22 MISC. PUB. 190, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
percent, by count, of the stalks in any container * may 
be below the prescribed minimum diameter for the 
grade or any other specified Minimum diameter or any 
specified minimum length. 
Unclassified shall consist of stalks of asparagus 
which are not graded in conformity with any of the 
foregoing grades. 
DIAMETER CLASSIFICATION 
The following terms are provided fer deseribing 
the diameters of any lot: 
Veiy small, less than inch. 
Small, +; inch to less than *& inch. 
Medium, inch to less than # inch. 
Large, 13 inch to less than 2 inch. 
Very large, #4 inch and up. 
nt 
AMOUNT OF GREEN COLOR 
When the asparagus has less or more green color 
than is Specified in the grade it may be described 
as one fourth green, three fourths green, ete., in 
accordance with the facts. 
STALK LENGTH 
There is no minimum stalk length svecified in the 
grades but the minimum staik length should be stated 
in terms of whole or whole and half inches in con- 
nection with the grade designation, as U.S. No. 1, 8%- 
inch minimum; U.S. No. 1 Large, T-inch minimum; 
U.S. No. 1 Large, 1014-inch minimum, eic., in aecord- 
ance with the facts. _ . 
The reason no definite minimum length is specified 
is due to the wide variation in minimum stalk length 
as packed in the various producing districts. This 
variation in stalk length ranges from 5 to 7 inches 
in some districts to 8% to 10% inches in others. 
3 The tolerances specified for the varicus grades are placed 
on a container basis. However, any lot of asparagus shall 
be considered as meeting the requirements of qa _ specified 
grade if the entire lot averages within the tolerances speci- 
fied provided that no sample from the contaimers in any 
lot is found to exceed the following amounts: For a speci- 
fied tolerance of 10 percent, not more than 144 times the 
tolerance shall be allowed in any 1 package. For specified 
tolerances of 5 percent or less, not more than double the 
tolerance shall be allowed in any 1 package. 
