CULTURE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 149 
to the packing-shed. The asparagus is placed on a 
table and packed in racks of uniform size, passed to 
the person who ties, and then to be butted off. The 
bunches are then washed and set up in troughs ready 
for market. Water is added in season to swell the 
bunch tight and it is then packed in bushel boxes for 
market, going in by teams each night. 
Asparagus was free from pests until 1889, when 
the asparagus beetle made its unwelcome appearance. 
Methods of fighting the beetle were unknown to grow- 
ers generally at that time, but necessity soon taught 
us. Chickens and hens are used with good results, also 
Paris green dry was applied with an air-gun when the 
dew was on the foliage. Cutworms sometimes do the 
asparagus crop severe damage, but chickens and hens 
are a sure remedy—in fact, hens are a decided benefit 
in an asparagus field, keeping down many weeds. 
After learning to control the asparagus beetle we 
were visited by the rust, which has proved a stubborn 
foe and absorbs the sap which ought to go to the 
growing plant. Appearing in July, 1897, the rust 
seriously damaged many beds in eastern Massachu- 
setts. Many remedies have been suggested, but so far 
none of them have proved perfectly satisfactory. 
Growers have been advised to cut the infected tops as 
soon as the rust appears, but such a practice is all 
wrong, however good in theory. Do not cut the tops 
until the sap has left the stalks. This is the advice of 
a large number of asparagus growers and scientific 
men who are engaged in experimental work. 
CHARLES W. PRESCOTT. 
Middlesex County, Mass. 
