A. F. Swanson selected a stiff-stalked plant from his plots of kalo at the Fort Hays Branch Experiment Station in Kansas. This variety, named Midland, was distributed to Kansas farmers in 1944. In 1945, Midland was planted on 300,000 acres from known supplies of pure seed; probably 200,000 acres more were planted from commercial grain supplies. Midland matures early enough for growing in most parts of Nebraska and western Kansas. Its stiff stalks and resistance to stalk diseases make it good for combining.

Midland produces bronze-yellow grains smaller than typical milo kernels. The stalks are taller and the heads shorter than those of the other combine types. It is as early as Martin, maybe a little earlier. Midland ranks next to Westland in Kansas, and is the leading variety in Nebraska.

Plainsman and Caprock are somewhat alike, except that Caprock ripens later and has larger heads. Both produce large reddish-yellow grains in rather compact, kafir-like heads. Their short, thick stalks resist lodging, but the thick heads, standing barely out of the boot, dry out rather slowly after a rain. Plainsman and Caprock are adapted to places having favorable moisture conditions and a fairly long growing season. Under such conditions, they produce larger yields than do the quicker-maturing sorts.

Westland has large yellow grains. The somewhat open heads extend well above the boot and leaves. Thus, Westland resembles Martin, except in being a little later in maturing. The grains are larger and softer than those of Martin. Westland leads in Kansas.

Bonita is rather unusual because of its numerous tiller stalks and small heads. Each row appears as a wide band of heads. The production of late branch heads often interferes with combining, because the green material adds moisture to the grain. The grains are small, soft, and chalky-white, rather like those of its hegari parent. Bonita is grown mostly in Texas.

Much of the grain sorghum grown under irrigation in California and Arizona since 1938 consists of a variety called Double Dwarf milo 38, a productive, pythium-resistant variety developed by the California Agricultural Experiment Station. It is combined readily when planted thickly on rich irrigated land. In the thinner planting necessary for the Great Plains, it produces recurved heads that make harvesting harder.

A variety called combine kafir is grown on 100,000-odd acres-in western Texas and other localities. It was developed at Woodward and resembles the familiar Blackhull kafir, but it has shorter heads and stalks.

Other new kinds, although somewhat taller than the special combine types, also are stocky enough for successful combining. Among these is waxy-seeded Cody, grown for its starch, which makes a tapioca-like dessert. It usually grows 3 to 4 feet tall. It was developed in cooperation with the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Coes, a quick-maturing, white-seeded kind grown in the higher altitudes of the western Great Plains, also is usually combined. Coes grows as high as 4 feet. It was developed in cooperation with the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station.

All the new disease-resistant types have given the farmer a new crop that he can grow by mechanized methods, an economical and more stable supply of feed grain, and an alternative cash crop for the cotton and wheat regions. Grain sorghum stubble and the crop residue left after combining afford fair protection against soil blowing. The combine varieties stand long enough after maturity for the grain to be gathered by livestock. Sorghum thus can supplement wheat pasture for the range livestock that are fed in the Great Plains region before going East to the packing plants. The "cheeping off" of combine grain sorghums opens a new opportunity in livestock feeding. Breeders and farmers are well satisfied with the improved sorghums, but even better types are on the way.

THE AUTHOR

John H. Martin is an agronomist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. His work includes research on the culture, utilization, adaptation, genetics, economics, and the improvement of sorghum throughout the United States.