All the broom-corn which has been successfully produced in California has been produced on moist, riverside land.  The plant is a sorghum — consequently subject to frost injury, and can only be grown during the frostless season as Indian corn is.  This makes it impossible to get the advantage of rainfall on winter upland and necessitates the use of lowlands, which carry moisture enough to secure a free growth of the brush, for poor broom-corn is worthless practically, being too low priced to be profitable for brooms and too fibrous to be of value for feeding purposes.  Even in a place where the plant grows well its product is worthless unless properly treated, and that requires full knowledge and a good deal of work.

The Outlook for Broom Corn.

Broom corn is way up in price, but that is an indication that everyone who has ever grown broom corn is likely to plant it this year.  What is the outlook in California?

Nothing but a local experiment will determine whether you can get a satisfactory brush under the conditions prevailing in your vicinity.  Undoubtedly, the high price of broom corn will stimulate production, but under quite sharp limitations in California, because a good, satisfactory brush cannot be grown on dry plains, although a good product is made in the river bottoms not far away.  But there are so few people in California who understand how to handle broom corn to produce a good commercial article, and there are such rigid requirements in the size, quality, etc., that those who break into the business without proper knowledge cannot command even profitable prices.  Therefore, if your enterprise is conducted with a full knowledge and with proper local conditions it would not encounter such a local disadvantage in the great increase of the product as one might think at first.

Smutty Sorghum.

The various plantings of Egyptian corn on the ranch have turned smutty, very much after the manner of wheat and barley.  Is there any unusual reason for this, or could irrigation have caused it, and what is the best method of preventing it?

Sorghum is affected by a smut similar to that of other grains.  It is due to the introduction of the germ of the disease which comes with the use of smutty seed.  Possibly the growth of the smut may have been promoted by moisture arising from soil rendered very wet by irrigation, and for this plant free irrigation should not be used, because it will do more with less water than any other plant we are growing, and is likely to be more thrifty in a drier atmosphere.  Get seed for next year from an absolutely clean field; get as much growth as you can without irrigation, and then use water in moderate quantities as may be necessary, followed by a cultivation for the drying of the surface.

Late-sown Sorghum.

How late can Egyptian corn be planted on good sediment soil capable of growing 40 to 50 socks of barley per acre in good years with ordinary rain?  The field was cut this year for hay on account of rank growth of wild oats, after irrigating; land is still moist.  Can I put in Egyptian corn with on assurance of crop, or is it too late?  How much seed should be planted to the acre, also should seed be drilled in or broad-casted?