Smyrna times., 1880-02-25

PRESERVING FRUIT.-We have several
times urged the importance of tho intro.
ducton of more canning and ovaporatiug
OF trult In our community: now that canned
fruits are having q "boom" and as capita-
lists like "booms" that send up the profits.
we nope the subject may claim from them
the attention which its importance de.
mands. Practical results are learned 10y
comparisons. Our store keepers who IRE
not slow to take cognizance of the door AZ
which the cash enters. know very well the
difference between the years when there
was good berry picking and good peach
crops, large demand for baskets and labor
Tor the canning factory, and the seasons
when there were not. At such times every
man, woman and child ia the community
had labor at good wages. Every dollar Of
this found its way back to our stores in
one way or another. The rich people 20
to the city or order from there by sample ::
not so these laborers; they never get above
our home merchant, or spending their
money here. In the manufacture of pra
served fruits Milford takes the lead. Ten
years ago tho first evaporator was erected :;
now there are nearly twenty in the town
and vicinity and with the one or two cam.
ming establishments, have pay roll in the
fruit season of some $4,000 per week which
finds its way among the shopkeepers
Consequence, demand for houses, increased
population and general prosperity.
The towns Of Frederick in the large can
ming establishment of Hall Il Co., and
Dover in the widely known house of Rich
ardsen & Robbins, know the commercial
value of such places of business to their
respective towns. On some poultry re-
ceiving days at the last place where the
farmers came for miles to dispOsc of their
stock, the merchants were scarcely equal
to tho task in exchanging their wares for
the cash Of the waiting customers. Our
basket factory is Of great Importance in
furnishing employment to the irregularly
employed labOrNrs and boys, and the can
ming establishment has likewise given en-
poyment for some weeks to a number Of
women and girls but what VIC need is these
establishments run on a larger scale or
more of them. The basket and berry box
factories of Milford and Laural run nearly
or quite tho entire Year around, NOT a
spasmedic effort Of n few weeks in summer
The Gaming establishment in Dover does
the same on much larger scale In size
and natural convenience those of our
town equal if they do not surpass those Of
the other places named. ONLY the work in
one is spasmOdic and the others continuous
With such advantages. such manufactur.
ing in our town should be leading, not
secondary. Then again in evaporatinc
fruit (which was the most prominent
thought that suggested this local refer
ence) we insist that smyrna and vicinity is
far behind its opportunities. The farmers
about Milford in the experience of the
past ten years have found their greatest
profit in evaporating their own fruit
Shipping peaches direct from the orchards
from the less cost of transportation, pays
the farmers here better than it dees there,
but with the evapOratSd fruit the result is
assured, while in the other case in the
"glut' seasons, the shippers are often
brought in debt. But aside from this the
inferior fruit which barely pays at The bost
to ship, could be utilized on every farm
with an evaporation large or snail as suited
the circumstances to decided advantage.
Were the commoAer fruit used in this way
and only the superior shipped, the latter
would bring still batter prices and the former
nay perhaps a hundred per cent more.
Then again apples, tomatoes, pumpkins
and other vegetables could be utilized and
add largely to the health and comfort Of
the family. We have in our mind a single
case where nearly thousand baskets of
dppIPS Went 10 Wd-le lll1I might nave DeeN
saved had tho proprietor run an evaporation.
The fruit ripened largely in tho peach
season when apples were not enough in
demand to pay for shipping SO far as we
know there are but four evaporators in this
community, viz: A. l.. Hudson, John An
thonv, I. S. Lapham and Y. T. Underwood.
The latter not only runs his machines to
their full capacity on peaches and apples,
hut also on vegetables in season such as
asparagus, tomatoes, pumpkins, &c, to the
excellency Of the two LAST named as we'll as
the fruit we can testify. Our farmers are
generally shrswd in discovering what is to
their advantage, hut We think they have
not given this subject the attention its i'm
pOrtanCe merits. As to the business Of can
ming and cooperating in our town, We
think there is no diversity Of opinion; the
only thing in tho wav is the concentration
of capital or the enlargement Of individual
enterprise to meet the case. The interest
OF the town would he served in either, only
let it he done one way or the other