Il8 ASPARAGUS 



the first quality, except that dry steam only is used in 

 sterilization. After going through the blanching 

 process the tips are put in round cans, four inches in 

 diameter and five inches high. After soldering up 

 these cans they are put in the retorts, which are three 

 feet square, each containing five hundred cans, and 

 treated with steam two hundred and fifty pounds to 

 the inch. The cans remain in these retorts half an 

 hour. Then they are taken out, vented, put back 

 again, and remain under the same pressure another 

 half hour, when the work is completed. 



By rigid econom}' even in the most minute detail, 

 and by the skill required in the knowledge of canning, 

 asparagus can now be had at a reasonable price at all 

 seasons of the year, which is a boon to both producer 

 and consumer. At $14.00 per one hundred bunches 

 for No. I and $7.00 per hiuidred bunches for No. 2, 

 or culls, asparagus is one of the most profitable of 

 agricultural crops, and even at one-half these prices 

 it is a much better paying crop than potatoes at 50 

 cents per bushel. 



Pacific Coast methods. — Canning and preser^'ing of 

 asparagus in California is carried on on as grand a 

 scale as are most other undertakings. An idea of the 

 extent and importance of this comparatively new 

 industr}' may readily be conceived when it is considered 

 that one establishment alone. The Hickmott Asparagus 

 Caturing Co., on Bouldin Island, in the vSan Joaquin 

 River, has recently shipped an entire train-load of 

 canned asparagus from San Francisco to New York. 

 This train consisted of fifteen freight-cars containing 

 600 cases each, nicking a total of y,ooo cases, averag- 



