River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1922-03-02

Wisconsin is the banner pea canning
state in the Union. One-half of all the
peas canned in the United States are
packed in this STATE.
The industry was started, in a
small way, more than thirty years
ago by Albert Landreth of Manitowoc
on the shores of Lake Michigan. This
was before the days of labor saving
machinery, and all the peas had to be
picked and shelled by hand. A ma
chine was soon perfected, however, to
shell the peas from the pods, and by
1895 the viner, a machine which opens
the pods without removing them from
the vine, was in operation, so that
hand picking was unnecessary.
Many Pea Canning Centers.
Success has followed the industry
from its start but not without some
ups and downs. Farmers and bust
ness men from adjoining counties,
greatly attracted by the reports from
Manitowoc, Sturgeon Bay and Green
Bay, began agitating for factories at
Columbus, Randolph and many other
places. The pioneers along the lake
shore discouraged them with stories
about the necessity Of proximity to the
lake shore to make conditions suit
able for development. However, men
like the Hutchinson brothers of Ran
dolph and Leitsch OF Columbus were
not turned back, and today the area
In the vicinity of Dodge county sup
ports enough canning plants to put
up half the pack of Wisconsin. There
is at least one canning factory at
nearly every railroad station.
The location of factories is de-
termined by the adaptability OF the
soil for pea growing. the availability
of labor for the factories during the
rush season of canning, and the pres
ence in the organizations of far-sighted
business men to carry the responsible
tiles OF hazardous operation.
Hazards in Pea Canning.
The early Gamers lost heavily from
some unknown cause of swelling and
bursting of the cans. The leading
Gamers scratched their heads in vain
for the solution and then appealed to
the University of Wisconsin for as
sistance. DR.. III. L. Russell, then
fresh from his studies on plant bac-
teriology at Johns Hopkins, made
study of the bacteria present in their
spoiled cans of peas. He found the
cause of the trouble TO be the pres
ence of gas-forming bacteria. These
were able to live through the heating
process then in use. The temperature
that would kill the spores of these
"gas bugs" was determined and found
to be within the reach of the practi-
cal Gamer, so that Russell's con-
clusions are now made use of in every
day practice.
Pea blight, term given to crop
troublesome to most canning COM
panies after they have been established
a few years. The practice had been
TO grow peas after peas without rota-
fion and the soil became filed with
fungus spores which were found by
Experiment station to be the cause of
the trouble There is no easy remedy
for blight, and when once field be-
comes sick, it should not be seeded to
peas for a number of years.
insects Play Havoc.
Insects have from time to time
played havoc with the pea crop. First
the pea weevil tried to destroy the
seed then the lice came to devour the
leaves, and the pea moth to work on
the pods. The entomologists have
aided in solving the problem of con-
trolling or destroying these insect
pests. The weevil can be killed by
fumigating the seed with carbon
bisulphide; the lice prefer clover.
which protects the peas, if it is left
standing longer than usual The pea