CULTIVATION OF BROOM CORN.-SCAB IN SHEEP. 
141 
CULTIVATION OF BROOM CORN. 
Soil. —The best soil for raising broom corn, is sim¬ 
ilar to that required for Indian corn or maize. It 
should be rich, warm, loamy land, not liable to early 
or late frosts. Spring frosts injure broom corn more 
than maize, as the roots do not strike so deep, nor 
has it the power of recovering from the effects of 
frost equal to the latter. The best crops are usually 
raised on a green sward, turned over as late as possi¬ 
ble in the fall, s® as to kill all the worms. Clay 
lands are not suitable for it. 
Manure .—Hog or sheep manure is best, and rot¬ 
ten better than unfermented. If the land is in good 
condition, three cords, or eight loads of manure to the 
acre is sufficient This is usually placed in hills : 12 
to 15 bushels leached or unleached ashes per acre may: 
be added with great advantage. Plaster is beneficial at \ 
the rate of two to four bushels per acre. The addition 
of slacked lime helps the ground, affords food to the 
crop, and is destructive to worms. Poudrette at the 
rate of a gill or so to each hill at planting, or guano 
at the rate of a heaping tablespoonful per hill, if the 
African, or two-thirds the quantity if Peruvian, mix¬ 
ed into a compost with ten times its quantity of good 
soil, is an excellent application, especially if the land 
is not in very good heart. To repeat either of the 
above around the stalks on each hill after the last 
hoeing will add materially to the crop. 
Planting. —It should be planted in hills—not drills 
—two feet apart, in rows two and a half to three feet 
apart. If the seed is good, 15 to 20 seeds to a hill are 
enough ; if not, put in sufficient to ensure eight or ten 
thrifty plants, which are all that require to be left fori 
each hill. Time of planting must depend on climate 
and season. The 1st of May is time for planting in 
latitude 40®, and 10th to 15th in 42<», but as early as 
possible, yet late enough to avoid spring frost is best. 
The ground should be thoroughly harrowed and pul¬ 
verised before planting. Thick planting gives the j 
finest, toughest brush. Seed should be buried one 
to one and a half inches deep. 
After Culture. —As soon as the plants are visible, 
run a cultivator between the rows, and follow with a 
hand hoe. Many neglect this till the weeds get a 
start, which is highly prejudicial to the crop. The 
cultivator or a light plow should be used afterwards, 
followed with a hoe, and may be repeated four or 
five times with advantage. 
Breaking the Tops .—This should be done before 
fully ripe, or when the seed is a little past the milk; 
or if frost appears, then immediately after it. This 
is done by bending over the tops of the rows towards 
each other, for the convenience of cutting afterwards. 
They should be broken some 13 inches below the 
brush, and allowed.to hang till fully ripe, when it 
may be cut and carried under cover, and spread till 
thoroughly dried. 
Disposal of Stalks. —The stalks remaining on the 
ground may be cut close or pulled up and buried in 
the furrows for manure, or burnt, and thus be restor¬ 
ed to the earth to enrich it; or they may be carried to 
the barn yard to mix up in a compost, or with the 
droppings of the cattle. 
Cleaning the Brush. —This is best done by hand, 
by passing it through a kind of hetchel, made by 
setting upright knives near enough together, or it may 
be cleaned by a long toothed currycomb. By the 
first method none of the little branches are broken. 
and the brush makes a finer, better broom. We have 
seen horse power machines used for cleaning the 
seed with great rapidity, in the Miami valley. 
Yield of Brush. —The average yield is about 50<? 
lbs. of brush per acre. It varies according to season 
and soil, from 300 to 1,000 lbs. The price also 
varies materially, ranging from 3 to 16 cents per lb., 
the last seldom obtained unless in extreme scarcity. 
Yield of Seed. —A good crop of seed is obtained in 
the Connecticut valley about two years out of five. 
When well matured, the seed will average 3 to 5 lbs. 
for every pound of the brush. A single acre has 
produced 150 bushels seed, though 25 to 50 is a more 
common yield. It weighs about 50 lbs. per bushel, 
and is usually sold at 25 to 35 cents. It is too heat¬ 
ing for horses, but valuable for other stock, especially 
when ground. Some have informed us that for sheep 
and swine they consider it nearly equal to oats, but we 
are of opinion, in saying this, it is overrated. 
On the Northampton (Massachusetts) meadows 
1,500 acres of broom corn are frequently raised per 
annum, producing brush and seed to the value of 
$60,000 to $80,000. Some seasons the crop has 
been worth $100,000. It is now raised in large 
quantities in the rich valley of the Sciota, and other 
parts of Ohio. Quite a business is at present done 
at the west, in sending the brush to England, in order 
to supply that country with brooms. It is cleaned 
where raised, and shipped direct to London or Liver¬ 
pool via New Orleans. The handles are made at 
the east and shipped from Boston or New York. 
Twine, wire, and labor being cheaper in England than 
here, th^ brooms are made up there and sold in large 
quantities. American brooms are much admired in 
Great Britain and Ireland, especially for carpet sweep¬ 
ing, they having nothing like or equal to them.. 
Broom corn is not as exhausting a crop as Indian 
corn, unless the seed matures, and then it affords a 
full equivalent for exhaustion. At 6 cents per pound 
for brush, the former is as profitable to raise as the 
latter at SI the bushel. 
Farms in New Jersey. —A correspondent from 
Essex county thus writes us: This is a beautiful sec¬ 
tion of country, and there are many fine farms, in 
spite of all our neglect. A few are made so by the 
industrious husbandmen; and one thing I notice, the 
best farmers who make them so, do it without any 
heavy outlay of money. They get out all the ma¬ 
nure from their barn-yards, sheds, and pig-sties in 
the spring, and then cast into the yard soil from the 
road-gutters, and muck from the swamp, putting as 
much in the sty as the hogs and pigs will work over 
during summer. With this they mix ashes, lime, or 
plaster, in the fall, for their grain crops, or let it re¬ 
main in the yard for the following spring, thus mak¬ 
ing them large quantities of manure. 
Scab in Sheep. —As I hear much said about the 
scab in sheep, I send you an account of the treatment 
of that disease in a flock of about 200, in 1834, that 
belonged to my father in New Hampshire. The flock 
had been diseased two years, and several remedies 
tried and failed. Many sheep died, and but few ewes 
raised their young. The cure was this : a decoction 
of tobacco and sulphur; 10 lbs. of good tobacco for 
100 sheep, well mashed and steeped in about 16 gal¬ 
lons of water, to which was added 1 lb. sulphur 
