12 



In other words, of the dollar paid by the consumer for asparagus on 

 that date, 50 cents went to the grower, 4 cents to the transportation and 

 drayage companies, 6 cents to the commission merchant and 40 cents to 

 the retailer. 



The Canning Industry. The canning of asparagus as a commercial 

 proposition is generally and apparently correctly credited to Mr. R. 

 Hickmott. This gentleman was employed in the canneries putting up 

 fruit, vegetables and fish located in the Sacramento region of the delta 

 for many years. In 1890 he left the position of superintendent of the 

 Capital Cannery Company, Sacramento, to engage in business for him- 

 self, devoting his attention to the canning of asparagus. His first 

 cannery was located on Bouldin Island near the confluence of the Mokel- 

 umne and San Joaquin rivers. Mr. Hickmott is credited with having 

 spent twenty years and $30,000 in his experiments in connection with 

 the canning of asparagus. 



At present there are ten plants in California, all in the Sacramento 

 delta district, exclusively engaged in the canning of asparagus. In addi- 

 tion there are six other plants engaged in this industry, but not ex- 

 clusively. Outside of California there is but one cannery (at Mattituck, 

 New York), devoted exclusively to asparagus. Plants in New York, 

 Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland pack some asparagus as a part of 

 their output, but their combined total is but a small percentage of the 

 California pack. 



-As previously stated, about 66.6 per cent of the asparagus grown in 

 the Sacramento delta is purchased by the canneries. This amounts to 

 about 39,670,405 pounds. 



The custom is for the growers to contract with the canneries for their 

 output, either for the season or for a term of years. This contract 

 specifies as to the character of the sprouts that they shall be 7 inches 

 long, free from abrasions or cuts, and shall be delivered to the cannery 

 once or twice a day and on the day cut. Deliveries are to be made either 

 at the cannery proper or at some landing on the river where the cannery 

 launch can pick it up. 



One usual feature of these contracts gives the grower the privilege of 

 diverting his product from the canner to either the local or Eastern 

 market up to March 25th, or during the early part of the season when 

 high prices prevail. 



The prices paid by the canneries range from 2^ to 4 cents a pound, 

 according to quality and local conditions. Three cents may be regarded 

 as being a fair average price. For obvious reasons the canners are not 

 willing to divulge what they do pay, but it is known that one cannery 

 paid as low as 2.75 cents, another 2.92 and a third 2.98 cents. Contracts 

 made three to five years ago are on a 3 to 4-cent basis. Those of more 

 recent date run 2f to 3|- cents, evidencing a downward tendency. This 

 undoubtedly is the result of local market conditions. Of late years the 

 growers' returns from this source have been from 2-| to 3 cents, and 

 while the amount sold locally is far less than that sold to the canneries, 

 the prices thus prevailing have affected those paid by the canneries. 



One of the canneries raises all of the asparagus it puts up ; another has 

 1,020 acres planted, but a part of its crop is shipped east in a fresh 

 condition. 



