The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-07-11
5ulIetins Being Sent Out by Geo
graphic Society, Point to the
Extent OF This
Industry.
CENTURY OLD METHOD
Earliest Ways Of Preserving Fruits
Were to Dry Them, Until
Fruit Jars Were
Invented.

Il The gigantic possibilities OF the
home canning industry in the United
States this summer. when it is so
eagerly hoped that the production OF
the vegetable gardens everywhere
VIII be vastly increased over the nor
NAL output are Sc. forth IN s buile-
tin issued by the National Geographi-
csl society from its Washington head
quarters The bulletin is s part of a
Communication TO the society from
/ William Joseph Showal.sr.
Oasfoorth OF our country's diet
consists OF ysge.ahles-products of
the truck garden, and yet, next to
Australians, Americans are the
worlds gresssst meat eaters. Our
census returns show that we produce
exclusive Of potatoes and sweet po-
tatoes- vegetables 10 q value OF se16,-
eoo, I.8a.
The tomato takes first rank. with
s s14,0A.ss9S production TO its credit:
the onion contributes exactly one
hall Is much to the total as the to-
z.sso- while corn makes a successful
bid for third place: watermelons gets
tolT1h place, with a production val
geo al SS.9ao.o00, and cantaloupes add.
ss-fFe-eSa more 10 the total Green
BEANS and green peas are Sc, 0a0. 900
crops These figures deal almost en-
l-s2y with the Production that gets
10 The city markets. and not with the
Fsss.ao-ss raised fog consumption on
sas farm
There is probably no farm house
N all the land so poor as 10 be with
CIT its vegetable garden and It's truck
-sz7c-es- and between the dried beans.
ca-l- PEAS, etc and the canned Gu
sz1es-s- 5as.s. tomatoes. ketchup
and WHAT NOT the thrifty rural house
vile 1SEes her family into the winter
VIII the assZraRcs that there will be
M osa-e q wgEa5Ees
The 1cCss administration OF the
gzyEzErlIa1i is nov pleading with the
w1rnan everywhere to increase their
output Of canned goods 50 that the
amount u FsgsEa5ls:s which ordinarily
Enas 1s WASTE may this rear as never
before. ne decreased TO a positively
frrad uEff7s niatnum-
Orchard Products Important
If The products OF the vegetable
garden figure extensively in. the
worlds diet. they play no greater role
than the products of the orchard, the
vineyard and the berry patch The
total yield of these, according to the
last census, is worth 1922, 600, 900 a
year.
Orchard fruits are produced In
America to an annual value of $780,
10000. We produce a bushel and a
half OF peaches, two quarts and half
Of Strawberries, and other things In
viz nd
trees yield So, ZOO, 600 worth OF fruit
a year, while our berry crop is valued
at s2s. 900 600
while most OF our fruits and vege-
tables come to us in their natural
state or canned. the country annual
ly produces millions OF dollars worth
OF dried fruits-a production which
figures more largely in other parts of
the world than In our own.
at is only little more than a CEN
tury since the fruit Jar came into use.
Before that the only way Of keeping
the fruits and vegetables that are
now canned was to dry them or put
them away in sugar or salt. The in
ventfon OF the modern process of can
ming Is credited to Nicholas Appert.
Frenchman. His method was to put
the food to be preserved in glass jars,
set them in boiling water. and when
the contents were thoroughly heated,
seal the Jar.
Early Processes.
Although Napoleon gave Appert
1900 francs for his work, he simply
had built on foundations well laid by
Spallanzi nearly half century be-
fore. The apparatus used by Appert in
his canning processes was very crude
but his discoveries laid the founda-
ton for one of the most important in
dustries of modern times, one which
has proved a boon to the urban
population o; the earth, and one
which in the present emergency is be-
ing depended upon to large extent,
to prevent the world from starving.
While Napoleon Bonaparte paid
for the discovery of the canning pro-
cess, England was quicker to take up
the discovery and utilize it for her
own purpose. About 1873 Ezra Dag
CERT brouzh to the United States
and oysters The process was gradu-
ally extended to pickles, jellies and
suaces
only the first centennial has
PASSED Of William Underwood's in
vention OF a process OF canning toma-
toes. and it Is only seventyeight
years since Isaac WinSlow learned
how to can corn at Portland, Me. To-
day the glass Jars Of Appert have
been succeeded, except IN the house
hold canning art, by the tin can, and
many wonderful machines have been
devised to save labor in the canning
industry.
"There are hulIing machines which
r,r take green peas out of the pods
at the rate OF 1000 bushels day;
there are separators which viii grade
the peas according to size: there are