Rubber bands.—The use of rubber bands for fastening asparagus bunches has recently been found to have some advantages not possessed by other materials. Prof. W. J. Green, of the Ohio Experiment Station, writes in Bulletin No. 9: "The work can be done more rapidly and better. The saving in time is fully one-third, which will pay for the increased cost of rubber over string, reckoning wages at seventy-five cents per day. This difference might be less where expert tyers are employed, or very low rates per hundred bunches are paid. In any case, the work can be done in a manner that is much more satisfactory to dealers with rubber than with string. This is owing to the fact that rubber holds the bunches intact, while string allows them to fall apart and to become unsightly. Doubtless, in some cases, dealers would be willing to pay more for bunches fastened with rubber than for those put up in the ordinary manner. Even though no difference is made in price for asparagus put up by the two methods, the bunches fastened with rubber bands sell more readily than those tied with string.
"Rubber bands can be bought for two dollars per pound, and the size best adapted to the purpose run about two thousand bands per pound, or sufficient for one thousand bunches. This makes rubber bands cost about two cents per dozen bunches more than string, if the saving in labor is not taken into consideration.
"The saving in the item of labor depends, of course, upon the kind of labor employed. In determining the relative value of the two methods not only must cost of labor be taken into consideration, but the character of the market as well. When competition is not strong careful bunching is not a matter of great importance, but in many markets it is essential that the bunches be put up in such a manner that they will not fall apart. In such cases rubber bands will more than pay for their extra cost, by insuring more ready sales, if not by increasing the price.
"The method employed in bunching with rubber bands is to slip a band over an ordinary teacup—one with straight sides and without a handle; fill the cup with asparagus shoots, the heads downward, and then slip the band from the cup to the bunch. This makes a bunch of about the right size, and gives the upper end a nicely rounded appearance. All that remains to be done is to slip on another band and to square the butts with a sharp knife. Possibly a metallic cup would answer better, being thinner, but a teacup is not objectionable in this particular. If smaller bunches are desired than the smallest cup that can be found, it is not necessary to fill the cup."
MARKETING
During the entire process of cutting, sorting, bunching, and packing great care must be exercised not to bruise or in any way injure the heads, as the gummy juice of these soon heats and spoils the whole. They should also be kept cool and dry, else the moisture causes decay. Of course if, when cutting, the ground is wet, some of the soil will adhere to the lower ends of the stalks; this has to be rinsed off in clean water, but not by immersing the entire stalk.
If the bunches are to be kept over night, before packing, the butts should be dipped in clean water and stood on end on a cold cellar bottom, or upon grass or hay that has been thoroughly wet; but the crowns, or the green portions of the sprouts, should never be sprinkled or wet. It is a common practice to set the bunches in shallow pans containing water, but this is apt to give a bitter taste to the stalks.
FIG. 32—BOX OF GIANT ASPARAGUS READY FOR SHIPMENT