OTHER FARM CROPS 123 



for making long brooms, like carpet brooms, while the dwarf 

 varieties are used for whisk brooms and the like. 



Any soil that will produce good corn will raise broom corn. 

 The land should be prepared as for corn, but broom corn is 

 not planted so early, for the soil needs to be warmer. The 

 seed is sown in rows about three feet apart, and the plants 

 should stand about three or four inches apart in the row. 

 The sowing is done with special plates in a corn planter or 

 with the wheat drill, the holes not needed being stopped up. 

 It takes about two or three quarts of seed per acre. Cultiva- 

 tion should be given the same as for corn. If the plants are 

 too thick in the row they should be thinned before getting 

 very large. 



Broom corn is harvested just as the bloom is falling. The 

 brush gets stiff and brittle if allowed to ripen. For dwarf 

 broom corn the heads are pulled by hand, but the standard 

 has to be "tabled," that is, two rows are broken across each 

 other about three feet from the ground. The heads are then 

 cut off and laid on the broken down stems. The stem left on 

 the brush should be about five or six inches long. As soon as 

 cut or pulled the heads are taken to the drying sheds. Here 

 the seed is removed either by scraping by hand with a curry- 

 comb or by a machine. After the seed is removed the brush 

 is cured. This should be done quickly and without sunshine 

 falling on the brush. It is then baled for market. A good 

 yield of dwarf broom corn is 400 pounds of brush to the acre, 

 and of the standard 600 to 700 pounds. The price runs from 

 about three to four cents per pound. A ton of broom corn will 

 make about 100 dozen brooms of ordinary size. 



Flax. — Flax is a fibre crop as well as a seed crop. By fhre 

 crop is meant one which furnishes material for making 



