Fastening Asparagus Bunches

The following points are given in a bulletin from the Ohio experiment station: The praotice of fastening asparagus bnnches with rubber bands has, after two seasona' trial, been found to have decided advantages over that of tying with a string. The work can be done more rapidb and better. The saving in time is fully one-tliird, which wül pay för the increased cost of rubber over string. In any case, the work can be done in u. inanner that is much more satisfactory to dealers with rubber than with string. It is stated that rubber bands can be bought for two dollars per pound, and the size best adapted to the purpose runs about two thousand bands per pound, or sufficientfor 1,000 bunches, and that this would make the cost about two cents per dozen bunches more than string, if the saving in labor is not taken into consideration. Rubber holds the tranches intact while string allows them to fall ipart and become unsightly. The inethod einployed in bunching with rubber bands is to slip a band over an ordinary teacup - one with straight Bidea and without a handle- fill the cup with asparagus shoots, the heads downward, and then slip the band froni the cup to the bunch. This inakes a bunch of abontthe right sizeandgives the upper end a nicely rounded appearance. All that rwnains to be done is to slip on anotlier band and to square the butts with a sharp Icnife. Whilo a metalic cup inight anawer better, being thinner, a teacnp is not objectionable in this particular. If bunches smaller than the cup are desired the cup need not be filled.