CULTIVATION. 15 



Where small lots are grown the stalks are sometimes 

 taken to the barnyard to increase the amount of manure. 



CULTIVATION. 



THE LAND. It is often said that any land that will 

 produce a good crop of Indian corn, will answer for 

 Broom-corn. The truth of this depends upon what is 

 regarded as a "good" crop of Indian corn. There are 

 many lands in the older States which might give the 

 farmer a fairly remunerative crop of Indian corn, which 

 would yield a very poor one of Broom-corn. In the East- 

 ern States the quick and fertile, sandy, or even gravelly 

 loams, such as are found in the river-bottoms, are most 

 suitable. In the Western States the general fertility of 

 the rich prairie soils renders a selection less difficult, and 

 there are wide districts suited to this crop. The land 

 should be as free as possible from weeds ; the Broom-corn 

 while quite young is so small and delicate a plant that 

 it is poorly fitted for a struggle for existence with weeds, 

 and it is generally conceded that on land that is very 

 weedy, almost any other crop will be likely to pay better 

 than this. 



EOTATION. It is often found profitable to continue 

 the crop on the same land, year after year. Where the 

 weeds have been once subdued, the work of cultivation 

 becomes less each year, and the land is so thoroughly 

 shaded by the crop that new weeds have little chance to 

 get a foot-hold. On rich prairie soils the land is kept in 

 the same crop year after year. But most farmers who 

 would grow only a moderate quantity, will make Broom- 

 corn a part of their regular system of rotation, and turn 

 under a clover or timothy sod to afford an excellent seed- 

 bed for the crop. 



Some advocate turning under the sod in June and 

 keeping the surface free from weeds and mellow, by the 



