•790 



'* tabled " and the heads are then cut by hand — the stalks it 

 is recommended should not exceed 6 in. in length (Agric. Gaz. 

 N.S, Wales, May 2nd, 1911, p. 437), afterwards threshed and 

 the brush stored in drying sheds in thin layers about 3 in. deep 

 for about three weeks, when it is piled in bulk until thoroughly 

 dry. Dwarf varieties — '' Dwarf/' " Acme/* etc., are harvested by 

 pulKng or jerking the heads from the standing stalks and piled 

 between the rows or between the stalks in the row ready for 

 removal to the thrasher or rick ; it is recommended to be cut 

 at any time from the beginning of the blooming until the seed 

 is in the early dough stage, and while the brush material is of 

 the desired natural pea-green colour throughout (Rothgeb, seq, 

 p. 8). It is then graded^ — according to colour and length— and 

 put up into bales of 300-400 lb. in weight (Montgomery, I.e. 

 p. 334), a cotton press is recommended for this purpose. The 

 yield is estimated at from 500-800 lb. of brush per acre in the 

 United States; 900-1300 lb. of clean brush and 25-30 bushels 

 of seed per acre in AustraHa (West Indian Bull., I.e. p. 228). 

 The average yield of fibre in Queensland is 600 lb. of broom and 

 1500 lb. of seed per acre within four months after sowing, while a 

 second crop of 500 lb. of broom per acre is obtained three months 

 later (Queensland Agric. Journ., xxvi. May 1911, p. 245; Agric. 

 News, Barbados, May 27th, 1911, p. 170); the supply from 

 200 acres amounted to 139,772 lb., value (1910) £1,455; the 

 demand in this colony at the same period required imports of 

 broom to the value of £8,000 yearly (I.e.). The production in 

 N.S. Wales (1904) from 2212 actes, was 16,449 lb. of broom 

 average 8 cwt. per acre, and the yield generally is estimated at 

 from 10-15 cwt, of clean marketable brush and 25-30 bushels 

 of seed per acre (Queensland Agric. Journ., I.e. p. 245; West 

 Indian Bull,, I.e. p. 225). 



Samples of " Broom-Corn '* brush grown at the Government 

 farm, Zoniba, Nyasaland, were reported on as suitable for 

 making brooms, and marketable in London if prepared according 

 to the required conditions — not more than 2-3 in. of stem, 

 brush straight, of uniform length, and composed of stiff, stout 

 stalks, preferably of a golden yellow colour (Bull. Imp. Inst., 

 1915, p. 202). 



The variety grown in Tunis is the half-red broom Sorghum 

 from Provence. The seed is drilled on well freshly cultivated 

 ground from April 15th to May 15th, in hnes about 2 ft. 6 in. 

 apart and with 1-1 ft. 3 in. between the plants. The yield per 

 acre is 10-12 cwt. of straw and, theoretically, 24 cwt. of seed; 

 but in practice much less is obtained because of the sparrows, 

 which take the grain and are most difficult to control. France 

 grows little broom Sorghum, that used there comes almost exclu- 

 sively from Italy; the principal importers are in Vaucleuse. 

 The straw is of two kinds — large and small ; the small is much 

 cheaper and is used to fill out the interior of the brooms ; the 

 large is used for the covering, it fetched prices of recent years 



