Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1875 — Broom-Corn Culture. [ARTICLE]

Broom-Corn Culture.

While we will not pretend to advise in this matter of broom-corn culture, or say that a market could not be found for a few more thousand tons than are now produced, still the fact should not be lost sight of that only a certain number of brooms are used annually, calling for only a certain number of pounds of materials in their manufacture. There is seldom any very large deficiency in the total product of the country, and when this does happen and high prices follow, as in 1869 and 1870, there is pretty sure to be a general rush into broom-corn culture and a corresponding fall in the market. In nine cases out of ten a farmer will stand a better chance of realizing good prices for any of the staple crops by commencing or increasing the area of land devoted to them, at the very time when the majority are abandoning their culture on account of low and unsatisfactory prices. The sale of a few tons of broom-corn at $l5O is sure to be made known and talked of, but at S4O no one would think it worthy of notice or remark. The cultivators of this crop are not alone to blame for becoming, excited in times of high prices, for the manufacturers and dealers frequently contribute very materially to a rise when there is really no occasion for it. In a circular lately received from C. E. Grant & Co., of Chicago, dealers in this article, we fine some very pertinent remarks on this point. They say: “No product of this country has shown greater fluctuations in price than broom-corn. When prices are extravagantly high, dealers and manufacturers are ambitious and even in their desire to purchase; but when the market is surfeited, as an article of commerce, it has not the redeeming qualities of guano.” Still, there are hundreds of farmers having land adapted to the culture of this plant who find it a profitable crop, taking a series of years together. Any good, rich land in a climate where Indian corn succeeds will answer for broom-corn; but it is an exhaustive crop, and the farmer who attempts to make it a specialty will have to pay considerable attention to keeping up the fertility of his soil. In planting, the seed should be sown in drills. "These are usually about three feet apart and the seed should be dropped every six inches in the drills or a liule thicker, and the plants be thinned out after they are a few inches high. Although it may cost more labor to sow thick and then thin out, still it is the surest tfiiy to get a good even stand of plants. The one common error in raising this crop is in allowing too many plants to grow, the result being short and uneven brush. The seed can be sown better and more evenly with a seed drill than by hand, and the rows | should be straight; the more care given I to this the easier will be the cultivation, j Hoeing, weeding and other culture usually given to common cKrn should not be neglected, for the better the care the better the results. When the seed is just past the milk, or begins to harden, the tops should be broken down about a foot below the brush and then allowed to bang until ripe. Some practice a different system of curing, and bend two rows together, breaking the stems about two feet from the ground, after which they cut off the tops and place them on the-e bent rows to dry. When the brush has cured somewhat in the field, it is cut and spread out to dry, and if under an open shed or in a building where shaded it will be of a better color than when exposed to the sun and dews at night. Great care is necessary in Curing, because if placqd in very thick lasers the brush will soon become, moldy and is removed when taken from the^field

curing will be hastened and the work of handling less laborious. Where large quantities are raised, machines worked by horse power are used; but for a moderate-sized crop ft batchel somewhat like; those used for flax’, buto£ larger size, may be employed for the purpose. A. cylinder, two feet long, and about the>same in diameter, studded with wrought nails, the points projecting outward, and ’then supplied with bearings and a crank for turning, is a convenient style of hatchel, one man tunring while another applies the brush and removes the seed. There is considerable labor about all the operations connected with broom-corn Culture, besides more or less risk of the crop becoming injured in curing. After being properly cured it is baled for Market. Five or six hundred pounds is a fair yield per acre when all the conditions are favorable and requisite care is given. The total number of tons manufactured in the United States and Canada is about 12,000 per annum. —New York Sun.