HARVESTING BROOM-CORN 33 
crop may be secured which will ripen so evenly that 
the entire field may be harvested at the same time 
by pulling the brush and loading it into the wagons 
directly. Unless precaution is taken to secure a uni- 
form stand of plants that will ripen evenly, it will 
be necessary to go through the field two or three 
times, each time pulling the heads that have reached 
the proper stage of development. The heads should 
be placed in piles on the ground and shaded by a 
covering of stalks and blades. 
Because of the partially inclosed head of the dwarf 
varieties they are easily injured by rain at this 
period. The sheath around the head holds moisture 
and causes the brush to turn red, which very ma- 
terially reduces its market value. The greater height 
of the standard type makes it necessary to bring the 
heads down to a convenient height before they are 
harvested. This is accomplished by a process called 
“tabling.” In the harvesting of standard broom- 
corn three men can usually work together to good 
advantage, since one man can table as fast as two 
men cancut. One man walking backward between 
the rows in advance of the cutters, bends down a 
few stalks first from one row and then from the 
other, in such a manner as to form a self-supporting 
table of a convenient height, as shown in Figure 8. 
Three men working together in this way can cut 
and table about two acres per day. Rapid cutting 
is an art that is acquired only by long practice. The 
operator passes down between two tables and with 
a small sharp knife cuts off the heads, at a point 
six to eight inches below the attachment of the 
