Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-04
Shipping Fresh and Canning.

shipped.
Shipping Fresh and Canning.
About one-half the peach crop is ship
ped fresh to the eastern market. More
than two hundred carloads have left
Marysvile this season for Chicago alone.
and a corresponding amount to other
places but there is said to be an even
greater profit in canning. The value Of
the peach crop amounts into the millions
annually.
There are probably twenty five thou
sand acres of peach orchards in this
immediate vicinity, and most of them
are comparatively small Few include
more than one hundred acres. and many
are small as twenty-five acres. which
is as much as one man can attend to-
The average crop of peaches runs about
five tons to the acre, and the fruit Sells
the season through, for an average of
$40 a ton. although better prices are
paid for the earliest pickings and rare
varieties The business is SO immense
that people do not brag about it any
more. Nearly all the ''peachers'' live on
their ranches and look after their own
fruit. There are only few stock COM
panies. Most of the labor is in the pick
ing. and being strictly summer crop.
the peachers so to San Francisco and
eastern cities to spend the winter The
greater part of the labor in the orchards
comes out from the cities in the spring
to remain until after the crop is picked,
including large numbers of young men
from the universities at Stanford and
Berkeley, who earn enough in the or
chards to carry them through the col
lege year.
There are large canneries at Yuba
City. Marysville Chico, Sacramento and
other places along the valley. Every
thing is done by machinery. the same as
that used in the Michigan canneries and
elsewhere in the east.
] went through the cannery Of the Cali
fornia Fruit Growers Association of
Marysville. where 10000 cases of
peaches. twenty-four cans to the case, are
packed and shipped each season. and sew
eral hundred women are employed. The
fruit arrives continually by team and
rail from the middle of July to the latter
part of September, and is weighed like
hay by receiver who gives a check or
receipt. which Is as good as cash at any
of the stores or banks. The receipts are
made out by the ton. and the price varies
considerably from season to season. Two
years ago. when there was a short crop,
the canneries were paying $40 ton: to-
day they are paying $40. and that is about
the average year after year.
The Process Of Canning.
The peaches are carried from the re-
ceiving room in boxes to the cutters.
women who divide the fruit in half take
out the pits and throw the halves into a
stream of cold running water, which car
ries them into a vat of weak boiling I've.
where they remain for seven seconds.
which is long enough to cause the skin
to disntegrate. From this vat the fruit
passes into a revolving cylinder. where it
is jOted about under jets of cold water
with eighty pounds pressure. which
cleanses it thoroughly and washes off the
skin. From this cold bath it energies
upon an endless belt and passes along
before a row Of bright-eyed girls who
inspect each piece carefully and pick out
those that are defective. The belt dumps
with holes OF different sizes through
which the fruit falls onto belts under
meath. running at right angles, and is thus
assorted according to sizes
These belts pass before another row of
girls who pick up the pieces and put them
into cans. AS fast as a can is filled it is
placed upon another belt and is carried
under spray of melted sugar. where it
remains long enough for the can to be
I'LL with sirup. 1t then continues on
It's journey past soldering machine
where the top Is put on and soldered
while it is still in motion.
At the end of the belt the filled can
Is dumped into vat of boiling water.
II the soldering Is imperfect there will
be bubbles on the surface of the water
and boy lifts out the can to be, repair
ed; otherwise the can passes on through
a cooking machine forty feet long where
Is allowed 10 remain In cloud OF
steam until the peaches are thoroughIy
cooked. Then the can comes out at the
farther end. resumes its journey upon an
endless belt and finally lands in an adj
joining warehouse. where it is labeled
with the trade mark of the buyer, packed
in boxes and shipped to its destination
Last year 5000 tons OF peaches were
canned in Marysviile and 5000 tons CT
fresl, fruit. 1000 tons of figs and 200 tons
Of almonds were shipped to market.
The Thompson Seedless Grapes.
The Thompson seedless grape is almost