The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-03-14
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4 J sweeps clean, what can De
EolT expected of 42,000,COO new
broomS?
I'orty-two millions is tn" harvest OIL
1905. says an hrcola. Ill. correSpoh-
dent of the Indianapolis News. That
is SIS, 900, 900 worth of brO0ms. Pile
them into cars for shipmeit-and they
rack about 1000 to the car-and you
have 10000 carloads Of brOoms. Zen
thousand cars means 200 long. nifty
car freight trains, and 200 such trans,
pulled by 200 big mogul engines. means
almost 100 miles of brooms e string
OF trains reaching from indianapolis
tar east or west over the Ohio or Ill
iuois State line. Lay those 42,Vo'ooo
end to end and the broom trail Would
be 10000 miles l~ong-wOuld each one
aad a half times around the world.
The broom harvest is just over. 1t
sounds like talking Greek. perhaps, to
speak literally of a broom harvest. The
broom stand back in the corner behind
the door, and it has been q memDer
of YOUR family for a long time. and still
YOU are not on social terms with IL.
Good, faithful, old Servant-a little
u down at the heel, perhaps, and the
stick worn too shiny, but still faithful
and constant what mans dog could
he more faithful to him than his wife's
broom is to her? And the chances
are that she knows less about it than
she does about her neighbocs. 1t IS,
indeed, time to cultivate the interesting
ide of the broom, and to realize that,
like Topsy, it "just growed;' to know
.that. like your corn (maize). it is har-
vested, and that it is a crop, n mat
there is always a possibility that you
are going to be up against 4 short
broom crop. And then. too. your
friend-your broon-has an interest
Jag and historical past. Perhaps It's
pedigree is more interesting even than
your own.
The nations broom harvest is just
over and it has been a great sight to
see Ii, 1000, 900 new broOms growing n
harvested over in this part of Illinois,
which is the home Of the fine broom
that is, the aristocratic broom that you
do not buy unless you pay a quarter
or more. Another 81. 900. 000-cheaper
oaes-have just been taken out of the
September weather down in Oklahoma.
Chose gathering in the sheaves over
IN Kansas have plucked about 4,OOO,OOO
more broomS from nature and another
,uillion or two have been gathered IN
Missouri. Tennessee. Arkansas and
from scattering broom corn fields over
the country. There in a nutshell is the
summary of the source of supply. The
big brooms come from Illinois, Okla
homa, Missouri. Tennessee, Arkansas
and from Kansas; the whiskbrooms
come from Kansas.
While the broom grew, vet it didn't.
Nature does not make brOOms with
hard pine handles and with straws
bound with trust wire and decorated
with combine tin and monopoly velvet.
but nature does grow beautiful brooms.
They are raised like great plumes into
the scenery of the broom corn country
in August and September. and these
plumes are borne ten, twelve and even
fifteen feet into the air by graceful
hamboo-like stalks. The plumes them
selves are heavily laden with a beau
tlful golden seed that bends them more
gracefully and adds beauty to the ma
sestic plant. 1t is indeed unfortunate
that the man thinks he must improve
IN natures bloom, for he loses much
beauty in the process. He strips the
stalk of its graceful plume; casts aside
the beautiful seed tasSels and. with his
bent Of genius, he applies machinery,
and the result is the broom that we
find standing in the grocery ready for
our money.
The broom is q corr %crop,-its stalk,
though Slighter, more graceful and tall
er. greatly resembles that of the In
dian maize. 1t tassels out in the sum-
mer like the maize; it is cultivated
much like corn. and though it bears no
cars-nothing but its two foot long
SilSSlul pluL4So AoS SOHLS ~
called corn-broom corn.
Just exactly where it came from no
one really seems to know; but it IS in
tereSting to find that the oroom-the
kind of broom that we Americans
know and have is an American insti-
tuition, though broom corn came to us
from India. Older people in the coun-
try remember when their brooms were
made out of twigs and bristles. as are
most of the brooms used in this day in
european countries by the common
people. It was during the life of Ben
jamin Franklin that a crude whisk-
broom was brought into his home, and
while he was admiring it he noticed 4
few seeds clinging to the fbreS or
strawS. 1t is recorded that he had the
remarkable foresight to see that here
wa the seed for a new industry in
the Colonies.
He plucked the seeds from the fbres
and carefully planted them in the
spring in his garden and they were
the parents Of the broom industry in
this country. He raised two or three
beautiful stalks Of broom plant from
them and he gathered the seed and
gave it to friends the next year. 1t was
the beginning. Inasmuch as a bushel
of broom corn seed is about enough to
plant a Congressic~ al township it was
not long until the crop of seed was
sufficient to establish the broom max
ing industry in this country.
The Quakers and the Shakers took il
IN. and the first extensive cultivation