SOIL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 13 
tial, however, that dry weather prevail at harvest 
time, in order that the brush may be dried rapidly 
and in a manner that will enable it to retain its fresh 
green color. Localities in which frequent rains 
occur at the time when the brush should be har- 
vested will be found unsuited to the production of 
broom-corn. Rain at the time the plants are ripen- 
ing will cause some of the heads to turn red and thus 
materially reduce the quality of the brush. Ex- 
posure to rain after the heads are cut causes the 
straw to lose its fresh, green color and to take on a 
yellow, bleached appearance. Hence it is practically 
impossible to produce a crop of good quality unless 
dry weather prevails during the normal ripening 
and harvesting period. 
Taking both soil and climatic conditions into con- 
sideration, it is found that the rich prairie soils of 
the middle West are well suited to the production of 
the standard type of broom-corn, and that the light, 
dry soils of the semiarid regions of Kansas and 
Oklahoma are well adapted to the production of the 
dwarf types. 
Since such a comparatively small area is devoted 
to broom-corn, it would be a very easy matter to 
increase the acreage devoted to the crop and stay 
within favorable soil and climatic bounds. But 
since the market demand for the brush is limited, 
it is not probable that the area devoted to broom- 
corn culture will be greatly increased in the near 
future. 
The development of the broom-corn industry 
should be in the direction of better cultural methods 
