12 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JTLY 23, 1835 



^•om2£^w3£>iew®sg< 



BROOH CQRSf. 



The cultivation of Broom Corn is carried on to 

 a very great extent on some of the alhivial lands 

 on the Connecticut river, and in small ])atches in 

 many of the interior towns. 1 he towns of Ilad- 

 ley and Hatfield raise large quantities, which arc 

 manufactured into brooms, and distributed 

 throughout the country. The seed is considered 

 of about two thirds of the value of oats, and mix- 

 ed with corn, makes an excellent provender for 

 the fattening either of swine or neat cattle. The 

 return of seed is somewhat precarious; but often 

 it is abundant, and will more than pay the whole 

 expense of cultivation and preparing the crop for 

 the market. I have known a case in which 150 

 bushels of good seed have been obtained from an 

 acre ; and I have been assured, on good authority, 

 of a still larger yield, thougli this is not frequent- 

 ly to be expected. One thousand pounds ofliroom 

 to an acre is a very good crop. It will pay well 

 for manuring and good culture. No crop is more 

 beautiful than the standing corn when in perfec- 

 tion. It frequently attains a height of 12 to 15 

 feet. The stalks of the plant are very long and 

 hard, and, therefore, rather difficult to load upon a 

 cart. They are considered as of no value but for 

 manure. The usual practice is to table the corn, 

 that is, to cut off" the top, or tiissel, as the broom is 

 called, about two feet from the top and bending the 

 stalks of 2 rows together, lay it down until it is sea- 

 soned and fit to be carried in. The remainder of 

 the stalks are then burnt in the spring in the field, 

 and some little advantage is derived from the 

 ashes. A much better way, it is thought, is, after 

 gathering the crop to cut tlie stalks and lay them 

 lengthwise in the rows, and plough them immc !i- 

 ately under. They will become entirely decom- 

 posed by spring. A still better mode is to carry 

 them into the cattle and sheep yards, where they 

 become incorporated with the manure, and make 

 a valuable addition to the compost heap. 



The seed is planted in rows, wide enough apart 

 for the plough to pass conveniently between 

 them, and dropped in hills about eighteen inches 

 from each other. Four or five stalks are consid- 

 ered sufficient to remain in a hill — more are some- 

 times allowed. The cultivation and manuring is 

 more than for Indian corn. It may be manured 

 in the hill or by spreading, or in both ways, as you 

 have the means of high cultivation, which this 

 plant will bear. The stalks are not eaten by cat- 

 tle, nor even browsed by them ; but I am not cer- 

 tain that the leaves would not furnish a good feed 

 for young stock, if strijiped early, wnen tender, 

 well cured, as the Indian corn blades arc cured 

 at the south. What would be the effect of such 

 mutilation upon the crop itself, and whether it 

 would compensate for the labor, are inquiries 

 which I am not able to answer, and in respect to 

 which I cannot learn that any experiments have 

 been made. It is an important subject for exper- 

 iment. As it is at present managed, the ])lant re- 

 turns little to the ground compared with Indian 

 corn ; and the Hadley and Hatfield farmers are 

 obliged to connect with it the fattening of beef to 

 a considerable extent, to furnish manure for their 

 broom corn. 



It is deemed a good crop when the broom com- 

 mands five cents per pound. The price has here- 

 tofore been subject to great fluctuations. At one 

 time it was the custom for every farmer to make 

 up his own brooms, and then to go and sell them 



where he could. This was bad for all parties. It 

 brought too many competitors into the market ; 

 and often unduly depressed the price, and the buy- 

 ers were obliged to put up with an inferior article. 

 Nowthe manufacturing and the growing of broom 

 are in different hands ; a.nd the farmer, as soon as 

 his broom is ready for the market, finds a pur- 

 chaser at a steady price ; and the manufacturer 

 feels that his reputation, and consequently his suc- 

 cess, are concerned in the quality of the article 

 which he furnishes. 



It is a little remarkable, that notwithstanding the 

 extent and importance of this product, for one 

 manufacturer within a few miles of me makes 

 several hundred thousands of brooms a year, that 

 in no book of agriculture in my possession can I 

 find any account of the cultivation of this plant, 

 not even in that excellent New England work, 

 " The Complete Farmer." The Shakers for a 

 long time almost monopolized the I'aising of the 

 plant and the manufacture of brooms; and their 

 brooms, which, like the other manufactures of 

 this industrious community, were always of a su- 

 perior quality, usually commanded a high price, 

 generally 42 cents or more. Corn brooms are 

 now frequently sold from eight to twentyfive 

 cents: but many of them are like Pindar's razors 

 " made to sell." The Shakers, however, maintain 

 the quality of their manufacture. The handles, 

 in an unfinished state, are furnished for a cent 

 apiece ; the wiring and the tying on are usually 

 done by the hundred. The scraping the seed 

 from the brush is an unpleasant business, and 

 often very injurious to the eyes. The manufac- 

 ture, where it has been carried on extensively and 

 with ample capital, has yielded encouraging 

 profits. 



