Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-11

ton tO-broom corn, / herewith offer villa
/ consider the best practice for the com
mon farmer. The land may be anything
but heavy clay. 1t may be raised sue
cessfnlly on any ground that win grow
good crop of Indian corn. A small patel
is sometimes marked out one way, as fol
corn, and the seed dropped along contin
uously, at the rate of three quarts to the
acre, and then narrowed in lengthwise o.
the rows. I prefer good seed drill, Ike
! III. i. Emery's, manufactured at Albany,
| N.sY., one of which have used upwards
of twenty years. 1t is better than hand
| planting, for the reason that it marks out,
drops, covers and rolls the seed in the
ground n proper manner in a drill one
inch wide I; whereas hand planting, many
times, leaves the drill eight or ten inches
wide, making it expensive to cultivate, il
naturally weedy. The smaller the seed OF
any kind, generally speaking, the more
I careful we should be not TO plant too
! deep; one inch is deep enough for broom
com.
In this altitude, Central New York, it
should not be planted before the 18th of
MAY. The reason is that some seasons,
if planted earlier, the stalks have side
! shoots, emanating from different heights
along the main stem, which produce
small, worthless heads which absorb much
of the 'nulriment that would otherwise
belong TO one good head; also the seed is
liable to rot if too long in the ground
during cold, wet weather.
To prepare the seed ready for the plan
Ter, | take small punch that will make
hole a trifle larger than the largest
broom seed, and with it punch six-quart
pan full of holes, from the upper side !;
put the seed in this, and rub or grind it
through with piece of inch board about
four inches square. With this simple ar
rangement, seed enough may be prepared
for one hundred acres in a short time.
Planted the 10Th of May, it will be
ready for operation the 18th of June. Use
a cultivator with steel mOld-board teeth,
because with it the ground may be stirred
nearer the row without danger of cover
ing it. The first time turn the dirt from
the corn toward the center, going one fur
row TO the row. The next week go two
burrows to the row, cutting closer than
the first time, still throwing The dirt to-
ward the center between the rows. If
weedv, it should be trimmed up with the
hoe, uncovered, and perhaps in some
places thinned out The third time going
through reverse the -mold-board teeth so
as 10 throw the dirt toward the corn. If
skillfully performed, we thus eYade hand
hOeing very much, and cheat the weeds
and thistles out of their claims
Harvesting, if good, warm, growing
season, may be commenced about 10th to
the 18th of September, or while the seed
is in the milk In this the first operation
is tabling Ii is done by walking between
two rows, breaking it down about knee
high or more, first on one side than the
other, and laying the tops of one side at
right angles with the the tops of the ether
side, in such a way that ii forms a resting
place on which the brush may be placed,
when cut, so as 10 dry. Brush should not
be left on the ground over night, as it
may change its color. After being cut
and dried day OF two in the sun or wind,
il should be spread on the hay NOW or
racks about two inches thick. In cutting
observe that the leaf that adheres to the
stalk should be taken off before laying it
down to dry. The stem or short brush
may be eight inches long; Of long brush
four inches is sufficient.
The sooner thTeshing is done after cut
ting, the better. 1t is generally done by
horse power. A cheap way is to take an
old thrcshing machine cylinder, and if the
teeth are thin, use them; if not, remove
l,of 10
of steel wire three sixteenths OF ar inch;
cut the teeth three inches long, So rs 10
drive them in about midway; space of
the rows in which they are inserted about
three -fourihs of an inch apart. They may
be about four inches apart in the rows,
and the tips may have the roughmess filed
smooth: some make them flat. Nail a
thin strip up near the end of the teeth, so
that, in holding a handful of brush on the
cylinder, the fingers need not be drawn in.
It requires one boy to drive, one to ''hanG-
full, " (or size the handfuls,) one to hold
the brush on the cylinder, and one TO take
cars Of the brush. 1t should not be held
on the cylinder more than a second then
turn it over. If held on too long it de-
stroys the whisk. The brush should, after
thrashing, be taken TO the dry-h0use and
spread out, if not already dry. If per
fectly green it may be cured IN twelve or
fifteen days ready for baling, of which
process l know nothing, as | have worked
up the corn in broom.
To make a cheap dry-housc, a common
corn crib may be used, and emptied by the
time it is required to crib Indian corn.
Two acres of broom corn may be slowed
away to dry in a crib that will hold five
hundred bushels of corn. The DlOdUS
ODCraRdi is, procure hath for the purpose,
and tack horizontal strips on the inside of
the crib, beginning at the bottom, and so
up to the top, one every three inches, on
which the lath can be placed as fast as
required Begin at the bottom at one
! end; fill to the desired height; then start
another tier as before.
The seed 20 be saved should be spread
on the barn floor, say two OF three inches
deep, and stirred every day till cured. 1t
| is usually worth about the same price as
oats for common purposes, as it may be
ground for COWS, horses, pigs, etc, and
makes good feed for poultry. ] would
not feed it to anything with young. Fol-
seed to plant, the best way is to select
that which the cylinder knocks the fur,
thest on the barn floor, as that is The
heaviest and plumpest. That designed
for planting should never be kept stored il
tight boxes or barrels; but, after If i,
thoroughly dried, it may be kept in bag
and hung up out of the way Of mice
Fifty TO seventy five bushels OF seed is
the usual yield per acre; 800 TO so.
pounds the usual yield Of brush.
1t requires no great skill or capital tC
raise broom corn successfully. The grea
wonder is that, during the high prices o
the last three or four years for brooms
| there has been SO little grown.