ASPAEAGUS. i1 



requires skill and practice. The bunches, to look 

 well, must be of uniform size and length. Almost 

 eveiy grower has, for bunching, a contrivance of his 

 own invention ; some of these are very primitive. 

 The best that 1 have seen is represented on p. 46. 

 It is simple in its construction, and does the work 

 well. A man of ordinary intelligence can make one 

 of them in a couple of hours. It is two and a half 

 feet high, three feet long, and eighteen or twenty 

 inches wide on top. It looks on top like a saddler's 

 work-bench without the jaws. In front of the seat 

 there is a place hollowed out, with two narrow pieces 

 of iron hoops fastened the proper distance apart, and 

 curved, so as to give the right shape to each bunch. 

 Before putting the spears of Asparagus in place, two 

 tying-strings of the right length are laid across this 

 mould. WTien the bunch is large enough, the hinged 

 top-piece is brought down and the loop from the 

 treadle placed on the side-button or hook, then by 

 the right foot the treadle is pressed down and fast- 

 ened in an iron slot. The bimch is then tied with 

 bass-matting or narrow strips of the bark of water 

 elm. The treadle is then loosened, the bunch taken 

 out, and the operation repeated. A thin piece of 

 board is put across in front of the fii-st piece of iron, 

 so that, in bunching, all the heads of the Asparagus 

 may be pressed against this board. The butt-ends 

 are cut off all the same length the day on which they 

 are sent to market. 



Sometimes a grower cannot send the Asparagus to 

 market every day, but he is compelled to keep it for 

 tliree or four days. By placing the bunches in pure 



