Middletown transcript., 1881-09-09
Odessa,s industries.

se you 0OLnlnS 10 SURPRISE you bueF0y anu u
you have known Odessa only in the past
II we will guarantee the surprise. On Wed.
v nesday, the hottest day of the year, we
happened in Odessa, and being curious to
Z, see some of those enterprises OF which we
> had so often and favorably heard we went
and looked at them. Down by the foot Of
>, the hill, where the long bridge spans the
2, Appoquinimink, and where until recently
Is all was quiet and still as the bosom of the
sluggish stream that neanders by (this is
e sentiment: a first class article always on
S draught), there now stands roomy build
y ing with tall stack from which dark
wreaths of smoke curl gracefully upward,
i, and proclaim to all who come that way
' that the days Of Odessa's long and undis-
e turbed sleep are ended. The building
is the new fruit and vegetable cannery of
: Mr.. G. Watkins, whose enterprise has not
!. only given Odessa an excellent steamboat
r line to Philadelphia, securing to the farm
ers cheap and swift mode of transporting
their fruit to market, but canning fac
tory, in size and appointment second to
few on the Peninsula,-an industry that
will give pleasant and remunerative en-
ployment to many persons. Mr.. Watkins
has struck bad year to begin the can
ming business. Owing to the drought,
the crop is short and the quality of the
vegetable not in all cases satisfactory,
necessitating much cutting out of green
spots and consequent waste. But the pro-
prietor Of this enterprise has gone into the
business with the determination to put up a
good article Of canned goods, knowing
that it is only necessary to do this to
achieve success in the end. He is not one
of those men who expect to invest money
in an enterprise and realize one hundred
per cent. on it within a year. He knows
that it takes little time and patience and
capital to make a success of any manufac-
| turing enterprise, and with this ikno7vi-
edge he has put in the best of everything
in the way Of machinery and appliances
for the business, and will go on under the
good rule that " what is worth doing at all |
is worth doing we'll" On the day of our
visit there were about sixty persons at |
work in the factory, many of whom were |
women and girls. About nine hundred |
baskets of tomatoes are being packed per
day. The building is under the superin- |
tendency of a careful and practical Gamer |
of long experience. The capping machines
and furnaces for heating the soldering
irons are the invention of VIM. L. Buckle
& Son, Of Middletown, who have recently
made specially Of canning machinery.
/ iv,E
fried tomatoes. For this the finest toma-
toes are selected, cut, seasoned, fried and
then canned. They open ready for the
table and are considered a great luxury
The process Of putting these up is slow.
Mr. Watkins is putting up about $50 cans
per day. Next week will probably beone
Of the busiest Of the season with the to-
mato Gamers.
Another new industry of Odessa is Mr..
w. NJ. Vandegrift's fruit evaporator,
which commenced operations on Monday
last. There were about twenty persons at
work in this building on Thursday, two
evaporators being run on apples. Mr..
Vandegrift is full Of enterprise and the
TRANSCRIPT wishes him nlentv of !
success.
Abont one-fourth of mile from the {
village, on the Appoquinimink, stands '
Messrs. Lord & Polk's phosphate factory, I
where the widely known Diamond State !
Super Phosphate Diamond State Acid l
Phosphate and "Truxillo Guano' are /
manufactured. In company with the i
Middletown representative Of the firm z
we drove down to this factory and found '
a scene of activity, and plenty of phos- 7
phate. A barge at the wharf was unload I
ing 200 tons of German potash i'm t
ported by this firm. The means used for /
unloading boats is very rapid and it takes {
but few hours to hoist out boat load of s
material, weigh it, and pile it away in the d
factory. In the morning another barge t
had discharged a cargo of plaster and I
soda. There was on hand, at the time of :
our visit, a large stock of the materials v
used in the manufacture of phosphates, /,
nearly every part of the factory being I
stored full. OF Observation-Disclosures" 7
which is purchased of the slaughter r
houses, and which now enters largely into y
manufactured fertilizers, there were per- a
haps four or five hundred tons, and of a
dissolved bone about six hundred tons.
The stock Of manufactured phosphate was \
not very large the demand being about 7
equal to the manufacturing capacity of the T
works, and at this season the firm have all
they can do to keep up with their orders :
A day or two ago they loaded barge with
l50 tons for distant patrons The local
demand for the " Diamond State' phos- =
pilates is heavy, and the manufacturers, f.
by making good reliable article Of fer
tilizer and maintaining its standard, have 4
built up an encouraging trade in many \
sections Of the Peninsula, as we'll as on =
the Western Shore OF Maryland and in +
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. +
Mr.. James X. Roberts, formerly of Bo- i
hemia Manor, is the efficient superinten- u
dent of the factory, and employment is
given to large number of men during
the greater part Of the year. Last season, I
Messrs. Lord & Polk manufactured a fer !,
tilizer for truck and spring crops, brand :
ing it & 'Truxillo Guano," and it sprung f
suddenly into popular favor, particularly c
with lower Peninsular truckers. Their =
" Diamond State Super" however, is just r
now in demand, being their leading ferti- T.
lizer, for wheat and their sales thus far a
this season are exceedingly encouraging. T
Their factory is large and well built, and !
fitted with the best and most approved !
machinery for the work to be done, but
several important Improvements will soon f
be made, large addition to the factory i,
and more powerful boiler and engine ]
being among them. Messrs. Lord & Polk y
have been in the business of lnanufactur- n
ing fertilizers but few years, but as en- n
terprise always tells, they have achieved o
success in bringing the reputation Of their 4
fertilizers up to a standard equal to any Fl
manufactured in the country, at the same IT
price, and, when reputation is made by :,
good results, there is never any trouble
about the demand for an article. AS