One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 43

Late-sown Sorghum.

How late can Egyptian corn be planted on good sediment soil capable of growing 40 to 50 socks of barley per acre in good years with ordinary rain? The field was cut this year for hay on account of rank growth of wild oats, after irrigating; land is still moist. Can I put in Egyptian corn with on a.s.surance of crop, or is it too late? How much seed should be planted to the acre, also should seed be drilled in or broad-casted?

There is no difficulty in getting a start of Egyptian corn during the dry season providing the soil contains moisture enough to germinate the seed. Afterward the growth will be more or less according to the moisture present and will be available for forage purposes. Whether a seed crop can be had by late sowing depends upon the frost occurrence in the particular locality, for it only takes a light frost to destroy the plant. To get the best results, particularly with late sowing, the seeds should be drilled in rows far enough apart for horse cultivation; about forty pounds of seed to the acre. What you get in this way will depend upon the amount of moisture in the soil and the duration of the frost-freedom.

Kaffir and Egyptian Corn.

Does Kaffir corn yield as well here as Egyptian corn? The fodder is good feed and the heads stand erect and at a more even height from the ground, which makes three advantages over Egyptian. Irrigation in either case is the some.

The reasons you mention have no doubt had much to do with the present popularity of an upright plant like Kafir over a gooseneck like the old dhoura or Egyptian, which was the type first introduced in California.

For years there has been more gooseneck sorghum in the Sacramento valley than in any other part of the State. It may have superior local adaptions or the people may be more conservative. The way to determine which is better is to try it out, and, unless the Egyptian does better in grain and forage than the upright growers, take to the grain which holds its head up.

Sorghums for Seed.

Which sorghum is the most profitable to plant for the seed only White Egyptian, Brawn Egyptian or Yellow Mila?

Which sorghum is best is apparently a local question and governed by local conditions to a certain extent. Egyptian corn (with the goose-neck stem) has held more popularity in your part of the Sacramento than elsewhere, while Kaffir corn (holding its head upright, as do many other sorghums) has been for years very popular in the San Joaquin. In the Imperial valley Dwarf Milo is chiefly grown for a seed crop shattering and bird invasion are very important. G. W. Dairs of the San Joaquin valley, says there is a very great difference in the different varieties regarding waste from the blackbird. The ordinary white Egyptian corn is very easily sh.e.l.led, and the birds waste many times more of the grain than they eat, after it has become thoroughly ripe. The Milo maize, or red Egyptian corn, does not sh.e.l.l nearly so easily as the white corn, and the grain is considerably harder and less attractive to the blackbirds. In fact, blackbirds will not work in a field of this variety of corn if there is any white corn in the vicinity to be had. The dwarf Milo maize yields much more crop than the white Egyptian corn, or any other variety. Blackbirds do not damage the white Kaffir corn to the extent they do the ordinary white Egyptian corn.

Sorghum Planting.

What is the best time to sow Egyptian corn; also how much per acre to sow?

All the sorghums, of which Egyptian corn is one, must be sown after frost danger is over - the time widely known as suitable for Indian corn, squashes and other tender plants. Sow thinly in shallow furrows or "marks," 3 1/2 or 4 feet apart and cultivate as long as you can easily get through the rows with a horse. About 8 pounds of seed is used per acre. If grown for green fodder, sow more thickly and make the rows closer, say 2 1/2 feet apart.

Buckwheat Growing.

Two or three farmers in this locality desire to plant buckwheat. Not having done so heretofore they are in doubt as to the soil and other conditions that go to make a successful crop.

The growing of buckwheat in California is an exceedingly small affair.

The local market is very limited, as most California hot cakes are made of wheat flour. There is no chance for outward s.h.i.+pment, and the crop itself, being capable of growing only during the frostless season, has to be planted on moist lands where there is not only abundant summer moisture but an air somewhat humid. Irrigated uplands, even in the frostless season, are hardly suitable for the common buckwheat, although they may give the growth of j.a.panese buckwheat for beekeepers who use dark honey for bee feeding. The j.a.panese buckwheat is well suited for this because it keeps blooming and produces a scattered crop of seed, but this characteristic makes it less suitable for a grain crop, and it has therefore never become very popular in this State. We consider buckwheat as not worthy of much consideration by California farmers.

