CULTIVATION OP PLANTS. 123 



ing or sweeping, similar to the brush made of bristles, without injuring the 

 carpet if used prudently. After the broom shall have been used in sweeping 

 the parlour, and the finer parts worn away, it will then be as good to sweep the 

 other parts of the house as the best new broom made from the ripe corn. La- 

 dies who set so deservedly such a high value upon their beautiful Turkey and 

 Brussels carpets, should purchase none other than such as are made from the 

 unripe brush. The broom made from such may be easily known by the colour 

 of the straw, which is that of tea or sage; the fibre or straw is much finer and 

 of a softer feel than that of the broom made from the ripe corn the colour of 

 which is red, or inclining to red. 



The Farmers' Register, for January, 1839, contains a paper 

 read before the Agricultural Society of Fredericksburg, Va., 

 on the cultivation, product, and uses of broom corn. From 

 this paper, furnished the Society by Mr. WILLIAM BROWNE, 

 it appears that that gentleman, in connexion with a Mr. C. H. 

 HUNT, having established a broom factory in Fredericksburg, 

 cultivate ten or twelve acres with the broom corn. The ex- 

 periment, both as to the culture of the corn and its manufacture 

 into brooms, is, so far, very satisfactory. Messrs. Browne and 

 Hunt work mules altogether, and feed them exclusively on 

 the grain of the broom corn. At first it was ground and mixed 

 with chop, but the drought stopping the mills, they were com- 

 pelled to feed the grain unground, moistening it with water a 

 few hours beforehand, to soften, and cause it to swell and ex- 

 pand. The mules not only appear as fond of it as of other 

 food, but they continue in good order and perform their work 

 with much spirit. Mr. B. says that he fed his cow on this 

 grain for some weeks, during which there was a sensible 

 increase in the quantity of milk beyond what she yielded when 

 fed on bran and chop. In preparing it for the cow, boiling 

 water was poured over it, and it was kept well covered in a 

 close vessel, until the grain expanded and became soft. She 

 ate it with great avidity. The grain is considered, generally, 

 at least equal to oats for horses and cattle, and superior to 

 buckwheat for hogs. 



II. LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 

 The seeds of which are used as food for man or cattle. 



1. THE BEAN. 



THE bean is a valuable field plant, as affording food for live 

 stock, and in part for man. It came originally from the east, 

 and was cultivated in Egypt and in Barbary in the earliest ages 

 of which we have any records; it spread from thence into Eu- 



