SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS ON THE GREAT PLAINS. 43 
Sumac sorgo proved to be the best forage variety, with Honey 
second. Neither of these varieties produces very large yields of 
seed at Dalhart, but they ordinarily mature sufficiently to make a 
good quality of fodder. Seed yields have not been obtained con- 
sistently from the sweet sorghums; hence, no accurate estimate is 
possible of a given variety's dependability in producing seed for 
sowing. This item is less important in sorghum culture than with 
many other crops on account of the small quantity of seed required. 
In the grain-sorghum class only two of the varieties made largei 
yields of forage than Sunrise kafir, and this difference was small, 
7 per cent in the case of Darso and 6 per cent for Blackhull kaflr. 
In yield of grain, however, the milos, both Yellow and White, ex- 
ceeded Sunrise kafir approximately 50 per cent. Freed sorghum 
made a better relative showing at Dalhart than at any other point 
in the sorghum belt, and this variety can be used to advantage here 
for late seeding. 
BIG SPRING, TEX. 
The weather records at Big Spring cover a period of 22 years from 
1900 to 1921. The normal rainfall is very low and, although a 
large proportion of it comes during the growing season, the variation 
in the total received annually is so great that in many years it is 
impossible to grow even such drought-resistant crops as the sorghums . 
(See fig. 3 and Table 1.) This explains the crop failures in 1917 
and 1918 when the seasonal rainfall was 4.25 and 6.88 inches, respec- 
tively. Even the native vegetation was unable to make any growth 
in these two years, and stock raisers were left with practically no 
forage, compelling them to ship large numbers of cattle out of this 
part of Texas. The total rainfall in 1921 was less than that of 1918, 
but the good rains received during May and June resulted in a fair 
crop of sorghum. 
Big Spring has an altitude of 2,396 feet and is located on slightly 
rolling land. This station is on the southern edge of the sorghum 
belt, where climatic conditions make crop production precarious 
"unless water is available for irrigation. Under these conditions 
cotton, sorghum, and cowpeas are the most dependable crops. 
The actual and relative yields of forage for each year from 1915 to 
1921 are given in Table 11. Grain yields are available only for the 
grain sorghums. wSumac sorgo was again used as a check for the 
sorgos and Dawn kafir for the grain sorghums. All of the sorghums 
included in these experiments will mature at Big Spring consistently 
unless their growth is checked by a period of acute drought during 
the summer. 
Honey and White African sorgos made the largest yields of forage, 
with Sumac a close second. The latter variety is more largely grown 
than the others, because seed of it is more easily obtained. The early 
varieties can not compete with later ones, such as Sumac and Honey, 
at Big Spring, where the length of the growing season is not a factor 
in determining values. 
Some unexpected results were obtained in the grain-sorghum tests. 
Schrock sorghum, Yellow milo, and Dwarf hegari, in the order named, 
were leaders in forage production. Through a misunderstanding, no 
grain vields were recorded for the varieties included in the test of 
