BROOM CORN 113 



often result in making large numbers of stalks 

 crooked, because of the weight of moisture held 

 by the head. If the seed is allowed to mature to 

 too great an extent, and thus put a heavyweight 

 upon the stalk, this also will result in crooked stalks. 

 The marked standard is half price for crooked 

 stalks in separate bales. If these crooked brooms 

 are baled with straight ones, the value of the whole 

 will be reduced nearly one-half. The seed and chaff 

 removed in the threshing process has little or no 

 feeding value and is usually disposed of as waste 

 by spreading upon the ground, or even by burning 

 when dry. 



Improvement in the quality of broom corn is 

 brought about through seed selection. A small 

 plat planted with seed selected with a view to vigor- 

 ous growing plants and finely developed broom 

 brushes, would probably pay on every farm where 

 broom corn is grown. By this means the quality 

 of the seed can be insured and less danger is ex- 

 perienced from the introduction of weeds and mixed 

 varieties of broom corn than by using imported seed. 



The principal difference between the standard and 

 dwarf varieties lies in the size of the plant and 

 length of fiber of the broom. The dwarf seems to 

 thrive best in the dry, sandy soil of the Southwest 

 and produces a fiber suitable for the manufacture 

 of whisk brooms and o+her fine grades, while the 

 large, standard varieties are utilized more largely 

 for heavy brooms, for use on pavements, in 

 barns, etc. 



BROOM CORN MILLET. See Millets. 



BUCKWHEAT. This well-known crop is used 

 very largely as a human food. Chickens and other 

 stock share to a limited extent and frequently the 



