BROOM-CORN EXPERIMENTS AT WOODWARD, OKLAHOMA. 49 



WEARING QUALITY OF THE BRUSH. 



Brooms were made from the lots of brush harvested at the differ- 

 ent stages of maturity in 1917 and 1918, in order to test the wearing 

 quality of the brush. These brooms were divided into sets and are 

 being used for sweeping both private dwellings and office buildings. 

 Each set contains one broom made of brush harvested at the different 

 stages of maturity. 



This part of the harvesting experiment has not progressed far 

 enough as yet to draw final conclusions. However, the indications 

 are that the brush harvested in the dough stage will give the best 

 service. When harvested at the earlier stages, the fibers are too 

 weak at the base to stand hard usage. They break over the shoul- 

 ders of the broom. 



NURSERY EXPERIMENTS. 



The objects of the broom-corn nursery were to learn the quality 

 of the seed from commercial sources and to obtain stock for subse- 

 quent breeding. In the spring of 1915 thirty-four lots of broom-corn 

 seed were obtained from commercial sources and a row 132 feet long 

 was sown with each lot of seed. Xearly all lots of seed were received 

 under some varietal name which indicated whether the seed was 

 of the Standard or of the Dwarf variety. In a few cases the 

 names were misleading, as the same name was applied to both 

 varieties. In other cases the word Dwarf was part of the name used 

 for the Standard variety, or Standard was used in combination with 

 other words for the Dwarf variety. Each lot of seed was given a 

 Cereal Investigations number (C. I. No.). 



The commercial name, Cereal Investigations number, and source of 

 all the lots of broom corn grown in the nursery in part or all of 

 the four years from 1915 to 1918, inclusive, are shown in Table 

 XXIV. It will be noted in this table that the seed came from 11 

 different States and from several different localities in some of 

 these States. One lot came from France, one from Germany, and 

 one from the Greek exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. 



/ 



HEIGHT OF PLANTS AND DURATION OF VEGETATIVE PERIOD. 



Table XXV shows the height of the plants (in feet) and the dura- 

 tion of the vegetative period (in days) for all lots of broom corn 

 grown in the nursery in part or in all of the years from 1915 to 

 1918, inclusive, with 4-year averages. The height of Standard broom 

 corn ranged from 7 to 11 feet in 1915. In the less favorable seasons 

 of 1916, 1917, and 1918 the plants averaged much lower in height 

 than in the favorable season of 1915. Dwarf broom corn reached 

 a height of 5' to 6 feet in 1915, but in 1918 the height ranged from 

 2.8 to 4.3 feet only. 



