CHAPTER II 

 THE BROOM-CORN PLANT 



Broom-corn belongs to the great group of plants 

 known as the grass family. Within the grass family 

 are a large number of groups, one of which is known 

 as the sorghums. The sorghums are divided into 

 three groups: (i) Kafir corn, grown for forage and 

 for grain; (2) common sweet sorghum, used for 

 making syrup; and (3) broom-corn, the brush or 

 seed head of which is used in the manufacture of 

 brooms. 



Broom-corn differs from the other plants of the 

 sorghum group in having the seed borne on long 

 straight branches, which constitute the brush from 

 which the brooms are made. 



In all probability these three different groups of 

 sorghums have been derived, by selection, from a 

 common ancestry. Sorghums have been cultivated 

 in Italy for eighteen hundred years or more, and it 

 is thought that the broom-corn type originated in 

 that country by the continual selection of the sweet 

 sorghum heads which bore elongated branches. 

 The first record of this plant having been used for 

 the manufacture of brooms is from an Italian source. 



Varieties. There are two recognized agricultural 

 varieties of broom-corn, the dwarf and the standard. 



The dwarf type produces leafy stalks 3 to 6 feet 

 in height, with a brush 10 to 18 inches long. The 

 head, or brush, is partially inclosed in the upper 

 leaf sheath or boot. 



