116 ASPARAGUS 
Here two methods are employed—dry steam, which 
is the quicker method, and boiling in a closed tank. 
Most of the first-class stock is sterilized in the latter. 
This tank (Fig. 37) is in three sections, in all twenty 
feet long, each section holding five hundred cans. The 
cans are put in iron cribs and are pushed in and taken 
out with steam elevators. As soon as the cans are 
lowered the sections are closed tightly and the steam 
is turned on. ‘The first process of sterilization lasts 
twenty minutes, when the tank is opened, the cans 
taken out, and a vent given each. This permits the 
accumulated gas to escape, which, if allowed to remain, 
would materially injure the quality of the asparagus, 
both in flavor and preservation. For this work a small 
prick punch is used, which makes a hole not larger 
than a pin’s head. This vent is almost immediately 
closed with a single drop of solder and the cans are 
again returned to the tanks, where the same operation 
of cooking is repeated. Another twenty minutes com- 
pletes the work, when the cans are removed to the 
packing-room, where they are labeled, wrapped, and 
packed ready for shipment. The cans or boxes are 
seven inches long, four wide, and two and one-half 
deep. A view of the sterilizing-room is presented in 
Fig. 38. . 
The culls, which are put up as tips, are small-sized 
and crooked heads which, although of equal value as a 
vegetable, are not shipped to market, as they would 
detract from the value of the first quality, and are con- 
sidered by both farmers and canners as by-produéts. 
These are cut to three and one-half inches in length, 
and then go through the same process in canning as 
