Middletown transcript., 1870-09-17
LETTER FROM SMYRNA.
Correspondence Of lie 1Mddlel0wn Transcript.
SMYRNA, September, 1870.


Mr.. EDITOR ALLOW me a few words
about the weather. 1t is so dry with us,
that rain water might be bought and sold
at an immense amount, provided the de-
mand was great enough. All vegetation
is losing its greenness. We arc bcfogged
with dust, and the tidy housekeeper wash
es and dusts in vain.
All business is dull except the peach
business. We have some life and hustle
at the depot, post Office, and canning es-
tablishment In the evenings the ladies
enliven the streets, promenading in gay
costumes. No doubt business will revive
as cool weather advances, when peach
dealers have full wallets and farmers have
sold their grain. In prospect of this the
merchants are replenishing their stores.
Mr.. Edward Beck has the largest stock of
goods ever brought to this town at one
time. His storehouse is also the largest
here, and displays his goods to advantage.
We are having very little sickness; al
though the air is filled with dust from pas
sing vehicles, and is laden with offensive
smells from fermenting peach rinds and
filthy pig pens. Phew of an evening,
when the atmosphere is damp and heavy,
we fear to take long breath, and 60 in
the house shutting down windows and clo-
sing doors, leaving only the fire place as
ventilator.
A day or two since we visited Hoffecker
4 Bros. canning establishment. Never
having seen one before, we were much
interested. First we saw the pairing and
filling department, where women alone
were employed. All were working cheer
fully, with sleeves rolled up, and fingers
and knives carefully wrapped in strips of
muslin to protect them. Those engaged
in filling had to use great caution to pre-
vent the mouths of the cans from cutting
the hands, as they were of tin, and the
edges quite sharp. Let us return to the
first process, where the peaches are open
ed and the seed taken out by men or boys,
then pared by the basket and cmptied into
troughs or shoots where they are put into
the cans by women standing as near to
each other as they can conveniently work.
These looked very tired, having stood in
one position so long, The cans are then
immersed in a wooden tank of boiling wa
ter heated by steam from the engine, then
Immediately lifted out, one by one, by a
lad, placed upon table where three young
girls carefully wipe the mouths or tops
with long clean towels, cover each with a
piece of tin fitting the opening, and pass
to the soldering table, where they arc
quickly sealed. They are then placed in
huge iron baskets, holding only one layer
of several dozen, plunged into two great
wooden tanks of hot water. and boiled
about eight minutes. This water is heated
by steam from the engine, and can be
turned on or off. The water ceases to boil
and the cans are examined to see if any
are leaking. If bubbles arise from any
can, it is lifted out with a large pair of
nippcrs and returned to the soldering ta-
BILE to be resealcd. Each basket is looked
over, then lifted from the water by ma
chnery, placed on trucks and wheeled into
, an adjoining apartment, where they are
placed bottom upward in layers, by mar
with heavy gloves on to protect his hands
!. from the hot cans. The cans are left here
till cool, then removed to larger quarters
We inquired why they inverted the cans
and were told that there was less strain il
this position We had only been on thu
first floor The second and third floor
= are used for making and storing empt,
cans. They must employ large numbe
: of workmcn in this department as they US
- - from three to four thousand cans daily.
AS we passed out We saw hundreds O
= baskets of peaches in large yard read
y for the next days work. They have can
y ned no tomatoes this season, owing to tn
imperfect ripening. The canned peache
retail at $35 per doz. which is real
much cheaper than doing them at home
y, besides saving the waste of nerve and TEN
- per. We have no distillery in our towr
! and pray we never may have, as peac
- brandy, in our estimation, is next to Jer
sey lightning.
> We have Good Templars' Lodge n
- fourishing condition, which has been {
- ., great benefit to many of our estimabl
b young men. May its star never set, br
grow brighter and brighter, till its scr
4, tillations are seen far and wide, is th
m earnest wish of your
a. CORRESPONDENT.