1238 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
General Farm Topics 
Broom-making on the Farm 
Is the broom-makers’ trade very diffi¬ 
cult to learn, and does it take long to 
leai^n it? About what would it cost for 
machinery for a one or two-man shop, 
and where could I purchase this 
machinery? A. S. 
Michigan. 
The question here is whether the art 
of broom-making would be a very difficult 
one to master, and the 006 t of the equip¬ 
ment. The farmer would have the first 
advantage over the large factory in being 
able to produce the broom corn, though 
he would have the disadvantage of not 
being able to make brooms as rapidly or 
as cheaply, on account of the factory 
having power-operated machinery and the 
generally supposed more efficient (?) 
system. For an inconsiderable outlay, 
Broom in Press for Sewing. Fig. 371 
however, the farmer can purchase an 
outfit by which good substantial brooms 
can be made by one or two men, either 
with or without any power whatever. 
The farmer will have the added advan¬ 
tage of many days during Winter, or 
even days in Summer, when the weather 
is inclement, that he or his help will not 
be regularly employed, when quite a 
quantity of brooms could be made. I 
say quite a quantity advisedly, as the 
man who gave me this information, hav¬ 
ing the corn prepared, wound a broom 
to show me how it was done in a trifle 
over five minutes, and sewed it in about 
the same length of time. 
To do this work at that speed would 
require a lot of practice, as no reasonable 
man would expect to get at an entirely 
unfamiliar job and make the same head¬ 
way and speed as the man who has been 
trained to it. This neighbor said he first 
started without experience and made a 
fair success of it, though found later that 
some time spent in a broom factory was 
a wonderful help to him, giving him the 
practice that permitted speeding up. 
Several years ago he made brooms for 
farmers who brought their corn to him 
for 10 cents each, he furnishing handle 
and wire. Now he has to charge 25 cents 
each, and does not have as much profit 
as formerly, the handles alone being a 
Broom Is Ready for Press. Fig. 372 
large factor in the advance, formerly 
selling for $18 per 1,000 and now $S5 
for the same quantity. 
The culture of broom corn is a very 
simple matter in any corn-growing soil or 
climate. The seed is sown in drills and 
thinned to about 4 or 5 in. in the row, 
and the rows 30 to 36 in. apart. All farm¬ 
ers in this section considered it necessary 
to bend the heads downward toward the 
end of the growing season, until the last 
few years. This was done with the 
thought of keeping the rays straight, 
though an experiment has shown that this 
is not necessary. It cut the sap from the 
head during the final growing and ripen¬ 
ing period, and now it is conceded that 
allowing the plant to grow naturally 
makes better brooms, and just about as 
straight as the bending process will do. 
The corn should not be allowed to be¬ 
come too ripe before being cut, as it will 
make tougher brooms when cut in the 
light yellow stage rather than allowing 
it to start drying up on the stalk. Har¬ 
vesting is a very simple matter, the tops 
of the plants being cut off with a fair 
length of stem, tied into small bundles, 
about a large handful in each, and hung 
head downwards over a wire anywhere 
under cover. ’ 
The first operation is running the corn 
through a scraping machine. This 
machine costs about $35 at present, and 
can be turned rapidly by hand or oper¬ 
ated by a small engine, the power re¬ 
quired being negligible. This machine re¬ 
moves the seed from the corn. The next 
operation is grading the corn into three 
sizes or grades, the longest and heaviest 
corn being cut entirely from the stem, 
the second best cut with about an inch 
and a half of the stem remaining at¬ 
tached to the rays or peduncles of the 
corn. The remainder and larger portion 
has the stems somewhat longer than the 
second grade. 
The handle is clamped into the wind¬ 
ing machine, and a fair-sized handful of 
the latter grade is tightly wound upon 
it. then another and a third lot is dis¬ 
tributed around the handle, each lot being 
tightly wound with a specially strong 
steel wire purchased for this purpose. 
This first lot of corn is wound on the 
handle, then the ends of the stems are 
trimmed off close to the last wire with 
a knife made especially for the purpose. 
This forms the body of the broom. 
Next there is a circle of the second 
selection of corn tightly wound on top 
of the body, but in the opposite direction, 
with the rays pointing toward the top of 
the handle. The stems of this circle are 
also trimmed off close to the last wire. 
During the winding of these various addi¬ 
tions the grooves cut by! the wires are 
pounded several times with what they 
call the pounder, a combination of V- 
shape edge on one side and hammer for 
driving the nails into the handle for fas¬ 
tening the wires on the-other. 
When the second lot is wired and 
trimmed the rays are bent backwards and 
fastened with the larger portion of the 
broom with a strap that holds them in 
position while the last and finishing layer 
is wired on. This layer is composed of 
a thin circle of the first long selection of 
rays without the stems, and is wired on 
in such manner that the trimmed stems 
do not show on the finished broom ; then 
the winding of several turns of wire at 
intervals of a half inch, and the final 
fastening at. the end of a nail completes 
this part of the operation. As you can 
imagine, this leaves a pretty rough-look¬ 
ing job, though the next operation puts 
a rather civilizing appearance upon this 
convenient household implement. 
