200 BOTANY OF CROP PLANTS 



wind breaks, and window shades, and even the roots and 

 stubble are used as fuel. The broom-corn groups of sor- 

 ghums are grown for their grain, and certain varieties 

 with long rachi are made into brooms. For this purpose 

 the heads are used. Brooms are made from two different 

 groups of broom corn: tall-growing or Standard, and dwarf. 

 Fully two-thirds of the total broom-corn crop of the 

 United States is dwarf broom corn. It produces a fiber 

 that is finer than that of the tall-growing sort; and, too 

 the head is not so firmly attached to the upper node. This 

 latter character permits the "brush" (inflorescence) to be 

 harvested by pulling. After threshing the grain from the 

 heads, they are cured in sheds or out of doors in ricks. They 

 are then graded and baled, and either stored or shipped 

 directly to the broom factory. The "straws" of a broom 

 are the rachises of the sorghum inflorescence. Oklahoma, 

 Kansas, and Texas, in the order named, are the leading 

 broom-corn States. 



References 



Ball, CARLEibN R.: Saccharine Sorghums for Forage. U. S. Dept. Agr. 



Farmers' Bull. 246: 7-18, 1906. 

 Three Much Misrepresented Sorghums. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Plant Ind. 



Cir. 50: I-I4) 1910. 

 The History and Distribution of Sorghum. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Plant 



Ind. Bull. 175: 1-63, 1910. 

 Better Grain-sorghum Crops. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bull. 448: 



1-36, 1911- 

 The Importance and Improvement of the Grain Sorghums. U. S. Dept. 



Agr. Bur. Plant Ind: Bull. 203: 1-45, 1911. 

 The Grain Sorghums, Immigrant Crops that Have Made Good. U. S. 



Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1913: 221-238. 

 Hackel, E.: Die kultivirten Sorghum — Formen und ihre Abstammung. 



Jahrb. (Engler), 7: 115-126, 1885. 

 Piper, C. V.: The Prototype of the Cultivated Sorghums. Jour. Am. Soc. 



Agron., 7: 109-117, 1915. 



