Most broom makers were farmers, who also made brooms to supplement the family income. These craftsman using an 8-inch, double-pointed needle, with an eye in the center, which he pushed back and forth with a thimble mounted on a leather cuff in the palm of each hand, binds a broom firmly into shape with a couple lines of stitching of stout twine.
"Broom Corn" or Sorghum Vulgare (also known as Millet or Guinea Corn) is a plant that closely resembles ordinary field corn, except that it can grow to 15 feet tall and develops 24-inch tassels at the top instead of an ear. Just the "brush" on top of the plant is used. Broomcorn is believed to have originated in Africa hundreds of years ago and spread to Europe approximately 400 years ago.
Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing broomcorn to the United States. While traveling in Europe, Franklin was impressed with a small broomcorn broom he used to clean his hat. He found a few seeds attached to the straw, and took them with him when he returned to Philadelphia. He planted the seeds and initiated an industry. Arcola, Illinois is known as the "Broom Corn Capital of the World."
Broom corn takes its name because the seed is grown for the branches, used to make brooms. Sorghum species are classified into four groups:
Broom corn is planted in rows and cultivated like ordinary field corn. One of two principal varieties grown is called 'standard and is usually 10 or 12 feet in height. The "dwarf" variety, grown only in the western states, is about half as tall. Both kinds bear a brush of a few dozen fibers up to two feet in length.
Harvesting the crop and preparing it for the broom maker require a great deal of hand labor. It is harvested before the seed matures; before the fiber becomes brittle.
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