The Canadian Horticulturist. 215 



RUBBER BANDS FOR BUNCHES OF ASPARAGUS. 



Prof. Green, of Ohio, recommends the use of rubber bands as much better 

 than string in the fastening of asparagus bunches. He says the work can be 

 done more rapidly and better, and that they afford a saving of time sufficient to 

 pay for the increased cost over string. Rubber bands, he states, may be pur- 

 chased for about $2.00 per pound, and the size best adapted for the purpose 

 runs about 2000 to a pound, which is sufficient for 1000 bunches. The method 

 of bunching with rubber bands is to sHp one over an ordinary teacup (one with 

 straight sides and without a handle) fill the cup with asparagus shoots, heads 

 downwards, and then slip the band from the cup to the bunch ; another band is 

 then slipped on and the butts cut off squarely with a sharp knife. 



He further states that male asparagus plants are 50 per cent, more productive 

 than the female plants, and that the shoots come up a great deal larger. 



Onion Experiments. — The journal of the Columbus Horticultural Society 

 gives an account of the experiments performed under the superintendence of W. 

 J. Green, in connection with transplanting young onions. In one of two beds, 

 side by side, and similar in character, young plants from the greenhouse were 

 set, and in the other seed were planted in the usual way. The young plants from 

 the greenhouse were six inches high by the middle of April. In all other 

 respects, except in transplanting, the two beds were treated alike. Twice during 

 the season, when the weather was dry, both were irrigated. The sown plants 

 were thinned, so that both stood three inches apart, in rows a foot apart. The 

 difference in the two rows was marked from the start. None of the transplanted 

 ones died in the operation; and they were much larger at all times, and appeared 

 healthier. They appeared to the eye as twice as heavy a crop as the sown plants. 

 Both beds required weeding during growth, but, besides the labor required for 

 thinning, the work in the sown bed was difficult and slow, while in the trans- 

 planted bed it was comparatively easy, and not more than one-half the amount 

 required for the other bed. But the additional labor of growing in the green- 

 house and transplanting made the work for the two beds about the same through 

 the season. 



The difference in the time of maturing was about a month in favor of the 

 transplanting, and they could be prepared for market at an earlier date. Thirty 

 varieties were tested in these experiments, most of which yielded nearly twice as 

 much in the transplanted bed. Taking the actual product, and calculating at 

 the same rate by the acre, the variety known as Spanish King yielded at the rate 

 of 750 bushels per acre from the sown bed, and 1,319 bushels from the trans- 

 planted bed, and there was about the same difference with the other varieties. 

 There was less difference with Yellow Danvers and Red Wethersfield, and there 

 was more difference generally with the foreign sorts. The young plants may be 

 raised in a hot-bed instead of a greenhouse. — Country Gentleman. 



