MARKETING BROOM CORN. 



31 



heavy production, and the alluring possibilities of producing two 

 and perhaps three crops a year with one planting induced many to 

 enter the business on a large scale. During the war prices were high 

 and the business prospered to such an extent that extensive prepara- 

 tions were made cooperatively to provide for every convenience that 

 might assist in putting the brush on the market in the best possible 

 manner. Among other things, warehouses were provided. Kiln- 

 drying plants were constructed to provide a means for curing and 

 handling broom corn in wet weather and to enable the growers to' 

 place their brush on the market at least 15 days earlier than by shed 

 or open air curing. 



The associations extended their activities to the cooperative sell- 

 ing of broom corn and in fact played an important part in the mar- 



O Country Sn/pp/ng Points 



O Factories 



% Pactor/es ondJerminat Oistributina Points 



Fig. G. — Map showing country shipping points, factories, and factories and terminal dis- 

 tributing points in the broom-corn industry. 



keting of the southern Texas crops. They have not met with the 

 success the producers anticipated, however, and in a number of cases 

 the associations have ceased to function. Inefficient management 

 and costly experiments in developing facilities for handling the crop 

 are given as the principal causes for this condition rather than any 

 inherent weakness in the system. Much good might have resulted if 

 the organizations had been founded on a good, substantial basis and 

 had been managed properly. 



In New Mexico some years ago a movement was launched to or- 

 ganize a number of cooperative marketing associations among the 

 broom-corn growers of that State. This movement was prompted by 

 the unsatisfactory marketing conditions then existing and by the 

 feeling that the marketing of broom corn at that time was under the 

 control of a few speculative interests who operated to suit themselves. 