""The rough-wound broom is then put 
into the press, which gives it the final 
shape, the breadth of spread being gauged 
by an iron band about an inch wide and 
possibly eight inches long. This band is 
slipped or buckled on after the broom is 
put into the press, and sliding it upward 
or downward during the sewing operation 
regulated the final width of the broom 
at the business end. For the sewing 
operation the operator wears a leather 
cuff on each hand, these cuffs having a 
metal portion on the palm to act as the 
thimble does upon upon the finger in 
regular sewing, in pushing the needle 
back and forth through the broom. The 
needle is about five inches long and dou¬ 
ble-ended. The twine used is an espe¬ 
cially prepared hemp. The first insert is 
made about one-half inch from the edge, 
and the end tied there, then the thread is 
wound clear around the broom several 
times, then drawn back and forth every 
half inch, till the other side is reached, 
where the end is fastened. Each time 
the twine is drawn back and forth it must 
be carried around the several strands 
that have been wound clear around the 
broom at the start. These cross loops do 
not need to be stretched tight, as the 
press is holding the broom very tightly 
during this operation, and the twine will 
be stretched taut as soon as the press is 
released. 
The better quality of brooms are sewed 
across in this manner about five times at 
intervals of about three-fourths of an 
inch, the broom being lowered in the press 
each time, that the point of sewing may 
be only a short distance above the jaws. 
This finishes the operation with the ex¬ 
ception of trimming the end square, which 
is done with a cutter very similar to a 
small feed cutter, though especially con¬ 
structed for this purpose in such manner 
that the end is perfectly square. 
The various machines required are: 
Scraper, price $35: winding machine, 
$30 to $40; sewing press, about $28; cut¬ 
ter, $10; pair cuffs, $1; needles, 75c each ; 
pounder, $1.25; two knives, one broad 
blade, at $1, and a narrow blade at 75c. 
In addition to the above list wire at 15c 
per lb.; special hemp twine at $1.30 per 
lb., and handles at $75 to $85 the thou¬ 
sand. 
An outfit similar to the one above will 
furnish steady work for one, two or even 
three men, and the beauty of the business 
is that nothing will be injured by stop¬ 
ping operations at any period of the 
process, and even 10 to 15 minutes’ spare 
time can be put in to good advantage. 
ELMER J. WEAVER. 
Wants to Kill Black Snakes 
"We are experiencing this Spring an 
unusual number of black snakes on our 
farm in Massachusetts, and I wish to 
know if there is any special method that 
you would recommend to rid the farm of 
these snakes. Of course, I am acquainted 
with the fact that they are not poisonous 
and that they eat mice, etc. However, I 
prefer to have the mice than the snakes. 
They arc extremely annoying and I feel 
certain that some of your readers can 
advise me of the best way to get rid of 
them. u. w. B. 
Boston, Mass. 
Young pigs will catch and eat the black 
snakes. If a good drove of pigs could be 
penned in the fields where the snakes are 
most numerous, many -would be destroyed. 
We would also offer bounties or premiums 
for killing the snakes. This would at¬ 
tract the small boys of the neighborhood 
and some men. They would kill many, if 
such killing were made profitable. Our 
readers must help us on this. Personally 
we have no quarrel with the black snake. 
We think he cleans up many mice and 
insects. The mice have become a pest 
in our orchards, and the snakes will keep 
them in check. 
Sheep Growers Plan State-wide Wool 
Pool 
At a meeting of delegates from 21 
county wool growers’ associations held in 
Syracuse July 8 it was voted unanimously 
that in the opinion of the delegates pres¬ 
ent a State wool pool should be organ¬ 
ized. To this end they voted unanimously 
in favor of appointing a \\ool pool and 
marketing committee of three to five mem¬ 
bers. The duties of the wool pool and 
marketing committee will be to work out 
definite plans for handling a State-wide 
pool, to employ a sales manager, rent 
warehouse space, develop financial rela¬ 
tionships with banks and market the 
wool. 
This step, when taken, will be directly 
in accordance with the desires so fre- 
First Processes in Making Broom. Fig. 37.} 
quently expressed by farmers that the 
Farm Bureaus should do more to help 
develop markets for their products. It is 
an economic move in the line of securing 
better markets. The old plan where each 
individual farmer sold his wool was 
abandoned two years ago in favor of the 
county wool assignments. The county 
wool pools and consignments, while an 
improvement over the old custom, fall 
short of the ideal, for the reason that 
each county association acts independ¬ 
ently of every other association. The re¬ 
sult of this is a growing lack of concerted 
action and co-operation. 
The methods of selling wool in this 
State are about two years behind Western 
States. It is expected that the plans for 
the New York wool pool will conform 
closely with those in Western States. It 
is thought that 30 of the 35 county asso¬ 
ciations will join in this pool. This year 
probably 1,000,000 pounds of wool will 
July 24, 1020 
be pooled. Eventually New York State 
should be able to pool from one and one- 
half to two million pounds of wool. 
