THE SOUTHEUX CUI/n\ ATOK. 
61 
rtiroiigh the course of ruinous measures, tending 
to the derangement of the currency and the 
inostration of individual and public confidence, 
the interests of the faiming and planting classes 
have been paralyzed. — Balt. Amei'icaii. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE REFORT OF THE COM- 
MISSIONER OF PATENTS 
It may be well here, also, to allude to certain 
products not mentioned in the tabular estimate, 
which have been sometimes proposed as offer- 
ing some encouragement to the agriculturist to 
engage in raising them, and thus add to the 
means of employing tlie labor which must be 
giv'cn to agriculture, and which, yet owing to 
the vast surplus of the grains, &.c., above the 
home cgnsumptiun, seems to promise but little 
profit. 
One of these is broomcorn, which is much 
cultivated, and witli success, in some towns on 
the Connecticut river, in Massachusetts. 
We here annc.x an article from the appendix, 
which embraces much information on this sub- 
ject, important in the South: 
Broomcorn*. — The North river kind is ordi- 
narily the best crop; it is ten days earlier than 
the large kind, and yields about 750 pounds of 
the brush per acre — the brush meaning the dried 
panicles, cleaned gf the seed, with eight to 
twelve inchesof the stalk. The New Jersey, or 
large kind, yields a thousand or eleven hundred 
pounds of brush per acre. The stalks and seed 
are large. In good seasons this is the most pro- 
fitable crop. Soil rich, alluvial lands are best 
adapted for the broomcorn, more especially if 
warmly situated, protected by hills, and well 
manured. 
Aktkodof planting . — The broomcorn is plant- 
ed in rows, alxiut two and a half or three feet 
apart, .so that a horse may pass between them 
with a plough, or cultivator, or harrow. The 
hills in each row are from eighteen inches to 
two feet apart, oi further, according to the qual- 
ity ^of the soil. The quantity of seed to be 
planted is estimated vet*)* differently by diflerent 
farmers — some say that half a peck is enough 
per acre, while others plant half a bushel, and 
some a bushel, in order to make it sure that the 
land shall be well stocked. The rule with some 
is to cast a teaspoonful, or thirty or fort)' seeds 
in a hill; the manure at the time of planting 
should be put into the hill, and old manure or 
compost is preferred, as being most free from 
worms. 
Cultivation . — The broomcorn should be plow- 
ed and hoed three times; the last time when 
about three feet high, though some hoe it when 
it is six feet high, and when they are concealed 
by it as they are toiling in the field. The num- 
ber of stalks in a hill should be from .seven to 
ten. If there are only five or six stalks, they 
will be larger and coarser, if there are about 
eight, the bush wilt be finer and more valuable. 
In the first hoeing, the supemiunerary stalks 
should be pulled up. 
Harvesting . — As the frost kills the seed, the 
broomcorn is han'ested at the commencement of 
the first frast. The long stalks are bent down at 
two or two and a half feet from the ground; and 
by laying those of two rows across each other 
obliquely, a kind of table is made by even* two 
rows with a pa.s.sage between each (able, for the 
convenience ot harvesting. After drying for a 
few nays, the brush is cut, leaving ot the stalk 
from six to twelve inches. The longer it is cut, 
of course the more it will weigh; and, if the 
purchaser does not object, the benefit will ac- 
crue to the farmer. However, the dr)* stalk 
weighs but little; if its weight is excessive, the 
purchaser sometimes requires a deduction from 
the weight. As it is cut it is spread on the ta- 1 
bles still further to dr)*. As it is carried into 
the barn, some bind it in sheaves; and this is a 
great convenience for the further operation of 
extracting the seed. Others throw the brush 
in o the cart or wagon, unbound. 
Scraping . — The process of extracting the seed 
is called "scraping the^bnish.” Two iron hori- 
zontal scrapers are prepared — one moveable, to 
be elevated a little, so that a handful of brush 
may be introduced between them. 'I'hc uj)per 
scraper is then pressed down with one hand, and 
the brush drawn through wjth the plher, the 
seed being scraped off. This is the old method. 
A newly invented .scraper is superseding tlie 
old one. It is an upright instrument, of elastic 
wood or steel, in.serted in a bench ol a conven- 
ient height lor the operator. 
A quantity of brush is taken in the hand and 
brought down ujiou the top of this instrument. 
As it is forced down, and drawn towards the bo- 
dy, it separates (he elastic sticks Ifom the cen- 
tral piece, but their elasticity presses sufficiently 
on the brush so that the seed is scrajied offi 
The advantage of this scraper is, that both 
hands may be applied to the brush instead of 
only one hand, as in the other kind, and the ela.s- 
tic power of nature is substituted lor the pres- 
sure of one of the hands. The instrument also 
seems to double the scraping surface. This in- 
strument was invented at Hanford. I have 
been told it has not been patented. 
Product . — A common crop is 700 to 800 lbs. 
per acre. There have been raised 1000 and 
1100 lbs. per acre, with 80 or 100 bushels of 
seed. The large kind grows 11 feet high. 
Value of the crop . — About the year 1836 or 
I837,nhe brush sold for twelve and a half cents 
a pound; and one farmer in Northampton sold 
his crop standing, unharvested, at 8100 per acre. 
Since then the price has been decreasing. This 
year it has been four and five cents. At six 
cents, the farmer, for 800 pounds, gets S48 an 
acre, besides 60 or 70 bushels of seed, worth a 
third of a dollar a bushel — so that he receives 
S70 or u pwards from an acre. 
Good farmers regard the seed alone as equal 
to a crop of oats irom the same land. Some 
land owners have rented their land for broom- 
corn at S25 per acre, they putting on five or six 
loads of manure. 
