35 



and marketed, to about June 1, and then should be allowed to grow, 

 and kept free from weeds until the latter part of August. Although I 

 am recommending letting the weeds grow late in the season, when the 

 asparagus is ripening, I most decidedly recommend that the weeds be 

 kept down during the growing season, so that the asparagus may 

 have all the benefits to be derived from clean culture and high manur- 

 ing during that period. The fourth and succeeding years the crop 

 may be gathered and sold to about June 20 or 25, according as to 

 whether the season has been such as to make a large crop, and the 

 market demands it. 



During the cutting season the weeds are kept down by frequent 

 cultivation between the rows, while those in the row are covered up, 

 about June 1, by a tool, drawn by two horses, that straddles the row 

 and draws the dirt into the row, making a ridge that covers the weeds 

 so that they will not trouble for the rest of the cutting season. At 

 the end of the cutting season all weeds are killed by leveling down 

 the ridges by harrowing or cultivating and smooth harrowing, and for 

 the rest of the season, until August 15 or September 1, by cultivators 

 and horse hoes between the rows and hand hoeing in the rows. 



Marketing. 



For the Boston or New England market, the "grass," as it is gen- 

 erally called, should be cut so as to have green grass, or so that the 

 principal part of the growth is above ground, instead of the white 

 kind, or that which is cut mostly below the surface. The customary 

 length of bunch is 8^ or 9 inches, so that two bunches laid end to end 

 will reach across a bushel box, bunches of the size that one dozen will 

 fill a layer in the box and three layers will fill the box, which is IJ 

 pounds per bunch, or 55 pounds per bushel. The stalks are cut in the 

 field so that they will show about 6 inches of green growth and 2^ 

 inches of white after they are packed, tied and butted. The best tool 

 for cutting is a knife with handle 7 inches long and blade 8 inches 

 long by 1^ inches wide, with dull sides, sharpened across the end, 

 which should be square. There are knives on the market of this 

 description, except that there is a deep swallow tail on the end, in- 

 stead of being square. The objection to this form is the greater liabil- 

 ity of injury to buds in using, the stalk not being entirely severed 

 until the deepest part of the notch has gone through the stalk, and 

 when that part is through the long points of the knife have gone their 

 length beyond, which may be among the crowns of the roots, to the 

 injury of some of them. 



Each man cuts two rows at a time, and two men lay together be- 

 tween them the handfuls of grass they cut. After cutting, it is gathered 

 in bushel boxes, tips overlapping in the middle of the box, taking care 

 to lay the grass straight and even. It is then taken to the packing 

 room, where it is sorted as it is packed for market. If the grass is 

 such as it should be, with the care laid down in the foregoing pages, it 



