HARVESTING AND MARKETING 95 
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 con- 
sideration. 
‘The saving in the item of labor depends, of 
course, upon the kind of labor employed. In deter- 
mining 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 
