98 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
‘*The seed of the broom-corn is excellent for fattening sheep. They 
are very fond of it, and will fatten on it nearly as well as on Indian corn. 
It is also recommended for feeding poultry, and when ground with Indian 
corn, rye, oats, or barley, is very profitably fed to cattle. When ground 
and mixed with wheat-bran it is even good for milch cows. ‘The Shakers 
have frequently fed it to horses in the time of harvesting the brush; and 
indeed in that season of the year they seldom feed any other kind of 
grain. It is considered by some to be worth as much per bushel, when 
fully ripened and well cured, as Indian corn.’? Appleton’s ‘‘ New 
American Cyclopedia,’’ New York, 1871, 8.741. _ 
‘* Good plump seed weighs fifty pounds to the bushel, but the majority 
does not exceed forty pounds. It contains a great deal of nutriment, and 
is by some regarded as equal in value with oats to feed to sheep; ground 
either alone or with Indian corn, it is an excellent food for pigs and for 
milch cows; chickens eat it for a while as a variety, but are not fond of it 
long at a time. It will not, however, pay to raise seed for either of these 
purposes.’’ ‘* Broom-Corn and Brooms,’’ O. Judd Co., New York, 1876, 
p- 13. 
A glance at the results of the analyses given on a subsequent page 
will show clearly enough that several of the foregoing opinions were 
ill considered. The broom-corn seeds, though undoubtedly valuable as 
fodder when properly supplemented with other kinds of food, are not 
to be compared, when taken by themselves, with oats. Measure for 
measure, they are manifestly not fit to serve the purposes to which 
oats are commonly applied. The old question as to the value of 
broom-corn seed is, in fact, akin to another question that was current 
at the same time with it, to which allusion has already been made in 
this Bulletin, Vol. I., page 369, namely, whether a bushel of apples is 
equal to a bushel of potatoes for fattening animals? For both the 
broom-corn seed and the apples are much poorer in albuminoids than 
the oats and the potatoes with which they were respectively compared 
The kinds of seeds examined and the results of the analyses will 
appear from the following statements. 
I. A sample of broom-corn seed obtained in the winter of 1875-1876, 
at a seed store in Boston. The grain was well filled and firm, and the 
sample was rather better in these respects than No. Il. The hulls were 
of a reddish color, and were not so well cleaned from filaments as those of 
No. II. 
II. A sample of broom-corn seed obtained at a seed store in Hartford, 
Connecticut, in the spring of 1876. The grain was particularly clean, 
but not very plump, as has been said. 
The results of these analyses were as follows : — 
