The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-06-20
WILL TREBLE THEIR BUSINESS,
Owosso Canning Company Preparing
to Put Up 100000 Cans of Toma-
toes This Season.

toes This Season.
The Owosso Canning Company put up
over 10000 cans of the Owosso brand of
tomatoes last season. This year barring
accidents the company expects to put
2OO, 600 cans ON the market. Last week
the last Of sixty-five acres was set
out and the entire output is already sold
TO the wholesale grocery firm of Hall
Bros, Nichols & Co. Some fifteen tons
/ of tin cans are stored in the factory
ready for the opening of the season and
from now on the success or failure of
the seasons business depends altogether
on cultivation and the weather.
An acre of tomatoes properly put in
and cared for is a profitable investment.
The tomatoes are contracted for at the
rate of fifteen cents per bushel and an
average crop will yield 500 bushels.
Some go as high as 700 bushels The
average yield is therefore about $500
per acre, which can be increased by
good cultivation and having the ground
in the best possible condition to $105.00
per acre. The possibilities orproft are
therefore quite sufficient toinduce farm
ers and gardeners to go into the busi-
ness. Nj. E. j. Payne, one Of the pro-
prietors of the factory, has under his
own personal supervision fifteen acres Of
/ tomatoes close to the factory, for the
most part on his own ground, while
several others have five or more acres
which they are raising under contract
for the factory and a larger number
have less than five. Among the other
raisers are A. L. Densmore, eight acres;
Herbert Hill, FIVE; Clayton Thomas, FIVE;
j. 4. Horton, five; j. N. Wood, three;
j. B. Davidson d Son, one and half;
Lee r. Clark, one and half; II. W.
Sessions, three acres. A number Of
others are also in the business on a
small scale.
The plants are al raised by M. Payne
and sold by him to the raisers who trans
plant them into their own soil. The
seed is sown early in April in hotbeds
| After the tomato plants are large
enough they are all transplanted into
other beds to give them room to de-
velop stronger roots. After they have
reached fair size and the danger from
frosts is well out Of the way they are
transplanted into the fields where they
are to grow and to raise the fruit which
runs the factory. The setting begins
the last of May and is over before the
middle of June.
The packing and canning begin about
the twentieth Of August. Women do
much of both. At the factory last
season about thirty women and ten men
Were employed and during the coming
season the firm expects TO employ fifty
women and fifteen men who will be kept
busy until well along in October A
much larger amount of tomatoes will be
| put up this season however than this
increase in the size of the force would
seem to indicate for the crop is so ar
ranged this year that the factory will be
able to run much more steadily than
ever before. 1t is expected that, barring
accidents, there will not be days time
lost from the time of starting in August
until the time for closing down in Octo-
ber.
| When the tomatoes are brought to the
factory they are first placed in scalding
vats which hold about two bushels
apiece and then they are placed in front
of the women who peel them and remove
the stems. Bright new tin cans are
carried down from the store room up
stairs in troughs in front of the women
who, as fast as they peel the tomatoes,
put them into the cans without giving
them any chance whatever to become
mussed OF broken up. There is no
| chance for them to get dirt mixed in
with them while being boiled for they
| are boiled in the cans. AS soon as they
are placed in the cans, clean and whole
some, by the women, they are handed
to the sealers who seal them air-tight.
The cans are then placed in large iron
trays and lowered into the boilers.
There they are boiled with the steam
from fifteen horse power boiler from
thirty to fifty minutes according to the
ripeness of the fruit. The boiling is no;
severe enough to burst the cans
although they get hot enough to make
the ends bulge out. They do not re.
quire pricking to let out the steam and
air however, as some other canned good.
do, and when they cool and the cans
contract again they are ready for tn,
labels and then for the market. w
This is the eighth season of the fac
tory and if the plans of the owners, tn,
Messrs. Ed. j. and Ralph, E. Payne ar
realized it will be thelas year on which
business will be done on so small scale
They have gone slowly until they are
confident that they can make success
of the business on a larger scale ant
those who have used the tomatoes pu
up by them do not need to be told tha
there is no trouble on the part Of til,