Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-11-02
A CANNING FACTORY.
Absolute Necessity for such Enter
prise I'm Santa Fe-Suffi lent Sup
ply Of Fruit Assured-HOn. IL.
Bradford Princes inspection
or Las Cruces Factory.

One object of the recent visit of Hon
l.. B. Prince to Las Cruces, was to ex
anime the canning business of Mr.. Rouaul,
at that place, as it has become evident
that before another season, Santa Fe must
have an establishment of that kind in
order to save our fruit. If some one al
ready in the business has sagacity enough
to come here, it will be well; but if not
our own people must organize and com.
mence the work. The Horticultural so.
ciety has shown much interest in the
subject, and full report will probably
be made at the next meeting. There il
no reason why each frnit growing section
of New Mexico should not have one, and
thus supply the home market which is now
filed by shipments from outside the ter.
ritory.
Theodore Rouault's canning establish
ment at Las Cruces is one of the most in
terestirg as we'll as important industrial
establishments in the territory. 1t is de-
voted almost entirely to the canning of
tomatoes, though peaches, pears and
grapes are also put up, and Mr.. Rouault has
just begun the canning of chill, which he
thinks will be an important industry. He
obtains his cans from Chicago by the car
load, car holding from $4,000 to 10000
three-Poupd cans. The weight of such a
can is about five ounces, or three and a
half to the pound, so that $4,000 csns
weigh $4,000 pounds, which is the minimum
car load. Owing to the wonderful faciIl-
ties of the can factories in the east, cans
can be obtained more cheaply from Chi
cago than they can be made at the can
merry.
The tomatoes put up by Mr.. Rouault
have achieved great celebrity and bring
price considerably higher than any
other in the market. One reason for this
is that every tomato is put into the can
by han0, 30 as not to break or bruise it
more than necessary, while the ordinary
practice is to force a lot of cut and
mashed tomatoes, by steam process, into
the can. In other cases, the canned toma
toes are what Mr.. Rouault contem ptuously
calls "tomato soup," large amount of
water, artiicially oolored and favored, be-
ing put into each can.
Mr.. Odell, the superintendent of the
factory, has introduced this year new
and advantageous feature into the busi-
ness'by employing girls to fill the cans
instead of men. At the present time rs
girls are thus employed, and they are
paid by the piece, SO that the wages Ut
those who are experts run from $l.10 to
SLIGO per day.
Mr.. Rouault's total product this year will
reach 20 car loads of cans. His establish
ment is now filled to the roof with boxes
and cans ready for shipment. The boxes
hold "a cans each and in one pile there
are 1888 boxes. All together fully 100
persons are employed in the business of
the factory at this season; and in addition
to this, Mr.. Rouault has a very extensive
garden or farm devoted exclusively to the
production of tomatoes. A ten-horse
power steam engine supplies the power
for running the machinery in the factory.
Mr. Rouault has been in the business
number ofyears and sent the only speci-
mems of canned goods to the Chicago
Worlds fair from the whole southwest.
He is not nearly able to keep pace with
the demand for his goods. New Mexico
and Arizona are enormous consumers of
canned goods, which are now brought in
carloads both from the east and from Cali.
fornia. So there ia no difficulty about a
market; the practical point is to supply it
at profit.
A cannery does not call for very
heavy investment, and if desired, can be
commenced in quite moderate way.
The almost wicked waste of fruit in this
city and its vicinity, this year, has drawn
the attention of everyone to the subject,
and the feeling is universal that can
merry must be in operation here before
next season. We can draw from the Sec
tion around Pena Blanca, Bernalillo and
Albuq querque, as we'll as from the Espa-
nola valley, where the season is much
earlier than in Santa Fe, and thus have
the advantage of very long season.
Practical steps should be taken without
delay to have the factory in entire resdi.
ness before next season.