1729. The besoms used in gardening are of three kinds. The first, which is the most common, is made of a faggot of spray (generally that of birch, or of broom), with a handle inserted, and it is principally used in the open air; the second is formed of a brush of bristles with a similar handle, and is mostly used in hothouses, seed-rooms, &c.; and the third, which consists of a bundle of iron or copper wires, of one twentieth of an inch in diameter, fixed to a long handle, is used for sweeping gravelled paths which have become mossy, mossy walls, mossy trunks of trees, &c. Besoms of this last description are very seldom used, and when they are, they require to be dipped occasionally in oil, to retard the progress of oxidation. There are many varieties of besoms of the first kind, and among others may be mentioned the fan besom (fig. 361.) in use at Bicton, which is composed of several broomlets, as they may be called, bound together with brass wire, and which is quite strong enough for most kinds of garden work, without using the wire broom, which has many inconveniences.