The very best advice seems to be that 
wool should not be sold at the present 
time, for the reason that practically no 
market exists. It is recommended strongly 
that every member of every association 
hold his wool until a State marketing 
committee can perfect its machinery for 
gathering the wools into one warehouse. 
New York. f. e. robertson. 
Making a Lawn 
I wish to make a lawn around a new 
house. Will you tell me just what to do? 
The top, now, is all clay that was thrown 
out from the cellar bottom. Should there 
be a thin layer of sand spread over it 
and then covered with loam, or what can 
be done with it? • c. F. I. 
Goi’ham, Me. 
It is hardly necessary to cover the clay 
with sand. Establish the grade with the 
clay soil from the cellar, allowing for the 
depth of top soil, which should be spread 
evenly over the clay to a depth of not 
less than four inches; six inches will be 
better. If the loam is not very rich, 
about one inch of well-rotted stable 
manure should be spread evenly over 
it and lightly spaded in with a steel 
rake. Make it as smooth and even as 
possible, then roll it with a 400 or 500- 
pound hand roller. This rolling will re¬ 
veal all the soft spots, which will show 
by the depressions made by the roller; 
these low places must be raked in and 
the ground rolled again in the opposite 
direction. Again fill in all low places 
and rake down any bumps that may ap¬ 
pear. If the ground seems reasonably 
level after the second rolling probably no 
more will be required before seeding, but 
if much unevenness is revealed it should 
be rolled the third time and leveled with 
the rake, when it may be seeded down. 
Sow only the best seed obtainable, using 
a mixture suitable for a permanent lawn, 
which may be procured from any reliable 
seed dealer. Sow at the rate of one pound 
for 300 square feet. After seed is sown 
rake the ground over with a wooden rake, 
using the forward and backward move¬ 
ment, as in breaking down clods, and lev¬ 
eling in the garden when preparing the 
ground with a steel rake. When through 
raking run over it with the roller to pack 
the seed well into the soil. Do not cut 
the young grass too soon nor too low; 
the first cutting is usually better done 
with the scythe. Subsequent cuttings 
may be done with the mower, setting the 
machine to cut as high as possible. If 
drought should occur during Summer do 
not cut the grass if it can possibly be 
avoided until drought is over. Newly- 
made lawns are sometimes ruined by cut¬ 
ting during a protracted dry spell. K. 
CONTENTS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, JULY 24, 1920 
FARM TOPICS 
SDontaneous Combustion in Hay. 1236 
Limestone on Old Pasture. 1236 
From Dairying- to Hay Farming. 1237 
Digging a Ditch With Dynamite. 1237 
Working Too Much Land. 1238 
Profits in Farming. 1238 
A Montana Man on Eastern Farms. 1238 
Hope Farm Notes.1242. 1243 
Slugs Damage Potatoes. 1243 
Saving $35,000,000 for Farmers. 1245 
LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY 
Future of the Aberdeen-Angus in 
East .. 
Sheep Growers Plan State-wide Pool. 
Com-and-cob Meal for Cows. 
Feed for Pigs on Pasture. 
Aberdeen-Angus Cattle in the East... 
Garget ....'. 
Pasturing Alfalfa . 
Ration for Guernseys. 
Whey for Young Pigs. 
Sour Milk for Pigs. 
Hog Cholera Problems. 
Trouble with ‘-Ropy” Milk. 
Building a Homemade Silo. 
Horses with Dandruff. 
Lame Hogs . 
Pining Cow . 
Lameness . 
the 
1235, 1236 
. 1245 
. 1250 
. 1250 
. 1250 
. 1250 
. 1252 
.1252 
. 1252 
. 1252 
. 1252 
. 1256 
. 1256 
. 1258 
. 1258 
.... 1258 
. 1258 
THE KENYARD 
Egg-laying Contest . J257 
Poultry Questions; Fattening Belgian Hares 1257 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day. 
The Rural Patterns. 
Relaxation . 
Refooting Stockings . 
Made-over Stockings . 
Canning Without Sugar.... 
Dill Pickles . 
Dumplings and Others. 
Tomato Soup Without Milk 
Homemade Crackers . 
1248 
1248 
1248 
1249 
1249 
1249 
1249 
1249 
1249 
1249 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Prohibition and the Cider Business.... 
A Community Buying Association. 
Residence in a School District. 
Trespass and Trout Streams. 
Editorials .. 
Who Is Your Candidate for Governor!. 
To Handle Trespassing Boarders. 
Straight Talk About Public Matters... 
Trailer for Carrying Brush. 
Construction of Icehouse Walls. 
Building a Bridge. 
Dividing House Into Rooms. 
Building a Fireplace. 
Cider and Concrete. 
Markets . 
Publisher’s Desk . 
. 1236 
. 1238 
. 1238 
. 1238 
. 1244 
. 1245 
. 1245 
. 1245 
. 1254 
. 1254 
. 1254 
. 1254 
. 1254 
. 1254 
. 1255 > 
. 1258 
