The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 38
Broom Corns
Broom Corns.
Our ancestors of Southern Europe being supplied with wheat, rice and other grains, and their demand for sugar being otherwise supplied, had no no occasion to cultivate sorghum for either of these purposes. But they, too had an unsupplied want. They wanted materials for brooms and brushes, and a variety of sorghum containing long, tough fibers or straws connecting the seeds with the stalk, promised the desired article. Centuries of careful collection of seed and culture, with a view to this end, have given us the varieties of broom corn of the present day. Notable among which are the dwarf, which here on my rich land and with abundance of water grows only four feet in hight. Also, the evergreen variety, which, for toughness, even fineness and weight of straw, surpasses all other kinds.