Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-08-05
A BROOM FACTORY.
How a Very Useful Article Is
made.
The Material Used in the Pros
cess OF Manufacture.

How many houseSecpers who do
Aome sweeping themselves or have
other people to do it for them ever
take the trouble to consider how the
broom is made3 To begin with, the
eticls mostly come from Michigan.
They are made of Eastwood or maple,
which grow plentifully in that state
and afford material that. combines
the advantages of ligbtuess and
strength. The wood is turned with
lathes into brooms,icks. with a hole
through each end-one of.them in
tended for the housekeeper's string 10
hang the instrument up bys Some of
the sticks are left in their natural hue
and others are painted red, to- satisfy
the tastes of all sorts of purchasers.
The rest of the broom .is>made of
straw chiefly, and this material is Oh.
famed from a sort of cornplantgrown
expressly for The purpose. Doubtle 8
you have noticed the tasscl on amor
dinary corn stalk. What the tasseI is
TO the edible corn is found In fhe wisp
that grows from the top Of the broom
corm, which bears no, ears at all.
There are two. kinds of broom corn;
roughly speaking-,hc- eoarse-sort-fo for
ordinary sweeping and the fine dwarf
sort for ''parlor brooms' and whisks.
The fine stulf is plucked BY hand,
while the coarse variety is'cut wiiHtRe
knife. 1t is in bales OF. 500 pounds
each that the material reaches snch o
fsctory as there is.overin Georgetown,
which produces $4,000 brooms, every
year to help scoohupihe1sweepipgs of
the District of Columbia.
Perhaps you would like TO know
how often broom is made. To begin
with thewisp iassclscut.fro the corn
tops must be assorted as 70 length.
This process is performed by an ex.
pert who takes the wisps from tic
bale and distributes, them among a sc,
ries of compa tmchts. The broom
whisps thus assorted gointo the hand:
of man who holds the broohstick III
revolvingvisc with its end project.
ing&Hthc end, that is 10 say, which Is
to be the broom. This operator first
passes fine wire though the hole in
the end of the broomstick and by the
aid of q treadle makes the length OF
wood revolvc until it las taken VI
three OF. four bindings of the wire
from the great coil below. Then hi
grasps number of whisps of long.
stemmed broom corn. 10 servo fol
what is known technically as "handle
stutf." fastening them 10 the stick higt
up with windinss of the wire.
All thetime while the wire IS wrap
ping the straw upon the stick it il,
made to bind more tightly by blowr
from q hammer. Next is bound
around the embryo. broom which IL
called fhe. tsthonlder stuff" Will
shorter stems, which, as was the case
with the handle stuff, is trimmed oil
close above the wire binding with q
sharp knife. Stalks yet shorter. from
which the stems have been cut of en-
tirely, arc finally wound upon the out
side with more wire, and the whole
business is clinched and fastened
where the broom meets the stick. with
strong belt of timed brass, its cor
rugated edge bound down with the
wire SO that the straw is made as much
part of the broom handle as if it
grew upon it.
Now the broom goes to the sewer,
who passes flaxen twine around its
middle and pierces the substance of
the broom through and through with
needle provided with similar flaxen
cord, SO as TO bind the straw together
closely. Now il only remains 10 chop
the straw ends of the brooms off even
with q sort of cleaver knife and TO
comb the seeds out of them with re-
solving machine armed with teeth, in
order 10 make them ready for market.
a first-rate broomsis bought by dealers
Mt from 1925 to 81 dozen and sold
at from $3.50 to $3.50 retail. Some
brooms, for heavy sweeping of ships
decks aud outdoors, cost Sc q dozen.
The coarse straw is best for those.
You can calculate the profits or the
inGnufactuc for yourself when you
pre- informt that broomsticks, white
br red, cost Sl4 o thousand whilo The
STRAW is 8 1.2 cents pound for the
best Of 1t. and an ordinary broom
contains 2 IL pounds of this latter
material. Broom corn That is Slightly
green is'innch better for the purpose
thanthc sripe material because lhe
latter is brittle, and, on this account,
10 deceive purchasers, it used to be the
customfof1n of brooms
to tint iIleir materiai green with tho
flames Of sbrimstones At present The
rame efiect is. more theaply obtained
by fdakins1lie stuff in q acolored mix.
lure. Supplies 6fbrconl corn for this
country nro Chiefly seepred from
Chicago and Philadelphia, 10 WHICH
points the farmers slip their broom
eorn product, consigning it 10 com.
mission men. who sell it to thes manu-.
tactnrcrs.-I Washington Star
Melbourne has the finest coffee pal
aces.
We spent 5000 900 600 in tobacco jr