26 
usually women. Patent bunchers (fig. 4) are used, each holding tightly 
a bunch of the proper size while it is being tied at each end with jute 
twine or sisal grass, so that it will retain its shape. The spears are 
placed with the heads all one way, and the butts are cut off evenly 
with a sharp knife. Some skill is needed to put up bunches rapidly; 
but it is work that can be done 
by anyone, the only requisite 
being to so arrange the spears 
that the bunch shall present a 
good appearance and the spears 
be somewhat uniform in size. 
Packing for shipment is fre- 
quently done very carelessly ,and 
all kinds cf nondescript packages 
are to be found in market. “This 
may not entail serious loss in the 
case of nearby shippers or of 
Fig. 4.—Asparagus buncher and bunch of spears those who take their asparagus 
Seal Ace to market in wagons; but to ship 
to market in any but the best and most carefully put up package is to 
sacrifice a price which sometimes amounts to all the profit. The writer 
has seen asparagus in the market packed in soap boxes, strawberry 
crates, solid and slatted crates built to hold several dozens, and the 
bunches placed on their sides, on end, one on top of the other, ete.— 
any way to get 
them in. 
Perhaps the crate 
known as the 
Southern package 
is as good as 
any for shipping. 
‘These are built to 
hold from 2 to 3 
dozen bunches set 
on the big end on 
moist moss to pre- 5 
serve their fresh- whl si if Sima NK 
NOD RITA NE Ah 
A UF Aa f 
IPA \ 
ness. ; 



















Mt 
+ OF 
AMM D ; 
\\ i Kk Mil | = 
rhe Pe ' WD MEP WK 
‘y/d/ih ih Ati gu 
Fic. 5.—Box containing 24 bunches of green asparagus. 

The box holding 
30 bunches, 4$ inches in diameter, is of the following dimensions: 
Twenty-eight inches long, 22 inches wide, and 9 inches deep, outside 
measurement. It is made as follows: Ends $ inch thick, slats $ inch 
by 44 inches wide, and the cost is about $12.50 per hundred boxes. 
The box holding 2 dozen bunches of green asparagus, shown in fig. 5, 
all ready for shipment, with the exception of 3 slats still to be nailed 
on, is of the following dimensions: Twenty-four by 17 inches by 12 
