PLAN No. 746. RIDING TO COLLEGE ON BROOMS—HOME WORKERS IN SOUTH DOING IT
Broom-making in some of the southern states is being encouraged by home demonstration agents of the United States Department of Agriculture and the state colleges. The home clubs in Alabama rank first in this work, and the past year some especially good records have been made in the state. The crowd which attends one of these broom-making demonstrations is such as to make the passer-by think an auction is being held.
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, grows broomcorn, and brush and broom-making has become so popular in that section that all the members of clubs who didn’t grow a patch last year are planning to do so the coming season. A broom-making machine has been bought by one community in the county, and other localities have ordered machines for use next summer. With a machine, twenty-five brooms can be made in one day. Each member makes her own brooms and gives one-fourth of her output for use of the machine.
The cost of making a broom in that part of the state is estimated to be 20 cents, with the wire, thread, tacks, and handle costing about 121⁄2 cents. Good hickory handles cost 8 cents apiece, while those of other woods cost 6 cents. Tuscaloosa County plans soon to manufacture the broom handles instead of buying them.
The community that possesses a broom-making machine has a source of steady income. While the broom work is planned primarily for the young people, the older members of the family, on cold rainy days and in winter, find making these necessary household articles an easy way to add to the family income. At the present price of brooms, fair wages can be made.
When a pupil learns to make perfect brooms, if she wishes to put them on the market, she is permitted to label them as “Tuscaloosa Grown” and “Home-Demonstration-Club Brooms.” Some of the girls in the clubs are planning to earn money for normal school and college by broom work. Will they be termed witches if they ride to school on a broom?
The boys as well as the girls in the broom-corn sections are interested in the industry. One boy in Cherokee County, Alabama, has been enabled to enter high school by the money he earned in making brooms. He has sold sixty at $1 each and has 200 more to make.