Relative yields of green asparagus obtained by mechanical harvesting and by hand cutting, the operational characteristics of the machine in commercial plantings, and plant growth characteristics that influence the results of set-level harvesting, were studied in field test plots on two types of soil during the 1957 cannery season.

Robert Cowden, Senior Laboratory Technician, and Tom Clarke, Engineering Aid, Agricultural Engineering, Davis, assisted in the tests reported in the above article. The K. R. Nutting Co. and Cochran Company, Inc., cooperated in the studies.

The above progress report is based on Research Project No. 1693.

Results of tests with the first model are described in CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE for October, 1952, and September, 1954.