The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1915-11-04
SUDAN GRASS.--NEW
CROP IN KANSAS
e1t1W
By Floyd B. Nichols in Illustrated
World.

Kansas has new crop, Sudan
grass, which is producing some amaz-
ing yields and profits. On the farm
of Harmon Hobart in Allen County
it gave three cuttings last season,
with a total yield of rs tons of hay.
The part of the field that was left for
seed averaged S71 pounds an acre.
The seed of this grass is selling for
81 a pound; the reason for this
abnormal price, of course, is that
there is great demand for the seed,
which is much larger than the limit
ed acreage of last year can supply.
Sudan grass is an annual crop,
which is planted in rows usually, and
cultivated two or three times during
the season. When it is handled in
this way, it requires from two to
three pounds to plant an acre. 1t
may be cut several times for hay, or
a seed crop and also hay crop be OBJ
tanned. At the present high prices,
the most profit is in the seed, OF
course.
The astonishing drought-resisting
ability of Sudan grass is the main
thing that gves it value. 1t matured
profitable crop at Dodge City, Kan
sas, in 1914, and yet less than an
inch of rain fell from the first week
in July until the middle of Septem
ber. 1t resists drought much more
readily than the standard crops for
drier regions, such as katir, milo and
feterita. Sudan grass is being pushed
by the demonstration agents and eX-
tension men for the Kansas State Ag
ricultural College Lee H. Gould,
the demonstrating agent TO South
western Kansas, where the rainfall
is very limited, said.
There is certain to be an immense
increase in the acreage of Sudan
grass in this section within the next
few years. We had paintings of this
crop in every county in this district
in 1914, and they all did we'll. The
crop makes good feed, and it will
produce high yields with very limited
rainfall. 1t will do much in the
coming years to add wealth to the
drier sections in the western part of
the United States"
Mr. Gould's opinion is the same as
that of other demonstrating agents
in Kansas. There is more interest
among the farmers in Sudan grass
than in any other crop.
Sudan grass was imported into this
country from Africa and was grown
in small way in an experiment sta
tion in Texas as early as 1909. 1t
produced good results in these sta
ton trials from the start, but of
course the agents of the United Sta
tes Department of Agriculture did
not put the seed out to the farmers
until they were sure of their results
The seed was quite generally dis
tributed over the country last season
Although this crop is a valuable
SUBSTITUTE lOI lut Del llluhu 8 dOpVOi
and should be introduced wherever
farmers find their soil too dry for the
latter, one of its characteristics
should be we'll borne in mind before
planting This is the fact that once
given a start, it spreads with great
rapidity. Each spear Of grass pos
sesses a network of tough, flbrous
roots, which spread out over radius
of foot. Each fibre is segmented.
and from each segment another blade
of grass may spring up. In the
southern States, Johnson grass which
is similar to Sudan grass, has proved
itself the most formidable pest with
which cotton growers have to con-
tend. Because Of the thick root net
work, it is next to impossible to stop
once it has got into a field