40 BULLETIN 1260, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The data given in Table S fully demonstrate the value of Sumac 
sorgo as a forage crop in the district tributary to Woodward, Okla. 
This variety, although it produced somewhat less forage than Honey, 
made a reasonable seed crop in four years out of five, while the latter 
variety produced a good crop of seed in only one year of this period. 
Orange sorgo made a good yield of forage and produced more seed 
than Sumac. These two varieties. Sumac and Orange, have good 
performance records in the tests and make up a very large part of 
the sweet-sorghum acreage in northwestern Oklahoma. 
Red Amber is perhaps the best early-ma turing variety of sorgo, 
and it will produce seed in the driest years: but, like all early varie- 
ties, it does not make a very high yield of forage. 
Schrock and Darso sorghums are both hybrid varieties which 
originated in Oklahoma and are well adapted to conditions in that 
State. They are not equal to the sorgos. however, as forage pro- 
ducers and are much inferior to the Sunrise and Dawn kafirs in both 
quantity and quality of grain. Sunrise kafir is the outstanding 
variety of grain sorghum for forage purposes and has also produced 
the highest average grain yield. 
LAWTON, OKLA. 
On account of its proximity to Fort Sill, weather records are avail- 
able at Lawton for a total of 46 years. These records indicate that 
the normal annual rainfall at Lawton is 5 inches greater than that at 
Chillicothe. (See fig. 3 and Table 1.) May. with an average of 5 
inches, is normally the month of greatest rainfall. During the period 
from 1917 to 1921. however, the average for October was 2 inches 
higher than that of May, principally because of the excessive precipi- 
tation in October. 1919. (See Table 1.) The extreme uncertaintv 
of the rainfall at Lawton is illustrated by the October rainfall, which 
has varied from 0.03 of an inch in 1921 to 13. 7S inches in 1919. 
The normal amount and distribution of rainfall at Lawton is favor- 
able to the production of splendid crops of sorghum. (See Table 1 
and fig. 3.) In individual years, however, the variation from normal 
is sometimes so great that crop failure is unavoidable. This hap- 
pened in 1918, when an unusually dry autumn in 1917 was followed 
by a dry spring, there being very little effective rainfall t'rom August. 
1917. to June, 1918. The result of this long dry period was a low 
yield of forage and no grain. 
Lawton has an altitude of 1.111 feet and. like Woodward. Okla.. 
is located well within the sorghum belt. Sumac and Orange sorgos 
and Blackhull kafir mature regularly except in years when their 
development is retarded by periods of drought. 
The actual and relative yields of grain and forage for each year 
from 1917 to 1921 are given in Table 9. These data include the 
principal sorgos and many varieties of grain sorghum. Sumac sorgo 
and Dawn kafir being used as the respective cheek-. 
Honey sorgo made the highest yield of forage during the test 
period but produced seed only one year. Orange sorgo was second 
in forage and matured seed three years. Sumac sorgo did equally 
well, producing only slightly less forage than Orange and it little 
more <eed. 
