GRAIN-SORGHUM EXPERIMENTS IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS. 29 
MILO. 
The crop now grown commercially under the name of milo in the 
southern half of the Great Plains area is a descendant of the old milo, 
or “Giant milo,’’ which was the original grain-sorghum crop of 
Texas. It has been considerably improved by the writers through 
selection for lower stature, earliness, and more uniformly erect heads. 
The number of different lots and selections under experiment has 
varied from as many as 19 in the year 1911 to only 5 during each of 
the last three years. The different lots vary little among themselves, 
as will be seen by comparing their average performances in Tables 
VI and VII. The total number of plats grown in the 9-year period 
was 107. Plats of milo and Dwarf milo are shown in figure 4. 
A study of Table VI will show that, under fairly favorable condi- 
tions, when acre yields run from 18 to 40 bushels, as in 1908 and 1910, 
Fic. 4.—Milo (right) and Dwarf milo (left) in plats at the Amarillo Cereal Field Station, August 30, 1911. 
the average vegetative period of milo covers about 75 days. Under 
varying seasonal conditions it has ranged from as few as 68 days, in 
1914, to as many as 82 days, in 1916. Drought occurring very early 
in the vegetative period results in slower growth and consequent pro- 
longation of this period. This is seen in the seasons of 1910 and 1916. 
The apparent shortening of the vegetative period in 1914 was due to 
the fact that only a few early heads appeared, further development 
being checked by drought. 
The ripening period of milo usually covers a little less than 30 
days, as in the fairly normal season of 1908. It was shortened to 
only 23 days by the droughty conditions prevailing in 1914, the year 
in which only a few heads were produced. The ripening period may 
be prolonged, however, by conditions favorable to good yields. In 
1911, for mstance, the average duration of this period was 37.5 days, 
owing apparently to heavy rains just at the time of heading, as this 
was followed by dry and very hot weather throughout the ripening 
period. The average acre yield was 32.3 bushels. In 1915 the 
extremely prolonged ripening period of 44 days is correlated with 
