B. P. I.— 530. 



THE UTILIZATION OF PRA-CANNERY 

 REFUSE FOR F'ORAGE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Most of the peas grown for canning purposes are produced in the 

 States of New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Ilhnois, Michigan, 

 New Jersey, and Maryland. This branch of the canning industry has 

 made great growth during the past few years and is being rapidly 

 extended to new territory, especially in those States where it is already 

 established. 



In the early days of the pea-canning industry it was the practice 

 to pick the green pods from the vines and shell them by hand, a slow 

 and laborious process. With the invention of the ''viner," a machine 

 for thrashing peas out of the green pods, hand shelling has been largely 

 done away with and the canning industry given a tremendous impetus. 

 Wlicre these viners are used, the peas can be cut with a mower, 

 hauled to the cannery, and thraslied while green. This leaves the 

 canner with a large quantity of refuse vines to be disposed of in some 

 way. 



When the growing of peas for canning purposes first began to be 

 extensively engaged in, the feeding value of the refuse vines was not 

 fully appreciated and the canners experienced no little difficulty in 

 keeping the factories free from this waste. At some factories the 

 canners rcMiuired the farmers who v/ere growing peas for them to take 

 away a load of vines for every load of peas hauled to the cannery. At 

 others the vines were dumped in piles near the factory and later 

 hauled out for manure. Vvhen these waste vines were allowed to 

 accumulate in loose piles near the factory a rapid decomposition 

 would set in, and the stench from this decaying mass of vegetable 

 matter would be almost unbearable. As a result of this condition 

 the tefuse vines were often hauled out and dumped in immense piles 

 at some distance from the factory and later hauled away by tlie farm- 

 ers and used as a fertilizer. This practice is still in vogue in some sec- 

 tions where the feeding value of the vines is not yet appreciated. 



The dumping of vines in large piles soon led to the discovery that 

 quite a percentage of the vines thus handled was preserv^ed like silage 



tCir. 45] 3 



