324 CEREALS. 



or barley, they are good for any kind of stock, and are ex- 

 cellent to fatten cattle. Mixed with wheat bran, their value 

 is greatly increased, and a cheaper or better food for poultry 

 cannot be found. 



If intended for feed, the seeds should be taken up as 

 threshed and spread on the barn-floors or scaffolds until 

 thoroughly dry before being stored. Too often, however, 

 the thriftless farmer, looking upon it as a small business, 

 or being too busy with preparing the straw for market, will 

 allow them to accumulate in a great heap, and, being yet 

 green, they quickly heat and rot. That this is reprehensi- 

 ble in the highest degree, is apparent, when it is stated that 

 on the best land, as much as fifty bushels of seed are raised 

 per acre, less in proportion to the character of the land. 

 Thus, in a large crop, the farmer is throwing away good 

 stock food, enough to supply all the animals on his place 

 with an abundance of good grain during the winter, com- 

 pelling too often during winter his cows and stock cattle to 

 browse on barren wastes, with the bonus of a few shucks at 

 night. No wonder that the March winds blow away so 

 many of the cattle. 



The seeds should be planted in drills, three feet apart, 

 and about 12 or 18 inches in the drill. Four-quarts will 

 be amply sufficient to plant an acre. In Tennessee, plant- 

 ing is done 'almost exclusively by hand, but there are ma- 

 chines that will plant far more regularly and evenly, than 

 can possibly be done otherwise, and by using one, there 

 will be no necessity for laying off rows, covering, or thin- 

 ning out. With a machine, the planting can be soon fin- 

 ished, as one man will plant from 10 to 12 acres a day, the 

 planting being in two rows at once. Any ground that pro- 

 duces a good crop of Indian corn, being well prepared as 

 in all other crops, is suitable for Broom Corn, but rich, al- 

 luvial bottom is the best, and will make the largest returns 

 Thin land will make, possibly more Broom Corn than any 

 other crop, but still it will not make a paying quantity. In 



