

BEOOM-COEN AND BROOMS. 



BROOM-CORN AND ITS VARIETIES. 



Formerly the Indian Millet, also known as Doura 

 Corn, and by other names, the Chinese Sugar-cane and 

 the Broom-corn, were regarded as distinct species of Sor- 

 ghum, but botanists now look upon them as mere varie- 

 ties of one species, Sorghum vulgare. The Millet has 

 been grown in Africa, the East Indies, China, and other 

 warm countries for centuries, and like other grains which 

 have been so long in cultivation, is not known in the 

 wild state. The different varieties are much unlike in 

 external appearance and uses, but no more so than we 

 find in some other cultivated plants ; indeed there is 

 nearly as much difference in the varieties of Indian corn ; 

 the sweet and popping kinds of which are unlike the tall- 

 growing "horse-tooth" corn of the Southern States. 

 When a plant is grown for a particular purpose, the cul- 

 tivator endeavors to keep it improving in the direction 

 most useful to him, by saving seeds from the plants best 

 developed for his purpose. In Africa, Sorghum furnishes 

 a large part of the food of the natives, and it is cultivated 

 for its grain in various other countries, the sub-varie- 

 ties of the grain-producing forms being numerous. In 

 China and some other countries, where rice is abundant, 

 this is less valued as grain, but has been cultivated for 

 centuries for its sweet sap. The young stalk of the 



