GROWING ON THE LARGE SCALE. 41 



more than in others. One man with a span of mules is 

 expected to do all the cultivation of this kind, for 50 or 

 60 acres. Hand-hoeing follows the cultivating, and the 

 amount of this that one man can do in a day depends 

 much upon the condition of the land, and is all the way 

 from half an acre to two acres. 



As a general thing no manure is used, and when ap- 

 plied at all, only a very light dressing is given, as it is 

 found that heavy manuring causes a stiff and rough 

 brush. The same land is cultivated in Broom-corn year 

 after year, there being some farms here upon which it 

 has been grown for from 15 to 25 years successively with- 

 out any diminution in quantity or deterioration in quality. 

 Last summer I was through a field which had been in 

 Broom-corn for the past 15 years, without intermission, 

 yet many of the stalks were 15 feet high. 



In harvesting, the stalks of every two rows are broken 

 down into ' ' tables," they are so broken that the stalks of 

 one row will cross diagonally those of the other, and thus 

 form a kind of table upon which to lay the brush when it 

 is cut. In the northern part of the State, where they 

 grow the smaller varieties, the tops are lopped and cut. 



The seed is stripped off by machines, and the brush is 

 cured in sheds with movable racks. The cutting is done 

 when the corn is in " blossom," or at the latest, when 

 the seed is in the " milk," in order that the brush, when 

 cured, may be green. Some think that the brush is 

 bleached ; this may sometimes be done with brush which 

 has turned red, but the growers here all endeavor to se- 

 cure a green color by early cutting and careful drying. 



Here the seed mostly goes to the manure heap. Some 

 feed it to cattle and hogs, but as a general thing it is 

 practically wasted. It is much the same with the trash, 

 or what is left after the harvest. It is usually burned to 

 get it out of the way ; this of course fertilizes the soil to 

 some extent, though that is not the primary object in so 



