GRAIN-SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS IX OKLAHOMA. 23 
COMPARATIVE YIELD OF THE MILOS AND DURRAS. 
Table S shows the annual and average yields of the varieties of the 
rnilo-durra group grown at Woodward, Okla., during the 8-year 
period under consideration. Several short-period averages are given, 
so that varieties which have been grown for less than eight years may 
be compared more readily with those for which the data for the full 
eight years are available. The five varieties grown in the eight 
years do not differ greatly in average yields, the variation between the 
two extremes, Standard Yellow milo and Standard White milo, being 
about 3 bushels. 
THE KAFIR GROUP. 
The kafir group as a whole possesses the following characters: 
Stems stout, semijuicy; leaves broad, dark green; panicles erect, 
cylindrical: lemmas not awned; seeds midsized to small. The 
varieties of kafir grown in these experiments are Blackhull, Dawn, 
Sunrise, Reed, White, Pink, and Red. Most of these varieties differ 
from the others by but few observable characters, and often these 
characters are those of seed color or glume color and are apparent 
to even the casual observer. Commercially the kafirs are of first 
importance among the grain sorghums in Kansas and central Okla- 
homa. Typical heads of the different varieties of kafir are shown in 
Plate I, Figure 2. 
The agronomic data obtained from the kafir varieties are given in 
Table 9. In view of the differences between varieties and their 
reaction to environing conditions, each variety or subgroup of kafir 
is discussed separately. 
BLACKHULL KAFIR. 
Two selections of Blackhull kafir were originally included in the 
varietal experiments, but these proved to be practically identical, 
and after three years one was discarded. In 1917 another Blackhull 
kafir ( C. I. Xo. 71) was obtained from the Amarillo Cereal Field 
Station and has been included in these experiments since then. 
During the fall of 1919 a distinct variety of Blackhull kafir was 
noticed at the local county fair, and a number of heads were ob- 
tained for seed. This kafir (C. I. No. 628) was placed in the varietal 
experiments the following season, and results are available for two 
years. This is a superior strain and in the two years has produced 
high grain yields. It has been named Reed kafir to distinguish 
it from other Blackhull strains. This kafir was originally selected 
and distributed by W. X. Reed, of Elk City, Okla. 
Table 9 shows that on the average the vegetative period of C. I. 
Xo. 204 at Woodward has been 82 days, varying in the 8 years from 
67 days in 1915 to 108 days in 1917. The short vegetative period 
in 1915 was caused by a late reseeding of the varieties, together 
with optimum growing conditions which caused rapid development. 
The long vegetative period of 1917 was due to dry weather during 
June and July, causing a suspension of growth, followed by a rainy 
August, with a resulting second growth. The fruiting period lias 
averaged 37 days in duration, with a variation from 30 to 46 days. 
From Table 9 it may be noted that the Blackhull kafir (C. I. Xo. 71 l 
requires a longer growing period than does C. I. Xo. 204, the total 
