MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 195 



to plant it by the success of a neighbor differently situated, usu- 

 ally pays dearly for a little experience, and abandons it in dis- 

 gust after growing one crop. It is a crop requiring a great 

 amount of labor, and one which fluctuates so much in price that 

 if you must sell each year, you can never calculate with cer- 

 tainty as to whether it will be profitable or not. I have before 

 me the prices at which the brush sold in New York, extending 

 over a period of five years, and the range is from $40 to $300 

 per ton. About six hundred pounds per acre is an average crop, 

 and I should put the minimum cost of growing and preparing for 

 market at $15 per acre, including rent of land, and probably the 

 average would be $20, so that it is easy to see that at the low- 

 est named price it would be a losing crop. These low prices are 

 always, however, for poor brush, that on which the seed has been 

 allowed to ripen, or which has lain out in rains, or been put 

 in the barn too green and allowed to heat in the mow. In proof 

 of this, I will state that in the same years that brush was sold 

 at $40 per ton, the lowest price paid for good green brush was 

 $200, and the average price for this quality of brush for the five 

 years was $224 per ton. These prices show how important it 

 is that the farmer who grows broom-corn should understand the 

 business and be prepared to take proper care of the crop. While 

 the seed has considerable value as food for stock, it does not 

 pay to allow it to ripen, as the value of the brush will be re- 

 duced far more than the seed is worth. 



There are not many varieties of broom-corn. The dwarf 

 grows but three or four feet high, and produces a fine brush, but 

 it is difficult to harvest, and as the brush does not grow out of 

 the sheath of the upper leaf, but is partly inclosed, it is often, in 

 wet seasons, damaged by the water running down in the sheath 

 and rotting the brush. This variety is but little cultivated now, 

 and only for the purpose of making small brooms, whisks, and 

 brushes for clothes. The common variety is locally known by 

 different names, as early Mohawk, Shaker, and early York. It 

 is a good variety, but if not cut early, before the seed begins to 

 ripen, it turns red, which greatly reduces its market value. 

 The Evergreen, called Missouri, and also Tennessee, is the 



