7 
54 BULLETIN 196, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
William H. Hudson, who put up about 400 dozen tins in 1864. The package used | 
was almost identical with the No. 3 square can of to-day. The preliminary treatment | 
in the way of cutting and blanching was also very similar to that now used. The pro- | | 
cessing was different, for the cans were first held in a bath for 30 minutes, then vented, 
and afterward held for an hour and a half in a bath of boiling water. The indus- | 
try grew fairly rapidly in New York and New Jersey, but has almost, ceased since | | 
California became a producer in the early nineties. The real packing of asparagus | 
in California was established by Mr. Hickmott, who began experiments in 1881 but | 
was not very successful until 1890. The distinctive feature of his method was the | 
erection of the cannery very near the asparagus beds, so that the product might be 
collected and delivered in a perfectly fresh state, as the holding of the product for | 
even a short time greatly impairs the flavor. | 
The asparagus produced on the western coast has the advantage of unusual natural | } 
conditions for growth, as the beds are in the delta lands along the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin Rivers. The soil is of wonderful fertility, light and mellow, so that it 
may be hilled high to produce long, large stalks. The spring is cool, insuring growth 
that is not too rapid, each spear being succulent and tender. The stalks are naturally 
bleached so that they are very white. Even food officials have believed the canned 
article to be chemically treated to obtain the very pale color. 
Asparagus is a costly product, because it can be grown only upon very valuable 
land and a great amount of hand labor is required. The growing is the same as for 
the market, only the beds cover hundreds of acres. The plants are set close together 
in rows 4 feet apart. Three years are required to bring them to a productive state. 
When the plants have stooled sufficiently to permit the removal of a part of the stalks 
for consumption, the rows are covered over with soil to a depth of a foot or more. 
These are kept hilled up in the spring and free from all weeds. This great depth 
forces the new stalk to grow about 1 foot to reach the light, and, as no color is formed 
until light reaches the tip, the stalk is perfectly pale or white. The harvesters pass 
between the rows looking for a spear wherever they see the ground cracked or broken. 
When found, a cutter very much hke a carpenter’s chisel is inserted at such an angle 
as to cut the stalk about 9 inches below the surface. The stalk is drawn from the 
ground carefully so that the top may not be marred nor snapped off. Only one stalk 
can be cut at a time and the cutting must be done every day or every other day. The 
cutters carry the stalks in baskets to convenient points and empty them between the 
rows. A man with a small sled follows closely behind the cutters, picks up the 
‘‘orass,’’ and cords it on the sled, keeping all tips in one direction. It is next hauled 
to some convenient point in the field where water is available. There the ‘‘grass” is 
picked off the sled and placed in a frame, the tips all turned in one direction against 
a smooth board wall. This frame is from 1 foot to 2 feet in height and from 6 to 8 feet 
long. When it is filled, a board is pressed on top of the grass, and by using this and 
the bottom as guides all stalks are cut to a uniform length of 7}inches. All the stalk 
in excess of this length is waste. The next step is to dump the cut grass into a tank 
of water to wash off adherent grit. It is absolutely necessary that this washing should 
be done before any drying takes place, for with the drying a certain amount of stain- 
ing develops, and this can not be removed by any subsequent treatment. 
The stalks are picked out of the water by hand, again arranged with tips in one 
direction, and corded in crates in two rows, the tips being kept to the center. The 
boxes are hauled to the factory promptly, so that the asparagus can be used within a 
few hours, thus avoiding all possibility of wilting. At all the better canneries work 
upon the grass is begun within three hours from the time it is cut and stock is not 
carried over from one day to the next. 
At the factory the first operation is to empty the crate upon a sorting table, where 
the stalks are sorted into five grades, based on size, and into two qualities, Fensnclens 
upon whether the stalks are wholly blanched or eee green. They are further 
