Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-10-06
CANNING CORN.
Names Interesting Industry Where Processes Of Business That Al
Everything Done in HASTE wv Wholly by Machinery
0IGTJIw

All up and down the State d
Maine the canned corn industry is an
ephemeral season of feverish actiV,.
w. lasting not over a fortnight, upon
which the whole outcome of the
years industry depends.
During the last weeks of August
freight cars full of tin cans are shubt-
ed into the shops; the yards have
been carefully cleaned and every
thing is prepared for the impending
hustle, in which, perhaps, 1000, 900
cans must be filled, sealed and made
ready for market.
The buyer" all this time is max.
ing his daily rounds in a light wagon,
visiting all the corn raisers within
twenty miles, seeing that the con
tracts, signed year before, are being
carried out and ascertaining Just
when each growers crop will be
ready for the mill No man must
bring in his corn until it is called for;
no man dares delay it (for greater
Weight) after the order has gone
forth. The system is perfection and
insures a steady and ample supply
Tor the two weeks Of canning time
lust enough for the machinery to take
care OF, no more, no less. Without
1t the corn might lie a day or two in
the shop yard and spoil, for green
corn is a highly perishable Commnd-
ity.
Wnen everything is absolutely
ready the foreman gives the word.
Instantly the most amazing activity
ensues. Every man, woman and
child who can possibly get away from
other occupations is requisitioned by
tAe shop; school is delayed until can
ming time is over; every other bust
ress is subordinated to the pressing
task of getting the corn into the
cans before the frost strikes it. In
side the mill the complex machines
begin to hum, outside, the yard fills
up with women and children, waiting
for the corn to come.
The first load is acclaimed with
cheers as it numbers in behind a yoke
of red oxen; no sooner is it dumped
thar the swarm of workers burrows
into it like so many bees, stripping
and tearing off the husks; in five min
utes the first lot of heaping bushel
baskets, piled high with sweet green
corn, is being wheeled away to the
cutters" Another and another load
the game is on.
Nothing in our prosaic American |
life could be more picturesque, more
suggestive of the free, open air labor
Of southern Europe than this yard |
'ull of people, in all manner of parti-
'olored dress, kneeling and sitting
around the heaps of corn, stripping |
away for dear life. The incentive is
i've cents for every bushel of husked |
'orn-quite enough to make the pow
erty bitten ruralites dig in" for all |
hey are worth. Many a new suit of
clothes, many Sunday bonnet come |
'ut of these bushel baskets.
Meanwhile, as the OK teams, drays
Ind wagons Of every description are
hauling in the corn, and the chatter
ng, competing townsfolk are husking
lway like mad, the stripped corn is
lauled away on trucks to the first
the CUTTERS" clever de-
ices which whip off every kernel in
|. twinkling and toss the cobs out into
he yard again through a chute. The
ars of corn running through these
machines make you think of process
ion of rats scampering into their
IoIes; they whisk along almost faster
han the eye can follow. One cut
er, fed by boy, does the work that
required ten or a dozen men
rmed with corn knives.
The meaty kernels, running with
yhite juice, are poured down into
ats, from these machines, whence
hey are conveyed to a big rotating
ieve which sorts out bits of cob,
efuse and the like, letting only the
lean and perfect corn pass through.
his corn is all caught in another
at, called the tinker" where it is
J thoroughly incorporated by ma