The Arizona champion., 1890-10-25
PRESERVING FOOD IN CANS.
Vast Proportions of the Industry-The
 Housekeeper's Boon.

| HOusekeeper's Boon.
 An industry in this country which has grown to enormous proportions is that of preserving ooAproducts by canning and bottling. In 1907 M. Appert, distin- guished French chemist, found that or ganic substances remained fresh an in- definite time by being kept from contact with the air. Comparatively little use | was made of this invention for many years, except by sailors About the year 1 1885, however, a small local trade sprang up in this country in canned oysters and tomatoes. The discovery of gold in Cal ifornia gave an impetus to the trade, but the first great expansion of it was during the civil war. Since that time the canned goods trade has advanced by leaps and bounds until at present there is capital of 1,000,0 ,000 invested here in fruit and vegetable canning alone, giv- ing employment to 35,000 persons, who earn yearly $3,000, ,000, and turn out of goods $20, ,00O, GOO, leaving netprofit of about 20 per cent to the investors.
 During the war advantage was taken by the Union commissariat department of the economy in bulk and the ease in transportation of canned goods. Canned meat was found useful for rations in forced marches; canned milk was val uable substitute for fresh milk in the hospitals when the latter could not be had, and the health of the army was largely maintained by canned fruit and vegetables.
 At the end of the war those engaged fin the manufacture of these goods turned their attention to supplying the European markets with salmon and lobster. The | lobster export trade had started ten years ! previously in the New England states. Soon after the Canadians began the sal mon packing industry, but did not meet with success. But the utilization of the enormous run of salmon up the Columbia and other rivers on the Pacific coast put new life into the industry. Some idea of how much the trade has grown may be gathered from the fact that, while in 1866 the pack of salmon was only 4,000 cases, during the past four years it has averaged 3,S00,000.
 The next great era in the trade was the compression of corned beef. Chi cago, being a great cattle center, at once embarked heavily in this enterprise. Foreign governments largely recognized the value of this system of preserving beef. They ordered large quantities of it for consumption by their war forces. Much of this was stored as reserve in case of war, but as the supply was ex- hausted it has been continually renewed, fO tba nrOfit Of the American
 The success of the Americans in can ming goods provoked the English and French people to emulation. Unable to compete with the United States in what had been already done, they turned their attention to the canning of delicacies. This trade was developed to very large extent in Europe, and extended to this country. But the importation of these goods has fallen off in recent years, as this country has gone into the manufac- ture of this class of goods, and produces to the imported.
 The development of the canned goods industry has been great, but the variety of articles treated in this way has been even greater. Beginning as it did with ships beef, it has extended until it en- braces nearly all the desirable products of the animal and vegetable kingdom. Lieut.. Greedy, after his famous arctic expedition, said that canned apples, peaches, pears, rhubarb, green peas, green corn, onions, potatoe and tomatoes were all subjected to the temperature of 60 degs. below zero. They were solid for he ot t1o e.1A,,1 mer they thawed, and the following winter they were frozen solid again. When these articles were eaten they pre- sented the same appearance as though freshly canned, and their flavor was as good when the last can was opened as during the first month.
 Canned goods have proved a great boon to the housekeeper. In cities, at any rate, the goods preserved are cheaper than if bought in the fresh condition. This arises from the fact that they are always packed where the material is cheapest and most abundant. A great economy is exercised, too, by the whole sale preparation of meat and fish.
 The popular idea that canned goods are injurious to health is a mistake. Tin, which forms the coating of the thin iron plates of which the cans are made, is not acted on at all by any ordinary acids or by the gases of decomposition. Certain firms in this city have followed up every case of alleged poisoning from canned goods without finding single one of them authentic. The ordinary precau- tions of taste and smell as applied to fresh goods are sufficient protection against danger in similar goods when canned, and, judging by the progress of the past decade in this method of food preservation, it seems likely to have still larger future before it.-New York Sun