CHAPTER VIII 
HARVESTING BROOM-CORN 
Time to Harvest.—To secure brush of high qual- 
ity and good green color the plants should be 
harvested while in bloom and during the period 
when the anthers are falling. When cut at this 
stage of maturity practically no seed is secured, so 
it becomes necessary to leave a sufficient number 
of plants in the field to ripen for seed, or to grow 
a separate seed patch in which the heads are allowed 
to come to full maturity. The latter method of 
seed production is to be preferred, since the seed 
patch gives a better opportunity to exercise care in 
the selection of good seed plants. 
In the states where broom-corn is grown exten- 
sively the crop will be ready to harvest at a time 
when it will not seriously interfere with the other 
work; that is, just after the wheat and oats are out 
of the way and before the corn is ready to harvest. 
Where large areas are devoted to broom-corn a very 
large force of men is necessary to get the crop har- 
vested while it is at the proper stage of maturity. 
However, if several plantings are made at intervals 
of ten days, the fields will not blossom at the same 
time and the plants may be harvested at the proper 
time with the minimum number of extra men. 
In California and in a few other sections the seeds 
are allowed to ripen before the brush is harvested. 
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