St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-05-12
FARMER AND PLANTER.
MONEY IN BROOM CORN.
4 MISUNDERSTANDING Crop For the
Southern Plaster II Intelll-
gently Handled.


largely in the southern states. 1t is
one Of the most profitable of corn
products, and the demand has in
creased SO much in the past few
years, as to make the prices rule very
high. The top or brnsh portion sells
ordinarily at from 500 to ss5 ton,
but last year an unusual demand
raised the price to 5000 per ton. The
common corn lands of the south pro-
duce one-half to one ton on marketable
tops per acre. The seed is fed to hogs,
poultry and stock with good profit,
and the stalks are used for such pur-
poses as covering sheds, filing
trenches, fertilizing the land and feed
ing to stock during the winter months.
In appearance broom corn resembles
the non-saccharine sorghums, and
might be taken for real, old sorghum,
when standing in the field. by thor
ough cultivation and fertilization of
the land, the crop may be made to
yield one ton or more to the acre,
which would be n very profitable plant,
in section where it can be grown.
Any good corn land will produce
satisfactory crops of broom corn. The
land should be plowed in the fall or
winter, and put in good shape for
planting about the FIRST of April. The
corn is a heavy feeder. and takes up
much food. The agricultural expert
ment stations of Massachusetts rec
ommend for corn, where the soil is
light gravelly loam, actual potash so
pounds. posphhoric acid 50 pounds,
and nitrogen 90 pounds per acre, as
this quantity of each is taken annually
from an acre. To furnish this would
require 16o pounds muriate of potash,
$50 pounds acid phosphate or bone
meal, and $50 pounds of nitrate of
soda. good average fertilizer per acre
for broom corn.
There are different varieties of
broom corn, but the Evergreen and
Golden are those generally planted. |
Seed may be had from reliable dealers
At about Is cents per pound. 1t should |
be sown in drills, about three feet
apart, at the rate of three to five
P'nrds per acre. If the soil is very |
rich loan, and well fertilized, plants |
may stand three inches apart in the
row, but ordinarily better crop is
obtained by thinning to four to six
inches. Cultivation is practically the
same as that given to corn, and should |
be thorough to eradicate all weeds, es-
pecially when the plants are young.
The best selling broom corn is that |
which is cut when the seed is in the |
milk. and the straws are somewhat
green. This may be noticed as the |
seed tops begin to turn red. The
stalks are cut at the ground, or mere
" topped and left standing. There is
no use of leaving much of the stalk
on the brush when cut as the usual |
length for market is about 16 inches /
from tip to tip.
The seed may be scraped from the
brush by hand, using homemade
hackles, made by driving nails thick
= through board and turning this
upside down on q bench after the old
aax hackle style. Some use q hard
N and top of the principal part of
he seed top, then scrape out the re-
seed. by different processes.
After the bush has been cleaned it is
'aled or tied in bundles, and shipped
o the broom corn centers. The small
reads are used for making whisk
'rooms and the larger are made into
he house or barn sweepers, so neces-
AIRY in every household. The green
olored strnws make the best brooms,
md therefore command the best
'rices on the markets. Yellow or
iolGen corn sells well, but the red,
tiff tops are not desired.
Where broom corn can be grown
here should be local broom factories
or utilizing the home product. This
would create a demand for the corn,
urnish a field for the investment of
apital and labor, and diversity both
and labor.-Joel Shoemaker.
n Farmers Home Journal.