An intelligent and enterprising farmer in my 

 mig'iborhood, who last year cultivated three 

 acres and one half of broom corn in our alluvial 

 meadows, has been kind enough to furnish me a 

 detailed account of the expense of cultivating an 

 acre, which may be relied on for its exactness, 

 but in which the rate of labor is probably over 

 estimated by the day. His broom was sold in the 

 autumn at eight and one half cents per pound. 

 It readily commands this spring 12i cents ; had he 

 fortunately retained his broom until this time, the 

 |)rofits would have been greatly enhanced, while 

 the expenses would, of course, have remained 

 the same. 



Account of the expenses of cultivating an acre 

 of Broom Corn in Deerfield meadow.s, in the year 

 1832, by Mr Alvah Hawkes : 



One ploughing, 12th May, - - $1,25 



Holeing out, one third of a day's work, 34 



Ten loads of manure, at 75 cents, - 7,50 



Putting manure in the liill, - - 2,00 



Planting, one day's work, - - 1,00 



Seed, 4 quarts, at 75 cents per bushel, 10 



Ilooing, first time 3J days, " - - 3,00 



do. 2d do. 3 do - 2,50 



do. 3d do. 24 do. - 2,50 



Horse and boy to plough for the season, 1,00 



'i'abling and cutting, 4 days, - - 4,00 



Gathering, carting, and packing away, 2,50 



$28,68 



The expense of cultivating one acre is $28,68 

 cents, the labor being rated at one dollar per day, 

 which is more than the actual cost, as I hired my 

 laborers by the month, at from six to ten dollars 



per month. The yield was at the rate of 991 

 pounds to the acre. Had all my ground been 

 fully stocked, it would have exceeded ten hundred 

 pounds per acre. 



The expense of scraping the brush for the seed 

 was thirtythree cents per hundred pounds. The 

 brush was sold at 84 cents per pound. The crop 

 of seed was light and poor ; fifty bushels to three 

 acres, worth 16i cents per bushel, or $8,33 to aa 

 acre. { 



Summary expense of cultivation of one 



acre as above, . . - 28,68 



Scraping 1000 pounds, - - 3,30 



Board of man 5 days, - - 1,07 



Rent oX land, say $16 per acre, - 16,00 



Sale of brush, 1000 lbs. at 84 c. 85,00 

 Seed upon one acre, - 8,33 



49,05 



93,33 



Nett profit on one acre, $44,28 



The sale of the brush at 124 cents per pound, 

 the present price, would have enhanced the profits 

 forty dollars, and made them .$84,28. This is 

 very remarkable, and certainly affords ample en- 

 couragement to labor. That it can be often done 

 is not to be expected ; and yet there is nothing 

 extraordinary in the process. The uncertainty of 

 the seasons is something, and the fluctuations in 

 the market prices of broom are great. The 

 amount of crop, though large, was not more tha(i 

 can usually be commanded by good and gener- 

 ous cultivation. Many of our lands, besides the 

 alluvial meadows, are capable of producing good 

 crops ; and the great yield of 150.bushels of seed to 

 the acre mentioned above, with broom, of course, 

 in proportion, was produced in one of the most 

 rough and rocky towns in the commonwealth, and 

 on land which owed everything to good manage- 

 ment. I hope the length of these details may be 

 excused. II. C] — JV. Y. Farmer. 

 Meadowhanks, 1th May, 1835. 



EFFECTS OF lilGHTNIKG. 



The following account of a scientific examina- 

 tion of the several buildings in this vicinity, in- 

 jured by lighting, during the storm of the 13th ult. 

 is from the pen of a practical electrician, (commu- 

 nicated to the Boston Traveller,) well known in 

 this community, who has been eminently success- 

 ful in his researches, and who seems at length to 

 have perfected the application of metallic rods to 

 the protection of dwellings from damage by 

 lightning. It is certainly very remarkable as men- 

 tioned below, that of four buildings struck, three 

 should have been furnished with the round rod so 

 common in most parts of the country. 



" By request of a number of scientific gentlemen 

 I proceeded in company with one of them to ex- 

 amine the buildings struck by lightning in this vi- 

 cinity, on the afternoon of Saturday, June 13. 

 The first was the dwelling house of Professor 

 Palfrey, at Cambridge. The Professor politely 

 accompanied us, and gave all the information re- 

 quired. This building had a round lightning rod 

 with points at the toj), but blunt in the ground. It 

 was affixed to the back part of the building. In 

 this examination I was satisfied that the discharge 

 of lightning, was horizontal, from one cloud to 

 another, taking the earth in its course. Passing 

 over the points of the rod, it was attracted by 



