336 CORN CROPS 



Land. — Any productive soil will raise broom-corn. 

 The principal consideration is that the soil be uniform. 

 One reason why the culture of this plant has been so suc- 

 cessful in central Illinois is because of the extensive areas 

 of uniform soil. 



Planting 



278. Time of planting. — The planting of broom-corn 



usually begins about two weeks later than the planting 

 of field corn and may be continued for a period of four 

 weeks. In the Central States, planting is done from 

 the middle of Maj^ to the end of June and harvesting begins 

 the middle of August. It is often desirable to distribute 

 the planting so that the harvesting will not come too 

 much at one time. 



Method of planting. — The width of row varies from 

 3 feet for dwarf varieties to 85 feet for standard varie- 

 ties. The distance apart in row is 2 inches in dwarf 

 and 3 inches in standard varieties. The planting should 

 be uniform, as the brush will be too coarse where the stalks 

 are thin, and undersized where the planting is too thick. 



Drilling is the ordinary method of planting. The ordi- 

 narjr corn-planter, with special plates for broom-corn seed, 

 is satisfactory. 



Replanting thin places is not practicable, and thinning 

 the stand is too expensive. It is, therefore, very impor- 

 tant to take ever}' precaution to secure a perfect stand at 

 the beginning. It is hardly necessary to state that the 

 land should be clean and in good tilth, and the seed should 

 be carefully cleaned and of good germinating quality. 



279. Tillage. — ■ The same tools and methods of cultiva- 

 tion that are successful with Indian corn are effective with 

 broom-corn, except for the fact that broom-corn is more 



