BROOM, a genus of plants belonging to the class of diadelphia, and order of decandria; and in the natural system arranged under the 32d order, Papilionaceae. See Botany Index.

The flower buds are in some countries pickled, and eaten as capers; and the seeds have been used as a bad substitute for coffee. The branches are used for making besoms, and tanning leather. They are also used instead of thatch to cover housetops. The old wood furnishes the cabinet-maker with beautiful materials for veneering. The tender branches are in some places mixed with hops for brewing, and the macerated bark may be manufactured into cloth.

The junceum, or Spanish broom, grows naturally in the southern provinces of France, as well as in other parts of the south of Europe. It grows in the poorest soils, on the steepest declivities of the hills, in a stony soil, where hardly any other plant could vegetate. In a few years it makes a vigorous shrub; infusing its roots between the interstices of the stones, it binds the soil, and retains the small portion of vegetable earth scattered over these hills, which the autumnal rains would otherwise partium, wife wash away. It is most easily raised from seed, which is usually sown in January, after the ground has received a slight dressing.

The shrub serves two useful purposes. Its branches yield a thread of which linen is made, and in winter support sheep and goats.

In manufacturing thread from broom, the youngest plants are cut in the month of August, or after harvest, and gathered together in bundles, which at first are laid in the sun to dry: they are then beaten with a piece of wood, washed in a river or pond, and left to steep in the water for about four hours. The bundles thus prepared are taken to a little distance from the water, and laid in a hollow place made for them, where they are covered with fern or straw, and remain thus to steep for eight or nine days; during which time, all that is necessary, is to throw a little water once a-day on the heap, without uncovering the broom. After this, the bundles are well washed, the green rind of the plant or epidermis comes off, and the fibrous part remains; each bundle is then beaten with a wooden hammer upon a stone, to detach all the threads, which are at the same time carefully drawn to the extremity of the branches. After this operation, the faggots are untied, and spread upon stones or rocks till they are dry. The twigs must not be peeled till they are perfectly dry; they are then dressed with the comb, and the threads are separated according to the fineness, and spun upon a wheel.

The linen made of this thread serves various purposes in rural economy. The coarsest is employed in making sacks and other strong cloths for carrying grain or seeds. Of the finest is made bed, table, and body linen. The peasants in several places use no other, for they are unacquainted with the culture of hemp or flax, their soil being too dry and too barren for raising them. The cloth made with the thread of the broom is very useful; it is as soft as that made of hemp; and it would perhaps look as well as that made of flax if it was more carefully spun. It becomes white in proportion as it is steeped. The price of the finest thread, when it is sold, which seldom happens, is generally about a shilling a pound.

The other use to which this broom is applied, is to maintain sheep and goats during winter. In the mountains of Lower Languedoc these animals have no other food from November to April, except the leaves of trees preserved. The branches of this broom therefore are a resource the more precious, that it is the only fresh nourishment which at that season the flocks can procure, and they prefer it at all times to every other plant. In fine weather the sheep are led out to feed on the broom where it grows; but in bad weather the shepherds cut the branches, and bring them to the sheep folds. There is, however, an inconvenience attending the continued use of this food. It generally produces inflammation in the urinary passages. But this inconvenience is easily removed by cooling drink, or a change of food, or by mixing the broom with something else.

It is perhaps needless to add, that it differs much from the broom that is common everywhere in the north of Europe, though this too, in many places, is used for food to cattle. Both of them produce flowers that are very much resorted to by bees, as they contain a great quantity of honey juice. And this should be another inducement to the cultivation of the Spanish broom.