Before the invention of vacuum cleaners, brooms are the only tool to sweep the endless dirt inside and outside a house coming from farming, road dust or soot from the fireplace. A large variety of materials can be made into brooms, both man-made and natural. Plastic and synthetic bristles are common broom materials in modern society. Bamboo or tree twigs, stiff grasses, hay or corn husks are often used as the natural broom materials. Natural-material brooms are considered superior to artificial ones in that plastic brooms only sweep dust around whereas straw brooms actually absorb dirt and resist moisture. As a result, straw brooms are more expensive than their plastic counterparts.
Broom making is still a handmade production with the help of simple machines even in a time when science and technology is developed. Although some changes have taken place in manufacturing straw brooms during the past decades, these changes are subtle and minor. As a matter of fact, the technique changed a little.
Brooms bear superstitions in numerous cultures. People in ancient China believed that brooms can only be used for cleaning the house floor or ceilings but not for household god or altar because that is regarded disrespectful. Those items are often cleaned with a cloth. For three straight days from the New Year’s Eve of Chinese New Year, the use of broom is prohibited as it is thought of that it sweeps away the good luck of the coming year. In some African countries, brooms are usually used in marriage ceremony to symbolize a union.

The prototype of brooms is hand-made bundled grasses or tree branches. Sometimes, a crude broom was fashionably tied to a stick or handle but these old brooms did not sweep well and fell apart after a short time. The quality of broom changed in 1797 when Levi Dickenson, a farmer from Hadley, Massachusetts, used a bundle of tasseled sorghum grass to make an extremely good broom for his wife. From then on, Dickinson began making and selling straw brooms throughout his community, but the business was small for several decades. In 1810, Dickinson invented the foot-treadle broom machine which could make better brooms at a faster speed. This effective machine was copied and soon an annual production of about 6000 round brooms became reality. By the 1860s broom production had become a major part of rural agriculture in Hampshire and Franklin counties and they were distributed widely. Besides satisfying the domestic market, straw brooms were also exported to Canada, South America and Europe. Towns in central and western Massachusetts collectively became the broom capital of the world by the mid-19th century.
In the mid-1820s, United Society of Believers, usually called the Shakers, started the broom manufacturing business by growing broom straws and changing the design of round broom: they eliminated the woven stems, the holes and the pegs, and used wire to secure their broom to the handle. The bundles were put into a visa, flattened and stitched in place to form a requisite flat-shaped broom just as what we use today. They believed that the new brooms would move dust and dirt more effectively. Meanwhile, pertinent machines were invented to fast separate the seed of the broom straw from the tassel bristles. These new machines and techniques greatly improved the efficiency of broom making.
In modern times, the machinery is steered by electricity. However, even in large broom factories, the production of straw broom is still labor-intensive. A workman makes a broom at a single machine. This method remained unchanged for about 40 years.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in1994 witnessed a tariff lift against straw brooms imported from Mexico. Cheaper Mexican-made brooms frustrated American straw broom factories. There are around 15 straw broom manufacturers left in the United States and today most brooms are imported from Mexico, China and India.

Broom straw, in fact, is a special variety of corn species sorghum referred to as Sorghum vulgare, or S. bicolor variety technicum. Sorghum can survive in hot and arid climates due to its resistance to drought. It grows a much longer tassel at the top than other varieties of corn. The plant can grow as tall as 2 to 8 feet (0.61-2.4 m) and is cultivated for its stiff stems. Broom straw was first grown in Hadley, Massachusetts in the 1790s by Levi Dickinson but another farmer may have been growing it as early as 1773. Broom straws are laid out to dry when the tasseled branches growing seeds on the top are harvested. The de-seeding too—broom pounder—will be used to rap the seeds connecting to the tassels off with its dull straight edge. The seeds are edible, high in starch and carbohydrates. They can be made into cereals or for feeding animals. The stalks without seeds are ready for broom making. In addition to broom straws, sotol fiber harvested from the yucca plant may also be used to make cheaper brooms.
Mental wire and small nails are needed to tighten the broom to its wood or bamboo handle. Before sewing the broom flat with a machine and twice, it will be watered.

Even though a machine is used in manufacturing brooms, the whole process is not completely automatic.

-- Wet the bundles of seedless tassels

-- Secure layers of broom straws around the handle

-- Clamp the crude broom in the machine to shape it and press tassels tight and steady until the

-- worker stitches individual pieces together.

-- Trim the ragged ends even to have a beautiful broom.

Little waste is produced during the whole making process. However, those short tassels needed removing away at once because they are flammable.

Viva Straw Broom is a joint-venture factory located in the northern part of China where climate is suitable for growing broom straws and where the existing resources of broom straw is abundant and plentiful. All of our products are made of 100% genuine broom straw. Broom straw sweeps better in that each fiber is of hair-like follicles which are able to hold dust particles. Our straw brooms are made with fine workmanship in different sizes and appearances to meet your personal needs. Viva Straw Broom has your brooms, your individual requirement will be looked after here in Viva Straw Broom.