Show harvesting t BROOM CORN O 0 RN W it Is still a matter of doubt as to the best timo to harvest broom corn says a bulletin of the louisiana experiment peri ment station in some localities it Is customary to harvest soon after the blossoms fall or when the seeds are in the milk stage in other sections they wait till the seed reaches the dough or semisolid semi solid state such parties claim that the straw Is as good and they gain lu weight and the seeds become valuable for feed one important point must be held in mind however that the straw gradually loses its green color as it ripens and the price Is materially influenced by the color of the straw again overripe over ripe straw will not take stain as readily as the fc reener straw which Is a consideration especially in making malting middle grade and cheap brooms the old custom of lopping thu tha brushes ij still practiced to some extent the stem Is bent at a sharp angle about a foot or so below the base of the brush so as not to sever it from the stem but leave tho the head hanging as nearly vertical as possible this practice originated when it was customary to allow the seeds to mature and the object was to keep the strata straus straight as the weight of the maturing seeds bent the straws sustaining them when left upright and if they matured in that way wy w y they did not make a good straight brush early harvesting removes very largely the necessity for lopping tha the tops sometimes the tops are broken lu in a manner Bian ncr immediately la lit ad t WAIN ay iy vance of the cutting simply to make tho the heads more accessible where the stalks arc are twelve to fifteen feet high however a modification of the method called tabling Is generally this operation immediately precedes the cutting and Is for the purpose of facilitating cutting the brush it consists in bending the stalks to a right angle about two and one half to three feet from the ground and diagonally crossing the stalks of two rows over the middle between them so that the stalks support one another forming a table the heads of each row projecting about a foot beyond the outside of the other row the cutter follows severing the brush about eight inches below the base the brushes are placed in piles on tho the table by the cutter and they are carried to the dry house the seeds are here removed by the seeder |