The Republican., 1923-07-12
CANNING PLANT AT L0CH
LYNN IN FULL OPERATION
Early Variety of Peas have Been
Harvested and Canned
Late Crop Coming

The canning plant of the Mount
Airy (Md) Canning Company, locat-
ed at Loeb Lynn Heights, opposite
Mountain Lake Park, has been in sue
cessful operation for upwards of two
weeks canning early peas, approx
imately a hundred and fifty acres of
this vegetable having been harvested
and put into containers since the op-
ening of the season.
The peas are of fine quality and the
yield has been up to the expectations
of the canning company's representa-
tiyes considering the unusually dry
weather of few weeks ,ago, followed
by a week of storms and rains.
The early crop is now all harvested
and canned. The later crop will be
cut and canned in a very short time
if weather conditions remain favora-
bic for the work.
The method of harvesting and can
ming this product Of the fields is a
revelation to those who have never
witnessed the work.
First, the peas are cut by the grow
ers with d mower, loaded on a wa
gon and hauled in the vines to the
canning factory. Here they are fed
from the wagons into the viners or
hullers, which separates the peas by
means of paddles in revolving cyIin-
der. It requires from ten to fifteen
minutes to hull a two-horse load of
peas.
From the viners the peas are car
ried by conveyors to the cleaner where
all chaff, split peas, etc, are removed
automatically. Here they are also
weighed and a record made of the
number of pounds threshed from each
load. From the cleaner they go to d
washer, where they are thoroughly
washed in pure water. They drop au-
tonlatically from the washer to a
continuous revolving picking belt
where numbers Of women and girls
remove any foreign matter, such as
hulls, small stones, weed seeds, etc,
that remained after the washing and
other processes had failed to remove.
From the picking table the peas drop
into a grader which separates the
various sizes-usually about five, des-
ignated on the lables as follows: No.
/, Petis Pois; No. >, Extra Sifted; No.
3, Sifted; No. and No. 5, Early June
Peas.
After the grading has been accom-
plished the different grades are put
through blancher for about four
minutes at boiling temperature. From
the blancher they pass through an
other machine filled with cold running
water.
They are now ready to can and are
poured into an automatic filler which
fills the cans at the rate of about one
hundred per minute. From the filling
machine they pass to the Gaping ma
chine which places the top on the can
and seals it. The filled cans are then
placed in steam retorts and processed
for about thirty minutes at a high
temperature. After coming from the
retorts the cans are placed in cold
,uo+or or1 cooloJ INN, aJio +oI1, 70 ,,ro
vent cooking any further and to ena-
bic them to be handled.
They are then labeled, packed in
boxes, usually two dozen to the case,
and shipped to the distributing agen-
cies, which pass them on to the re-
tailers and finally to the consumers.
Within the period of forty-five min
utes from the time the producer drives
to the viners his peas are in cans
ready for the consumer.
In the process of canning the peas
none but sanitary machines of the
very latest and approved types are
allowed to be used in this plant.
With the success of the present
year, it is probable that next sea-
son many additional acres will be
sown in peas and other vegetables,
such as corn, beans, etc, will also be
canned by this concern.