CHAPTER VIII 

 HARVESTING BROOM-CORN 



Time to Harvest. To secure brush of high qual- 

 ity and good green color the plants should be 

 harvested while in bloom and during the period 

 when the anthers are falling. When cut at this 

 stage of maturity practically no seed is secured, so 

 it becomes necessary to leave a sufficient number 

 of plants in the field to ripen for seed, or to grow 

 a separate seed patch in which the heads are allowed 

 to come to full maturity. The latter method of 

 seed production is to be preferred, since the seed 

 patch gives a better opportunity to exercise care in 

 the selection of good seed plants. 



In the states where broom-corn is grown exten- 

 sively the crop will be ready to harvest at a time 

 when it will not seriously interfere with the other 

 work ; that is, just after the wheat and oats are out 

 of the way and before the corn is ready to harvest. 

 Where large areas are devoted to broom-corn a very 

 large force of men is necessary to get the crop har- 

 vested while it is at the proper stage of maturity. 

 However, if several plantings are made at intervals 

 of ten days, the fields will not blossom at the same 

 time and the plants may be harvested at the proper 

 time with the minimum number of extra men. 



In California and in a few other sections the seeds 

 are allowed to ripen before the brush is harvested. 



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