tender and sweet, and it is easy to 
understand that it is used in America for the manufacture of 
molasses. According to a report in the ' Bulletin du Ministere 
de I'Agriculture ' the Parkinson Sugar Company, which pre- 
pares 10,000 lbs. of sugar daily, obtains 3600 lbs. per acre 
from sorghum yielding 12 tons to the acre. On good land, 
which has been well manured, there is no difficulty in obtain- 
ing a crop of 20 tons per acre, and this fact, combined with that 
alread}- mentioned, should be an inducement to dairy farmers to 
give their attention to a plant which yields such extraordinary 
results in the short space of 3 to 3^ months. In the ' Field ' 
of September 18th, 1S86, a writer described his experience 
with sorghum, which he was cutting and putting into a silo. 
The crop was grown after rye, which had been twice fed on 
with good cake, and he declared his intention of sowing a third 
crop, namely, rape for the use of bis sheep — the rape being 
