Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-12-01

homa has forged ahead, but Illinois
still produces the finer quality. Within
a radius of 80 miles in Douglas county
is grown the corn from which practi-
cally all the best brooms in the world
are made, and this district is still re-
garded as the national source of sup
ply. A colony of Swedes took up the
cultivation of broom corn in Emo
county. after it had been made a sue
cess in Douglas, and the Swedes in
troduced it later into Kansas. From
Kansas the cultivation extended south
into Oklahoma, and in the last five
years the crop has increased in a re-
markable manner"
Broom corr is spoken Of as a 800
day crop" 1t develops much faster
than Indian corn, is planted in June
and July and harvested in early Sep
TENDER. The cultivation is much the
same as that of the Indian corn. The
Illinois corn fields vary in size from 10
TO 100 acres in area; the acreage ranges
from 10000 to $4,000. A great field is
a very beautiful sight, the tall stalks
and fowerlike blossoms en- masse most
picturesque.
Looping the corn is also a pictur-
esque sight, and the Swedish girls and
boys down in Kansas make quite a fes-
tival of the work. In Illinois, too, lop-
ping time is a time of gayety, the work
of the day ending with a barn dance,
or. if the budding American be too
sophisticated for that, or not sophisti-
Gated enough, the town hall is called to
do duty for ball room.
In Topping the workers begin at
the end of a field and work backward,
their task the bending of the bushy
tops of two roWs of corn down until
they meet and overlap, "lop." Broom
corn is Topped soon after it has
bloomed and the seeds begun to fill,
and left until it has matured. This
process depends on the weather. In
cutting, the workers grasp big handfuls
and whack off the brush in lengths OF
two and a half feet. The brush is then
laid out to dry. sometimes in sheds.
sometimes on rails on the ground, the
LAYERS piled in stacks and protected by
canvas. Next the brush is seeded, an
operator holding it within reach of a
revolving cylinder that removes the
seeds. Next it is tied into bundles and
a baling machine packs it.. Now the
corr is ready to be sent to the fac
tories.
At Paris. ILL.,, is located the largest
broom factory in the world. This place
has a daily output of 5000. At Evans
Vile, Ind, 5000 are turned out daily.
The next largest factory is at Amster-
dam. N. Y, and there is one at the
~pentientiary at Jackson, Mich, another
in the penal institution. at Lincoln,
Neb. Broom making furnishes en-
ployment for many of our blind. 1t is
said that the United States consumes
all the good brooms made in the coun-
try. only the cheaper grades being ex-
ported.
The broom corn is sorted after it
reaches the factory, divided regarding
length and quality. IN building a broom
the worker begins with a center, adds
two equal shoulders, puts on the cover
and the "hurl.' A winding machine
securely fastens each new handful of
brush that is placed about the handle.
The embryo broom is scraped, pressed
fat in a machine, then well sewed,
sometimes by hand, sometimes by a
machine; as a finishing touch 1t is
trimmed straight. Handles must be of
Eight weight, about three-fourths of a
round; they are made of white maple.
Eastwood and ash, the maple is pre-
ferred. In the making of a dozen
Erooms something like % pounds Of
corn has been put.
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