20 BULLETIN 188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the plants have stooled or tillered sufficiently to seemingly offset the j 
thin stand. This tillering habit has been frequently referred to as 
desirable. It is yet to be proved that thin seeding, with its attendant 
heavy tillering, will anywhere give a heavier grain yield than a thicker 
seeding which largely prevents tillering. The chief advantage, if not 
the only one, derived from tillering seems to be that where, owing to 
unfavorable conditions at the time of planting, a poor stand is 
secured, tillering tends to offset this and the yield of grain is generally, 
although not always, increased. The logical conclusions, in the light 
of the experiments cited in this bulletin, indicate that the rate of 
seeding should be heavy enough to prevent tillering. 
SUMMARY. 
(1) Experiments conducted at the San Antonio Experiment Farm 
since 1909 and observations made on other farms in the vicinity I 
show that grain sorghum can be made a very satisfactory grain crop i 
for the region if the proper varieties are grown and the necessary 
cultural methods are followed. 
(2) One of the chief reasons for unsatisfactory yields appears to j 
be the poor stands which frequently result from thin seeding. Poor 
stands result in late and nonuniform maturity and low yields, par- 
ticularly when delayed maturity subjects the crop to the depreda- 
tions of the sorghum midge. 
(3) Experiments with milo were conducted at the San Antonio 
Experiment Farm in 1913 and 1914 to determine the effect of plant- 
ing in rows at different distances apart and of thinning the plants to 
different distances within the rows on the tillering and branching, 
the uniformity and date of ripening, and the yield. 
(4) No marked differences resulted in the number of tillers or the 
number of heads per plant from varying the distance between rows. 
(5) In the plats where the rows were uniformly 4 feet apart, but 
where the plants were thinned to different distances within the rows, 
the number of heads per plant decreased and the yield increased as 
the plants were crowded, the thicker stands producing the higher 
yields. 
(6) Counts made of the number of tillers per plant on May 15 and 
of the number of mature heads per plant at harvest showed that a 
large number of tillers on the wide-spaced plants failed to produce 
heads. 
(7) The close-spaced plants ripened their grain in 1913 about one 
week earlier than the wide-spaced plants. This early maturity is 
particularly important in that it permits the crop to escape the 
sorghum - midge. 
(8) Increasing the number of plants per row does not necessarily j 
mean a proportionate increase in the total number of heads or stalks 
per row. 
