The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-09-14

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Did rum times We remembered well the little
country grog shops with which these roads were |
formerly bordered; now not one remains. AS |
we came to the places which know them no |
more. we stretched our necks to look where
they had been, but where they shall never more
be seen,--those dreadful pests of our State in
the old ruin times.
Many of the old rattle-trap houses have been
modernized and nicely fitted up; many of them
have been pulled down and new and handsome
houses occupy their places; and a great many
other new and nice houses have been erected all
along the roads we followed, and away off right
and left of our route we saw nicely cultivated
fields and nice farm houses, and spacious, well
kept barns, very different from the condition of
things in the old rum times.
The neighborhood of the corn factory resem-
bles not little the surroundings of aacountry
town meeting, or country temperance meet
ing. We were little surprised to. see great
many country wagons along by the road side
and the horses hitched to the fences, all feast
ing on the corn husks which they ate greedily
Here was near the corn factory an immense
shed-roof, under which brick kilns were form
erly burned; now it sheltered q great many
horses, all busy at their fodder. We saw great
carts drawn-some by oxen, some by horses,
turning in towards the factory from the road
They were heaped up with corn in the ear,
freshly gathered from the fields. Other carts
were already backed up in long rows against
the open doors of an immensely long building,
where the ears of corn were unloaded in vast
| quantities, sliding down obliquely into immense
| receptacles prepared for them. The unloaded
| carts were driven away to give place to others
| that were rapidly moved up heavily laden, and
| so the work went on All was hustle and ap-
| parent confusion among the many men and
teams actively at work in their various ways,
but we soon learned that everything was in per-
! feet system and order. We saw these immense
loads of corn thrown down promiscuously, as it
seemed to Us, into the bins prepared for that
| purpose, without any account of the quantity
or of the persons to whom they belonged, and
| so we wondered how each man could know his
| own and be paid for it. In our examination of
the factory, we begun at this point, where the
| corn in the husk is received. And so we went
into the building in this part of it, and saw
long range of bins against the outer wall, like
the horse stalls in stable, only very much larg-
| err In the wall against each of these was a
large door through which the corn was dumped
into it. Each bin had five or six men-some
five, some six-busy in husking the ears, which
was rapidly done, the corn when stripped being
thrown into a crate, running on small trucks,
each containing about half a cord.
Each farmers corn is kept by itself, and the
process is extremely simple and sure, by which
it is kept separate from any other until it is
finally weighed and accounted for to each pro-
| ducer. In the same room with the bins-an
immensely long and wide apartment-are seat
ed about two hundred women and girls busy in
| cutting the corn from the cobs into hopper like
vessels, fixed to the floor, Beneath the hoppers
are large vessels of heavy tin, into which the
corn falls through an aperture in the bottom.
| Besides these girls, there are in the room a
great many men and boys, busy and active in
bringing the ears of corn to the hoppers and
| taking away the kernels and the cobs. AT this
stage the corn is weighed and finally credited
to the producer, after which no care is taken to
keep the various lots of it separate.
The cans are filled by simple machine,
which does the work in the most expeditions
manner, each can occupying perhaps second
and half OF two seconds Every can is weigh
ed after it is filed, and many of them are found
| to be too light or too heavy, and the error is
| corrected in each case. From this point the
cans are taken to another department, where
| long rows of men sitting at benches are busy in
| sealing them with melted solder, applied i'll a
| most curious manner to save time and mate
rial
A little hole is punched in the cap before it
is soldered to the can, and then the hole is stop
| ped with a drop of the melted metal From
| this point the cans are taken to another depart
| ment where they are boiled for several hours
| in large boilers of a peculiar form, of which
| there are great many During this process
| the cans remain hermetically sealed, but i'm
| mediately when they are taken from the boilers
| each can is punctured with very small hole,
through which the imprisoned steam and air
| rush out and the hole is instantly stopped with
drop of the solder, and the corn is thereafter
| safe from all changes in any clima4e or through
| any length of time.
From this point the cans are taken to an i'm
| mense platform out of doors, where they are
| played upon with cold water by a force pump
| driven by steam, in order to cool them speedily
| The cans are then taken to another department
where they are secured by revolving brushes
driven by steam, and they pass them into the
hands of many nimble fingered girls-working
near the trushes-by whom printed labels are
put upon them, and then they pass into the
hands of men who work near, by whom they
rapidly nailed up and pushed upon platforms to
the outer DOORS where great wagons receive
them and transport them to Portland.
To visitor, glancing at this factory, every
thing seems to be in confusion; the work people
are numerous, all of them very busy; many of
them moving about in different directions with
rapid step, each intent upon his own particular
work. But very soon the visitor discovers that
order and system prevail everywhere; every one
having his specific work to do, and doing it.
The first thing is to do the work in every part
perfectly if not done so, it is good for nothing;
the next thing is to do it rapidly so as to re
duce, as far as possible, the cost of the goods
in order to put them into the market at low
rate, so as to extend the sale. The profit on
each can may be very small, but when the sale
is large the master is satisfied with the result
fsr the aggregate is a handsome thing.
Thirty thousand cans are packed daily at this
factory by five hundred work people, and Mr..
Jones has many others in different parts of the
State, about which may speak in another ar
tice, by and by-and will mention many other
things connected with this important manufac-
ture. N. ID.