The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1862-04-19
AGRICULTURAL MATTERS.
Planting sorghum- soaking Seed.


I have cultivated sorghum for the last
three years, and have found the greatest
drawback to good crop is in the gernina--
ton of the seed. e8 - a..a -
Until last season, Lave always planted
dry seed. and it has generally taken it four
weeks to come, and very thin at thai. When
it first comes up, it is hard to discover it,
or to cultivate it, on ground covered with
weeds, as most ground will be that remains
undistnrbed long enough for dry seeds to
terminate. Last, spring, hearing that it was
better to soak the seed before planting. 1
commenced by putting itin pan and pour.
IN warm water upon it; then, turning off
the surplus water, and setting it under the
stove, keeping it warm, and renewing the
warm water every day. continued this
process for two or three weeks, when about
one seed IN hundred had sprouted. I
then planted upon freshly plowed land
marked both ways, dropping twenty to
thirty seeds in q hill 1t came up in about
TWO weeks, averaging fifteen stalks in hill.
The remainder of my ground was SINH
larly prepared. and dry seed planted, using
the same amount in a hill. Ii was planted
at the same time. After waiting three weeks
for the plantingto come up, and finding that
but one hill in ten had come up, and in,
those only one, two or three stalks in hill.
[ began to despair of raising crop, for the
season was so far advanced that either pro-
cess would be too late to secure much Of a
crop. '''S az
With these facts, and the Southern re-
bellion in full blast, and the probability of
high price for ''sweetening, - in my mind,
after examining my cane on Thursday even
ing concluded to try the following expert
ment: placed about two quarts of seed in
a pan, poured upon it water as warm as I
could bear my hand in, and stirred it up
well. In the course of couple of hours,
changed the water, leaving it ia a warm
place. The next morning changed the water
again, and poured it off, and put the seed
in bag and buried it in fresh soil, in a
warm, sunny place., just deep enough to
keep it moist. On taking it out, on Mon
day morning, to my surprise found all the
seeds had sprouted-some of them to fully
an inch. I Immediately commenced re-
planting the ground previously planted with
dry seed. The sprouted seed came up in
two or three days. go"
The cane from the first planting Of soaked
seed was ripe enough to work up two weeks
before that from the dry planting. which
latter came up finally, so that it stood about
half-and- hall. with the last planting of the
sprouted seed. The two latter rpened at
about the same time. The earliest ripened
made much the best syrup, and was worked
up in the neigbborhood. i7a-
| think, had the seed been treated as the
last batch was, it would have been a week
or ten days earlier. The experience of the
last season convinces me that it is far pref
cradle to soak the seed before planting
Earliness in coming up, in giving the plants
the start OF. the weeds and grass, insuring
easy cultivation. is OF nearly as much i'm
portance as early. maturity. Soaking the
seed accomplishes -Correspondenc: of
Prairie Farmer. .5Nh