Sudan Grass. 19

(4) The poison acts quickly, and no sure remedy for it has been found. Doses of glucose or other sweet sirups relieve the animal in some cases. Soda and dilute vinegar used as a drench while the mixture is foaming have also been

recommended.

SEED PRODUCTION.

Sudan grass produces seed freely in a loose, open panicle which is held nearly erect by the stem and can be harvested easily. The seed is retained fairly well, and thus the loss from shattering is much less than in other wild forms of sorghum. However, on the Great Plains, high winds sometimes shatter out a large percentage of the seed.

At the present time most of the commercial Sudan grass seed is produced in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, but western Missouri and eastern Colorado and New Mexico also produce more seed than is needed for local consumption. Seed yields per acre are largest in the irrigated regions of California and Arizona, but only limited

acreages are devoted to Sudan grass in these localities because of the profitable returns from other crops. The yields of seed per acre obtained in different sections of the United States are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2.- -Yields of Sudan grass seed under different climatic conditions in cul-

tivated rotos and close drills.

Climatic conditions.

Yield of seed per acre (pounds).

Broadcast

or close

drills.

Cultivated

rows 18 to

24 inches apart.

Cultivated

rows 36 to

44 inches apart.

Number

of localities.1

Humid Dry (not irrigated) Dry (irrigated)

328 206 1,123

417 285 966

354 271 905

10 12 7

1 The yields for the humid regions are averages for tests at Manhattan, Kans.; Stillwater, Okla.; Beeville and Temple, Tex.; Jackson, Tenn.; St. Paul, Minn.; Madison, Wis.; College Park, Md.; and Arlington Farm and Blacksburg, Va. ; for dry regions not irrigated, averages of tests at Colby, Hays, Tribune, Garden City, and Dodge City, Kans.; Chillicothe, Spur, Lubbock, Amarillo, and Dalhart, Tex.; Ritzville and Wenatchee, Wash.; and Davis, Calif.; for dry regions irrigated, averages of tests at San Antonio, Tex., Phoenix, Ariz.; Bard, Davis, and Chico, Calif.; and Umatilla, Oreg.

These yields represent rather accurately the possibilities of seed production in different parts of the United States. Of course, cer- tain localities are better suited to seed production than others. In Lubbock, Crosby, Floyd, Hale, and Swisher Counties in Texas the seed yields average about 600 pounds per acre for Sudan grass planted in rows, as compared with an average for the entire non- irrigated lands in the dry regions of only 270 pounds per acre. After the market demands for Sudan grass seed become better established, the seed production will no doubt be centered in favored localities,