56 BROOM-CORN CULTURE 
ful of the sorted brush, suitable for the kind of 
broom to be made, is taken in the left hand, and 
with the knife the stalks are cut half through with 
a sloping cut half an inch above the straw, and the 
Fig. 22. Broom stitcher. Capacity, four to seven dozen brooms per hour. 
half of the stalk split off. The stalks are then placed 
beneath the wire so that it may be wound exactly over 
where they were cut. The treadle is turned until 
the stalks are all bound on, when another handful 
