Overview
An old form of broom was the besom, which was made simply of twigs tied to a handle, and was relatively inefficient as a cleaning implement for it commonly caused more of a mess than it cleaned up causing it to be somewhat counter-productive. Flat brooms, made of broom corn, were invented by Shakers in the 19th century.
One source states that the United States had 303 broom factories by 1839, and that the number peaked at 1,039 in 1919. Most of these were in the Eastern U. S. During the Great Depression, the number of factories declined to 320 in 1939.
Oklahoma became a major center for broom production because broom corn grew especially well there. The Oklahoma Broom Corn Company opened a factory in El Reno, Oklahoma in 1906, a year before statehood. Faced with competition from imported brooms and synthetic bristles, most of the factories closed by the 1960s.
Today, brooms are also commonly made with synthetic bristles. Another common type is the push/pull broom, consisting of a wide brush with short bristles, to which a broomstick is attached at an angle in the center of the brush.
In the context of witchcraft, broomstick is likely to refer to the broom as a whole. A smaller whisk broom or brush is sometimes called a duster.
Read more about this topic: Broom