Variation in Russian Sunflowers.

In an acre of mammoth Russian sunflowers there seems to be three varieties, some of the plants bear but one large flower; others bear a flower at the top with many other smaller ones circling it, while others have long stalks just above the leaf stems from the ground level all the way up to the largest flower, which appears at the very top. Are all these varieties true mammoth Russian sunflowers? What explanation is there for these variations? Will the seed from the variety carrying but one natural head produce seed that will reproduce true to the parent?

Your sunflowers are probably only playing the pranks their grandfathers enjoyed. If seed is gathered indiscriminately from all the heads which appear in the crop, succeeding generations will keep reverting until they return to the wild type, or something near it. If there is a clear idea of what is the best type (one great head or several heads, placed in a certain way) and seed is continually taken from such plants only for planting, more and more plants will be of this kind until the type becomes fixed and reversions will only rarely appear. No seed should be kept for planting without selecting it from what you consider the best type of plant; no field should be grown for commercial seed without rogue-ing out the plants which show reversions or bad variations. If you find sunflowers profitable as a crop in your locality, rigid selection of seed should be practiced by all growers, after careful comparison of views and a decision as to the best characters to select for.

Sacaline.

My attention has been brought to a plant called Sacaline by an Eastern plant dealer. He states that this plant will grow in any kind of soil and needs practically no water.

The plant Sacaline (Polygonum saghalience) was introduced to California as a dry-land forage plant about 1893, and has never demonstrated any particular forage value. It is a browsing shrub, making woody stem, and cattle will eat it readily when not provided with better food. It has possible value on waste land, but probably is in no sense superior to the native shrubs of California which serve that purpose. It is a handsome ornamental plant for gardens or parks.

Mossy Lawns.

What will destroy patches of moss which are spreading over our lawns and apparently destroying the gra.s.s?

More sunlight would have a tendency to discourage the growth of moss on a lawn. If this is not feasible, irrigation less frequently but a more thorough soaking each time will give the surface a better chance to dry off, and moss will not grow on a dry surface. The frequent spraying of a lawn with just enough water to keep the surface moist and not enough water to penetrate deeply will tend to the growing of moss and to less vigor in the growth of the gra.s.s, A good soaking of the soil once a week is better than daily sprinkling, but, of course, very much more water must be used when you only sprinkle at long intervals. The drying of the surface may be a.s.sisted by sprinkling with air-slaked lime and this will discourage the growth of moss, but of course lime must not be used in excess or it will also injure the gra.s.s.

Scattering Gra.s.s Seeds.

We live on the west side of Sonoma valley, and want to seed some of our fields with a good wild gra.s.s. We want to carry bags of it in our pockets to scatter when we ride. Timothy we should like, but this is not its habitat, is it? Can you suggest a gra.s.s or gra.s.ses that would do well here?

There are really wild gra.s.ses worthy of multiplication, but no one makes a business of collecting the seed for sale, so that such seeds are not available for such purpose as you describe. Of the introduced gra.s.ses, those which are most likely to catch from early scattered seed are Australian and Italian rye gra.s.ses, orchard gra.s.s, wild oat gra.s.s and red top. You can get seed of all these from dealers in any quant.i.ty which you desire at from 15 to 30 cents a pound, according to the variety, and make a mixture of equal parts of each gra.s.s, which you can carry and scatter as you propose. Some of them will catch somewhere, particularly in spots where the shade modifies the summer heat and where seepage moisture reduces soil drought. You are right about timothy; it is good farther up the coast and in the mountain valleys, but not in your district.

Poultry Forage.

I have light sandy loam on which I desire to grow forage for chickens.

It lies too high for irrigation.