18 
BULLETIN 291, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
will be seen, therefore, that millet produced grain with the use of less 
water than was used by alfalfa in the production of hay. 
Table XI. — Water requirement of Dakota Kursk millet (A.D.I. No. 3) at Newell, S. Dak., 
Akron, Colo., and Dalhart and Amarillo, Tex. 
Place and year. 
Water requirement 
based on — 
Grain. 
Total dry 
matter. 
Newell, S. Dak.: 
1912 
577±18 
6G1±6 
239 ±3 
1913 
293 ±3 
1914 
311±11 
2S1±4 
Akron, Colo.: 
1912 
483±11 
187 ±1 
1913 
28G±4 
1914 
1,074±38 
295 ±2 
256 ±2 
Dalhart, Tex.: 
1912 
331 ±2 
Amarillo, Tex.: 
1913 - ... . 
644 ±10 
1,005±19 
269 ±2 
1914 
31S±4 
30G±2 
CONCLUSIONS. 
It has been the experience of old settlers in the Great Plains that 
successful farming in this region must include the raising of live stock. 
This requires the production of forage crops under cultivation, since, 
except in sand-hill regions and along the watercourses, the native 
grasses do not grow tall enough for hay. The native " short grasses" 
that cover the Plains usually produce sufficient feed for summer 
pasturage, but cultivated crops must be depended upon for winter 
feeding. In the northern Great Plains certain perennial crops — 
alfalfa and brome-grass — give good results, but farther south the 
annual forage crops, millet and sorgo especially, are the most depend- 
able. These two crops have proved to be adapted to drought and 
capable of producing profitable crops where the annual rainfall 
averages from 12 to 18 inches. 
The drought adaptation of millet is due largely to its early maturity 
and low water requirement, while sorgo has, in addition to these two 
valuable characteristics, a remarkable ability to endure drought. 
Even though its growth is severely checked during a period of drought, 
it will resume growth upon the return of favorable conditions. It 
has been shown that millet and sorgo require less water for the produc- 
tion of a ton of hay than any other crops that have been tested in 
the central Great Plains. 
The Kursk and Siberian varieties of millet have given larger yields 
of hay than other varieties of this crop tested in the northern Great 
