Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-01-22
HOW eRooMs ARE MADE,
4 Factory that Turns Them Out b.
Thousands Facts for Housek eepsrs.

How many housekeepers who dc
some sweeping themselves or have
other people do it for them ever take
the trouble to consider how broom
is made? To begin with. the sticks
mostly come from Michigan. They
arc made of Eastwood or maple. which
grow plentiful in that State. and afford
II material that combines the advant-
age of lightncss and strength. Tho
wood is turned with lathes into broom
sticks. with hole through each end
one Of them intended for the house.
keepers string to hang the instrument
up by. Some Of the sticks are left of
their natural hue and others are paint
ed red. to satisfy the tastes of all sorts
of purchasers. The rest of the broom
is made of straw chiefly. and this ma
terial is obtained from sort of corn
plant grown expressly for the purpose.
Doubtless you have noticed the tassel
on al ordinary corn stalk. What the
tassel is to the edible corn is found in
the wisp that grows from tho top of
the broom corn. which bears no ears
at all. There arc two kinds of broom
corn. roughly speaking-the coarse
sort for ordinary sweeping and the
fine dwarf sort for ''parlor brooms''
aud whisks. The fine stuff is plucked
by hand. while the coarse variety is
cut with the knife. 1t is in bales of
800 pounds each that the material
reaches such a factory as there is over
in Georgetown, which produces $4,000
brooms every year to help scoop up
the swcepings of the District of Colun-
bia.
Perhaps you would like to know how
a broom is matlc. 10 begin with, the
wisp tasscls cut from the corn tops
must be assorted as tn length. This
process is performed by an expert who
takes the wisps from the bale and dis
tributes them among series of COM
partments. The broom wisps thus as
sorted 60 into the hands of man who
holds the broomstick in q revolving
wise with its end projecting-the end,
that is to say. which is to be the broom.
This operator first passes a fine wire
through the hole in the head of the
makes tho length of wood revolve I'M
til it has taken up three or four bind
ings of the wire from a great coil be-
low. Then he grabs Il number of
wisps of long-stcmmed broom corn. to
serve for what is known technically as
"haudle stuff" fastening them to the
stick high up with windings of wire.
All the time while the wire is wrap
ping the straw upon the stick it is made
to bind more tightly by blows from a
hammer. Next is bound around the
embryo broom what is called the should
or stuff, with shorter stems, which, as
was the case with the handle stuff. is
trimmed off close above the wire bind
ing with sharp knife. Stalks yet
shorter, from which the stems have
been cut off entirely. are finally wound
upon the outside with more wire. aud
the whole business is clinched and
fastened where the broom meets the
brass. its corrugated edge bound down
with wire so that the strike is made
as much part of the broom handle as
if it grew upon it.
Now the broom goes to the sewer.
who passes faxcn Irvine around it's
middle and pierces the substance of the
broom through and through with Il
needle provided with similar tlaxen
cord. so as to bind the straw together
closely. Now it only remains to chop
the straw ends of the broom off even
with sort of clcaver knife. and to
comb the seeds out of them with Il
revolving machine armed with teeth il
order to make them ready for market.
A first rate broom is bought by deal
ers ut from 8. 25 to "a II dozen. and
sold Mt from 81. so to a. 80 retail, Some
brooms. for heavy sweeping Of ships
decks and outdoors. cost 81 dozen.
The coarse straw is best for those. You
can calculate the profits of the manu-
facturer for yourself when you are in
formed that broomsticks. white or red.
cost $14 a thousand. while the straw
is 6 1-2 cents pound for the best of
it. and an ordinary broom contains
2 IA pounds of this latter material.
Broom corn that is sligh4ly green is
much better for the purpose than the
ripe material, because the latter is
brittle. aud. on this account, to deceive
purchasers, it used to be the custom
for manufacturers of brooms to tint
their material green with the ftimes
| of birthstone. At present the same
effect is moro cheaply obtained by
soaking the stuff in colored mixture.
Supplies of broom corn for this
country are chiefly secured from
Chicago and Philadelphia, to which
points the farmers ship their broom
corn product, consigning it to COM
mission men. who sell it to the manu-
facturers.