s 
BULLETIN/ 291, U. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the Great Plains should grow all the seed required for their own 
planting, and it is not unlikely that much of the eastern demand for 
millet seed can be supplied from this region. 
Table IV. — Seed yield of millet strains at Akron, Colo., and Newell, S. Dak., in bushels 
per acre. 1 
Variety and number. 
Akron. 
Newell. 
Aver- 
1909 
1910 
1911 
1912 
1912 
age. 
Dakota Kursk: 
A. D.I. No. 3 
29.5 
""i6."6" 
"'26.T 
1G.4 
32.0 
30.5 
26.0 
31.0 
31.0 
23.0 
28.4 
39.0 
39.0 
36.3 
36.5 
35.8 
21.3 
24.4 
18.8 
17.7 
""23*4" 
28.6 
A. D. I. No. 3-2 
27.6 
Kursk: 
A. D.I. No. 5 
34.0 
28.5 
29 5 
A. D. I. No. 10 
28.4 
A. D. I. No. 10-3 '. 
29.3 
A. D. I. No. 13-3 
24.7 
Average of Kursk strains 
30.7 
17.8 
28.9 
35.8 
21.7 
27.0 
Siberian: 
A D I No 4 3 
24.4 
20.4 
20.5 
24.0 
37.8 
39.8 
15.2 
13.4 
21 5 
A. D. I. No. 4-5 
24.4 
Average of Siberian strains 
22.4 
22.3 
38.8 
14.3 
21.5 
1 For seed production the millets were grown in cultivated rows 3^ feet apart. Fifty pounds of seed is 
considered a bushel. 
BREEDING SORGO FOR ADAPTATION TO DROUGHT. 
In breeding sorgo 1 it has been the object to secure a type which 
matures early, in order that it may be grown with greater profit in 
the northern Great Plains, where at the present time very little sorgo 
is grown. The drought resistance of sorgo and its heawy forage pro- 
duction make it a valuable crop for the dry-land farmer, while its 
many varieties and types, which cross-fertilize readily and are ex- 
tremely variable, offer great opportunities for the plant breeder in the 
improvement of the crop. 
The sorgo-breeding work described in this paper was begun with 
an early strain of the Minnesota Amber type, known as South Dakota 
No. 341. The original seed of this strain was noted by Prof. W. A. 
Wheeler at the Highmore (S. Dak.) substation in 1903, where it was 
being grown under the name " Montana." The variety was extremely 
variable and contained a few very early and desirable tj^pes. Indi- 
vidual plants representing these types were selected and several more 
or less uniform strains were developed from these. Comparative- 
yield tests of these strains in cultivated rows at Newell, S. Dak., and 
Akron, Colo., have resulted in the selection of one of the best for 
increase and distribution on the northern Great Plains. This is the 
earliest and most distinct of the selected types and is described in 
this paper under the name Dakota Amber. 
i The term "sorgo" is here used in accordance with the practice established by Mr. Carleton R. Ball 
(The history and distribution of sorghum, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 175. p. 8, 1910) to 
designate the saccharine as distinguished from the grain types of sorghum. 
