Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-11-30
fContinued from first page. /

Voorhees, at the close Of the cutting
season
If the plants make good strong
1 growth the first season after planting,
we always cut some the second year;
4 If not cut it is hard fight to keep
the beetles off, and think it better to
| cut than let them destroy the growth,
also if not cut the plants will bear
heavy crop Of seed, and this I think
/ weakens the roots more than cutting
does.
BY the third year the bed will surely
be ready for cutting, and this is hard
breaking work. My men carry a
basket into which the grass is put as
cut, at the end of the rows it is taken
from the basket and put into box on
a wheelbarrow, the box being inclined
TO keep the heads of the grass even
against the box. when the box is full
/ it is wheeled to the punching house,
! which is in the middle Of the field.
Here stands a tub of water, into which
4 it is dipped as taken from the box,
and then laid On the sorting table.
i The sorter divides it into prime and
culls and the prime into long (about
! 70 inches) and into short (about 10 in
4 -.
4 long grass, but it would be necessary
to cut the beds more frequently in hot
weather, sometimes twice day, as
then the growth is very rapid With
some of my neighbors the cutter does
not carry a basket. When he has a
handful laying it on top Of the row.
someone else carrying it out, others do
not wash the grass until it is punched
and butts cut off there is no uniform
ity
One of my neighbors has invented
an implement with which he cuts the
grass and he then puts it into a KNAPP
sack he carries. thus doing away with
the STOPPING, did | have to cut grass
surely should learn to use this, but
4 my men do not take kindly to it.
The grass is now ready for punching
which is an important part, as a firm,
compact bunch viii sell much better
than a loose, struggling one. We use
the common hinged buncher, with
catch to hold it closed when full max
ing the regular ~ pound bunch; use
tape for tying; use peculiar slip knot
on the lower tape, drawing it very
4 tight, so when the pressure of the
buncher is taken off the bunch will
not become loose. For cutting the
4 butts we use an old-fashioned hay cut
i ter that has knife with a sliding
motion making a clean cut; the person
+ who does the butting also inspects the
grass, washing it and packing it in the
4 crates.
For crates we use California orange
4 boxes that have been used. They are
light, cheap, strong and hold two doz-
en- lunches nicely The lunches are
placed alternately heads and butts,
and the grass can be seen to better adj
vantage and presents better appear
ance than with the regular asparagus
crate; if the grass is to be shipped we
Il have strips u inch wide made from
ends Of these crates ripped UP, to nail
4 on before mailing covers on to pre-
vent any undue pressure on the
punches
For a market, for early grass we
have found Boston to pay best. After
native grass there comes in freely, we
have found Philadelphia about as good
as any, but believe local markets
could be developed to good advantage
This probably completes the task as
signed me by your committee; but
in Bulletin No. 1855, Asparagus and
Asparagus Rust in California" by
4 Ralph e. Smith, issued by the State
Experiment Station, California, there
is so much, SO very much that is of in
terest to the asparagus grower. that
must beg a few minutes to be devoted
4 to it.
The Gamers and growers of aspara-
gus in California contributed $4,000 as
a fund to investigate the disease, and
Prof. Smith was called from Massa-
4 chusetts and placed in charge of the
/ matter In this report he says There
are about 1000 acres of asparagus in
California, nearly all of which is used
by Gamers, but little being cut for
market. Cutting begins in February
but not heavily until middle of March,
cut from 80 to 100 days or until mid
die of June; 5000 pounds per acre prob
ably is the average crop. Says the rust
was first recorded in France in 1905,
was first recorded in this country in
1896 by Prof Halstead of the New
Jersey station; that in five years it
had spread all over the East; was
first noted in California. in the south
ern part of the State in 1901, by 1908
had spread all over the State. 1t
would seem to be much worse in Cali
fornia than here, as he says, "One
sees the cloud of dust which arises
from the rusty plants when disturbed,
coloring mems hands and clothing.
4 horses legs, cultivators, wagon poles
and wheels, and anything passing
through the field deep red color, fly
ing away in the wind like smoke. !"
This may be partly from the variety
grown, as the Gamers insist on having
+ Conovers Colossal, which is very IL
able to rust, and also by the longer
season after cutting stops, giving the
4 rust plenty of time to get in its work
The rust has three separate forms;
the spring rust which appears on
plants in the spring, wherever rust
was the previous year from the spores
left over during the winter, that by the