CHAPTER II 
THE BROOM-CORN PLANT 
Broom-corn belongs to the great group of plants 
known as the grass family. Within the grass family 
are a large number of groups, one of which is known 
as the sorghums. The sorghums are divided into 
three groups: (1) Kafir corn, grown for forage and 
for grain; (2) common sweet sorghum, used for 
making syrup; and (3) broom-corn, the brush or 
seed head of which is used in the manufacture of 
brooms. 
Broom-corn differs from the other plants of the 
sorghum group in having the seed borne on long 
straight branches, which constitute the brush from 
which the brooms are made. 
In all probability these three different groups of 
sorghums have been derived, by selection, from a 
common ancestry. Sorghums have been cultivated 
in Italy for eighteen hundred years or more, and it 
is thought that the broom-corn type originated in 
that country by the continual selection of the sweet 
sorghum heads which bore elongated branches. 
The first record of this plant having been used for 
the manufacture of brooms is from an Italian source. 
Varieties—There are two recognized agricultural 
varieties of broom-corn, the dwarf and the standard. 
The dwarf type produces leafy stalks 3 to 6 feet 
in height, with a brush 10 to 18 inches long. The 
head, or brush, is partially inclosed in the upper 
leaf sheath or boot. 
