kafirs are native to eastern Africa, from Abyssinia to Natal. Old kafir was in troduced about 1875, and distributed by the "Rural New-Yorker" in the spring of 1881 as Rural Branching Sorghum. It soon after became known as milo maize or White milo maize, and later as African millet. Two varieties, one the White kafir and the other probably the Red, were exhibited by the Orange Free State at the Centennial Exposi tion, Philadelphia, in 1876. Seed of the White kafir was secured by the Department of Agricul ture of Georgia and transmitted in February, 1877, to Dr. J. H. Watkins, still living at Palmetto, Ga. He grew and selected it for several years and began to distribute it in 1885. It was widely dis tributed by the Georgia Department of Agricul ture and by the United States Department of Agriculture from 1886 to 1889. The seed of the Red variety was apparently not distributed for about ten years, when it was sent to Mr. A. A. Denton, in Kansas.
is certainly true in some cases, a hybrid between Blackhull kafir and White durra.
Description of varieties.—Old kafir differs from the others in the greater height, 7-9 feet, caused by longer internodes, and hence in having the leaves not crowded. It is also a later variety. It has been on the market for many years under such names as Rural Branching Sorghum, African mil let, White milo and others. By some it is thought to be the form from which Blackhull kafir has been derived.
White kafir is distinguished by the pale glumes and the heads usually not fully exserted from the sheaths. Blackhull kafir, now the most promising variety, is marked by the black glumes, and heads almost always fully exserted. Red kafir is very similar to the White and the Blackhull except in the red seeds and the longer, slenderer heads. [See Kafir and Durra, pages 384-388.] V. Durra.
Description.—Stems medium to stout, 4-7 feet tall, to 1 inches in diameter ; nodes 8-11, aver aging 9; internodes usually shorter than the sheaths, sometimes equaling them ; pith dry to semi-juicy, not sweet ; leaves broad and short ; peduncle stout, recurved or sometimes erect ; pani cles compact, ovate or broadly elliptical, mostly pendent, sometimes erect or inclined; spikelets very broad, obovate or rhomboid, awned or awnless ; seeds large, flattened, lenticular or subglobose.
History.—The durras have been cultivated since historic times as sources of human and animal food. They are found abundantly today in north ern Africa, southwestern Asia and India. Some were brought from Mediterranean regions to America in early colonial days, but only sparingly cultivated. The White durra and the Brown durra at present cultivated in this country were intro duced from Egypt into California in 1874 and known as White and Brown Egyptian corn, respec tively. Yellow milo is of Egyptian origin, but the
circumstances of its introduction are not known. The Blackhull durra, only sparingly found in this country, is either an importation from India or, as Description of varieties. —Except in color of seeds and glumes, these varieties are very similar. White durra and Brown durra are most closely related, differing only in the color of the seed and the presence or the absence of the awn. Yellow milo, now a very important crop, differs in the much shorter, transversely wrinkled glumes and the less flattened seeds. All three of these durras have fewer leaves than the kafir varieties. The stalks are less juicy and the juice less sweet. The pendent, or goosenecked heads of all three and the easily shattered seeds of White durra and Brown durra put them at a disadvantage in comparison with the kafirs. The seed of Yellow milo does not shatter, and this variety has now become a staple crop in western Texas, Oklahoma and adjacent sections. It is there commonly know as Dwarf milo, owing to its small size in that dry and ele vated region. [See Kafir and Durra, pages 384 388.] Literature.
C. C. Georgeson, Kafir Corn, Characteristics, Culture and Uses, United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 37 (1896); H. M. Cottrell, D. H. Otis, and J. G. Haney, Kafir Corn, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 93 (1900); Thomas Shaw, Forage Crops Other Than Grasses, Chapters III and IV, Orange Judd Company (1902); Same, Soiling Crops and the Silo, Chapters III and IV, Orange Judd Company(1902); C. P. Hartley, Broom-corn, United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulle tin No. 174 (1903); Thomas F. Hunt, The Cereals in America, Chapter XXVI, Orange Judd Company (1904); Carleton R. Ball, Saccharine Sorghums for Forage, United Stated Department of Agricul ture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 246 (1906); C. W. War burton, The Non-saccharine Sorghums, United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 288 (1907); A. A. Denton, United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletins Nos. 90 and 135, Sorghum Syrup Manufacture ; H. W. Wiley, United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chem .stry, Bulletins Nos. 14, 20, 26 and 34, Experiments in the Manufacture of Sugar from Sorghum. For an interesting historical treatise, see "Sorgho, or the Northern Sugar Plant," by Isaac A. Hedges, Cincinnati, 1863 C204 pages, illustrated).