SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS OX THE GREAT PLAINS. 83 
though not always the highest yield. The heads in the thicker rates 
were more numerous but much smaller and sometimes poorly ex- 
serted and filled. With a row space in excess of 12 inches there is an 
increasingly marked tendency with some varieties, especially feterita, 
to produce a portion of the crop on sucker stalks or branches that 
mature late and have poorly filled heads. This lack of uniformity 
interferes with machine harvesting and results in a poor quality of 
grain that is likely to heat in storage. 
The experiments with differing spaces between the rows, especially 
those with Pink kafir at Hays, Kans., produced additional evidence 
in favor of fairly thick stands. A 6-inch row space in 40-inch rows 
having 26,400 plants to the acre produced 1.04 tons more air-dry 
fodder and 12.5 bushels more grain per acre than a 24-inch row space 
having 6,600 plants per acre; in rows with alternately 40 and 80 
inches of space between them 26,400 plants per acre produced 0.92 
ton more fodder and 12.3 bushels more grain than 6,600 plants per 
acre; and in 80-inch rows the difference in favor of the thick stand 
was 0.88 ton of fodder and 10.5 bushels of grain. The 40-inch rows 
produced more fodder and practically as much grain as the wider 
rows during the period of the experiment, which was somewhat more 
favorable than normal. 
These rate-of-seeding experiments indicate that a 4-inch row space 
is best for forage purposes, and an S-inch to 12-inch row space for 
grain yields. However, the row space and the space between the 
rows are factors of less importance apparently than the choice of 
varieties. 
Experiments planned to determine the methods best suited to 
obtain in actual farm practice stands with the desired row space per 
plant showed that the germination of seed in the field averaged about 
50 per cent of the laboratory germination. At Chillicothe, Tex., 
1.5 to 2 pounds of kafir seed per acre resulted in a stand with approxi- 
mately 9 inches of row space per plant, and 3 pounds of seed gave a 
stand with about 7 inches of row space. With Sumac sorgo seed 1 
pound gave a stand with approximately 11 inches of row space; 2 
pomids, 9 inches; 3 pounds, 6 inches; and 4 pounds, 5 inches. With 
Orange sorgo seed 1 pound gave a stand with approximately 15 
inches of row space: 2.5 pounds, 7 inches; 3.4 pounds, 6 inches; and 
4.3 pounds, 4.5 inches. 
It is believed that in a test covering a longer period of years or in a 
locality where conditions were more favorable for germination the 
results would more closely approach the theoretical average row 
space shown in the last column of Table 15. 
RATE OF SEEDING IN CLOSE DRILLS OR BROADCAST. 
The two methods of seeding sorghum most commonly practiced arc 
seeding in rows 40 to 44 inches apart, previously described, and seed- 
ing in close drills or broadcast. The former method presupposes 
cultivation of the crop after the manner of cultivating corn; whereas, 
the latter permits no cultivation, and the crop is harvested usually 
with haying machinery. When a grain crop is desired the sorghums 
are nearly always seeded in rows, the close-drilled or broadcasted 
sorghums being almost invariably harvested for hay. 
The average yields of forage obtained b}- the two methods at Hay<. 
Kans., and Chillicothe, Tex., are similar over a period of five years or 
