What’s with all the asparagus??

By CARLYLE HOLT, FRAMINGHAM, May 17- Only one mishap marred the trip of the great monoplane F-3, which flew from Mullica Hill, NJ, to the aviation field in Framingham today, loaded with 800 pounds of asparagus and two men, W. G. Schauffler Jr., representative of a Dutch aircraft company, dropped the top off his safety razor while he was shaving in the plane. Mr Schauffler, hastening to Boston with New Jersey asparagus at a rate asparagus never traveled before, thought it might be a good idea to step out of the plane neat and natty when he arrived, so he shaved. When he had finished he waved the razor out of the window of the plane to brush the lather off it, and lost the top. "I hope it did not hit anyone," (Someone made a near joke here about it being a safety razor.) On the field in Framingham there was a fever of excitement. About 30 persons, among them sundry newspaper men, photographers and others, waited for the plane, which was bringing the fresh asparagus from New Jersey to Vincent Balkam of the A. T. Cummings Company, to whom it was consigned. The plan was due to arrive at noon. Gov. Fox and Mayor Curley had been warned to expect some really great asparagus for their luncheon.

1922 The first air shipment in the United States of fresh produce occurred on May 17, 1922. That morning, a Fokker monoplane loaded with 1,000 pounds of locally grown asparagus took off from the farm field of W.D. Iredell in Mullica Hill and landed in Boston five hours later.

Carrying 1000 pounds of fresh vegetables, a five -passenger airplane hopped off at Mullica Hill at 9 (Eastern Standard Time) this morning to deliver the produce for sale in Boston early this afternoon. The plane was piloted by William N. de Wald, accompanied by W. G. Schauffle Jr., traffic manager of a New York aircraft corporation. The plane was scheduled to stop at Mineola, L. I. and then fly to Framingham, Mass. The trip, which is expected to consume less than five hours, was made to demonstrate that produce from New Jersey farms could be cut and delivered to distant markets on the same day.

Grown in the area since Colonial times, asparagus heralds the arrival of spring. It became a major crop here in the early 20th century and by the 1920s, Gloucester County was the largest producer of asparagus in the country. As a consequence, Mullica Hill Station became one of the busiest shipping points for this crop and other produce.

Grown by William D. Iredell of Wolfert Station Road. Some of Iredell’s asparagus was on the historic Mullica Hill to Boston flight that took off from his farm.