The culture and use of sorghums for forage. Page: 1
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THE CULTURE AND USE OF SORGHUMS FOR FORAGE*
By J. H. MARTIN, senior agronomist, and J. ('. STEPHENS, associate agr)oomist,
Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry
CONTENTS
Page Page
Importance of sorghums---------------------- 1 Rate of planting ------------------------ 26
Areas suited to sorghum production --------- 2 Planting in cultivated rows-- - - - 26
Sorghum as compared with corn for forage - -- 3 (lose drilling or broadcasting for hay-- - 26
Soils ---------------- -------------------- - 4 Cultivation-..- --------------------------_ - 26
Fertilizers ------------- -------------------- 5 Harvesting-------------------.----------- 28
Description ofsorgo varieties----------------- 6 Seed production-----------..---------------- 3)
Sumac------------------------------------ 6 Sorghum-legume mixtures .----------------- 31
Black Amber (Early Amber)------------- 9 Utilization of sorghum grown for forage----- 31
Red Amber------------------------------ 9 Fodder ---------- --------------. - --- 31
Atlas ---------- ------------------------ - 11 Stover ------------- ----------. .--------- 33
Orange----------------------------------- 11 Silage --------------------------------- 35
Kansas Orange--------------------------- 11 Hay ----------------------------- ----- 36
W aconia Orange-------------------------- 12 Soiling- - ----------- ---- .------.-------- 36
Sourless (African millet)------------------ 12 Pasture .----- -----------.------.-----. 37
Honey (Japanese Seeded Ribbon cane)___ 12 Sorgo seed as a grain feed -------------------- 37
Gooseneck (Texas Seeded Ribbon cane)__ 15 Prussic-acid poisoning ----------.. .-------..- 37
Other varieties------------- ------------ 15 Diseases of sorghums - .-------- ----- --.-3-- 3S
Grain sorghum varieties for forage---- ------ 16 Red spot---------------------------8----- 38
Sorghum varieties recommended for different Kernel smut ---------------------------- 39
areas----- ----------------------------- - 19 Head smut ----------------- ------ - 41
Date of planting ---------------------------- - 20 Insect enemies ---------------------------- - 41
Methods of planting----.--------------------- 21 Chinch bugs--------------------- - 4... 41
Sorghum midge --------- - -.-----. 42
IMPORTANCE OF SORGHUMS
HE SORGHUMS are for the most part natives of tropical
Africa. The general culture of sorghum in the United States
began, however, with the introduction of a Chinese variety, Chinese
Amber, from France about 1855. The most important single shipment
of sorghums was that of 16 varieties from Natal, South Africa,
in 1857. Hundreds of lots of sorghum seed have been received from
foreign countries since that time. At first, most attention was devoted
to the growing of sorghums as a source of sugar and sirup.
The settlement of the prairie lands in the semiarid West, however,
created a demand for drought-resistant forage crops, and now about
90 percent of the acreage of sweet sorghums is grown for forage and
the remainder for sirup. About 8,000,000 acres of grain sorghum
and 2,000,000 acres of sorgo (sweet sorghum)1 are grown annually
in the United States. At least 5,000,000 acres of these are harvested
for fodder and silage.
1The sweet sorghums usually are referred to as "cane" by farmers, but in this bulletin
they are called sorgos. 'The word "cane" properly belongs to the sugarcanes, an entirely
different group of plants, represented by the botanical genus Saccharum. The use of the
term "cane" for the sweet sorghums leads to confusion in regions where sugarcane is
commonly grown.
*Original edition by J. H. Martin, senior agronomist, and J. C. Stephens, associate
agronomist, Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, former Bureau of Plant Industry.
Slightly revised by Agricultural Research Service.
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Martin, John H. (John Holmes), 1893- & Stephens, J. C. The culture and use of sorghums for forage., book, December 1955; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5874/m1/3/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.