One farmer who, a few years ago cultivated 
50 acres in broomcorn, must have had an al- 
most unprecedented income for a New England 
farmer. 
Quantity . — In Northampton, probably 200 
acres are raised; in Hatfield, 300; in Hadley, 
400; in other towns, Whateley, Deerfield, Green- 
field, Easthampton, South Hadley, Springfield, 
and Longmeadow, perhaps 300 or 400 acres 
more; in all, in the valley of the Connecticut, 
1200 or 13 acres; the product, in brush and seed, 
worth about Sjl00,000. 
Manufadure of brooms . — Individuals tie up 
brooms with wire or twine. The expense is 
greater for materials and labor when wire is 
used. 
The turned broomhandles cost, as delivered, 
only SI a hundred — one cent each. The ex- 
pense of other materials and labor in making a 
broom, is six cents, or the whole about seven 
cents. In a good broom, a pound and a half of 
brush is employed, which, at the present price 
of five cents, would be seven and a half cents, 
so that a broom made with wire costs now about 
fourteen and a half cents. A manufacturer re- 
cently went to Boston, and could get an offer of 
only twelve cents, or twelve dollars per hundred 
for his brooms; at which rate he could not af- 
ford to sell them, and cho.se to retain them. — 
Brooms are made with bnish weighing three- 
quarters of a pound, one pound, one pound and 
a quarter, and one pound and a half The 
bnish is whitened by the manufacturer. It is 
jilaced in a large light box, and bleached by the 
fumes of sulphur, but this process is said to 
weaken the brash. Who would think of whi- 
tening broom brush for beautyl Thus it is that 
fashion descends into the vale of life, and to the 
humblest of concerns. Why should not the 
house maid wield a beautiful broom, with white 
bru.sh and variously interlaced wire, and polish- 
ed and variously colored handle? 
Misccltancous . — A few remarks will be added, 
some of which were omitted in their proper pla- 
ces. If the stalks are cut before the seed is ripe 
they are better, stronger, more durable, than it 
cut after the seed is ripe. In this case, the far- 
mer would lose the value ol the seed. He ol 
coursi would not submit to this loss, unless it 
is made up to him by the ini,iea.sed i)ricc of the 
brush. 
The seed is used for feeding horses, cuttle and 
swine. It is ground and mixed with Indian 
meal, and is regarded as excellent food; it 
weighs 40 lbs. a bushels. 
Air. Shipman, of Iladlev, is the greatest man- 
ufariurer of brooms in the valley of the Con- 
necticut. If he employs, on an average ten 
hands, and each hand makes *25 brooms per day, 
the number made in a year would be 78,0(10. It 
is said he has made 1(K>,(KI0. 
The brush, when it is pul in the bam, should 
be placed on a .scafi'old, so as to be exposed to a 
circulation of the air, that it may dry, and no' 
mould. For all the purposes of use, a broom 
made with twine is equal to one made with 
wire; and a man can make several more of them 
in a day. 
Mr. Shipman uses 300 to 400 pounds of larg'* 
twine, at “20 to 30 cents a pound, and *2000 lbs. 
of small twine, at 31 cents. Perhaps he manu- 
factures only an eighth part of the brooms man- 
ufactured in Hadley. 
At the price of 20 ceni.s, the price of brooms a 
few years ago, the broom manufacture of Had- 
ley would thus amoui l to $160,000. 
It is probable that the extended cultivation of 
the broomcorn will reduce the profits of this 
product to the average profits of good farming 
The Tomato. — The celebrity of this plan 
has become astonishing. A few years since* 
prejudice reviled at its excellence with its most 
vindictive tauniings. Now, it is an article ol 
so general popularity, scarcely a garded, or an 
apology for one is to be found where it is not 
cultivated, and almost ever)' voice is loud in 
proclaiming its excellencies. I'he tomato has 
three kinds of varieties, to wit: the large com- 
mon, the egg, and the golden drop. AVe prefer 
the two last kinds for culture as they arc firmer 
or more solid in their texture and more delicate 
in their flavor. The tomato may be started in 
a hot bed, or in boxes in the house in March 
Then by care, large thrilly plants will be ready 
for putting out as soon as the season of frost is 
passed. They do not require a rich soil; this 
cau.ses them to run too much to vine, but rather 
an excitement to push forward to perfection. — 
We know of no more sure effective to produce 
this than to put say half or a third of a common 
shovel full of hen or pigeon’s dung iu the hill 
It is admirably calculated for pepper or for to- 
matoes. 
After the early frost had killed the vines last 
fall, a friend of ours, cf close observation and 
exact calculation, experimented by feeding the 
tomatoes that remained to her cows. They 
were readily eaten, and the quantity pf milk 
was increa.sed. This certainly adds another to 
the thousand and one uses to which they have 
been applied. — Farmer's Cabinet. 
Necessity of a Change of Crops. — In a 
conversation the other day with an intelligent 
friend, I staled the remarkable fact, that if an 
animal were to be confined to one panicular diet 
for a certain number of days, sickness, and 
eventually death must be the consequence, 
when he immediately applied the rationale of 
the fact to a subject at once so highly intere.sting 
and natural, that f cannot help recording it. — 
“Then,” said he, “this shows at once the neces 
sity of a change of food to the crop; or which 
is the same thing, a change of crop to the soil— 
a rotation of crops, as it is called.” Now in thi.s 
little remark, a volume is thrown open to our 
perusal, and by studying it, I believe we may 
derive information and advanta^s at present 
unk-nown and unappreciated; and in return for 
the many useful hints and very nlea.sant idea- 
that I am continually reaping anclgamering jup 
from the perusal of your paper, I o^er the abov<* 
in grateful acknowletigement. — Farm. Cabinet 
