Page 12 



BETTER FRUIT 



July 



Speed Your Sales ^F 



Our Apple and Case Labels will make 

 your pack more attractive to the buy- 

 er's eye. 



It's the best looking package that 

 sells first and usually brings the fancy 

 price. 



Our experts on fruit packing will 

 advise you free of charge. 



WRITE NEAREST OFFICE 



Schmidt Lithograph Co. 



SAN FRANCISCO 



Los Angeles Fresno Portland Seattle 



Salt Lake City 



lies for the leading states, for 1899 and 

 1909, I wish to call your attention to 

 the following chart: 



CHART I. 



CANNING AND PRESERVING— VALUE OF 



PRODUCTS FOR LEADING STATES, 



1909 AND 1899. 



Millions of Dollars 

 n S ll'i 24 32 



California HT^^T..,.n--o.T^^^"'^^^^ 



Ne%\ York t^^^TTTT^^'"^^^" 



Maryland 



Washington TZTT!?"^ 



Pennsylvania ^^^^"^ 



Indiana ^^"^^ 



Maine ^^^ 



Illinois .^^TT" 



Massachusetts TS^^T 



Michigan rT^ 



W'isconsin 7^^ ^^^^1909 



Ohio TTT" ....... 18S« 



New Jersey iH 



Oregon JT 



Iowa 7T 



Delaware ST 



Kentucky .t" 



Virginia ^ 



Missouri ^ 



Colorado ," 



Minnesota ^ 



Utah — 



In presenting the above figures and 

 charts I do so with a view of showing 

 the true condition existing at the pres- 

 ent time. If it is impossible to main- 

 tain and manage and at a profit operate 

 a large commercial cannery, possessing 

 all the most modern, improved machin- 

 ery, etc., 1 believe the immediate solu- 

 tion of Ihe problem is the establishment 

 of small community canneries, or indi- 

 vidual outfits. Such plants can be 

 bought at prices that will come within 

 the reach of all. I sec no reason why 

 these smaller plants cannot, under most 

 conditions, conveniently take care of 

 all perishable products that go to waste 

 in ccrlain localities. The Horticultural 

 Department of the University of Idaho 

 has been operating for the past three 

 years, and successfully, too, one of 

 these small plants. The fruit and vege- 

 tables arc all processed under steam 



pressure. These small canning facto- 

 ries cost from $200 to .$500. 



The outfit that was installed at the 

 University consists of two steam-tight 

 retorts, 27 inches deep and 25 Inches in 

 diameter, each one holding 144 No. 2 

 cans, 90 No. 2V2 cans, and 21 No. 10 

 cans. Two galvanized iron crates, in 

 which the cans are placed, are also 

 furnished. These have openings in the 

 bottom and side for free access and cir- 

 culation of steam. A steam boiler, com- 

 plete, one blast furnace, two capping 

 irons, lipping irons, iron complete for 

 crane, etc., are included. The daily 

 capacity of the plant depends almost 

 entirely upon the speed of the em- 

 ployees, as well as the number em- 

 ployed. The claims of one manufac- 

 turer are that from five thousand to ten 

 thousand cans per day can be pro- 

 cessed, depending, of course, entirely 

 upon the kind of goods packed. We 

 employ one man to solder and tip the 

 cans and to care for the boiler; another 

 to load and unload the crates, to take 

 away the cans and attend to the blanch- 

 ing and scalding; a woman to fill the 

 cans and prepare them for the capper. 

 Then enough girls to prepare the fruits 

 and vegetables for the cans. The length 

 of time it takes one person to prepare 

 fruits and vegetables is as follows: 

 Peas, 12 pounds per hour or 120 pounds 

 per day; beans, 8 pounds per hour or 

 80 ])ounds per day; tomatoes, 37 pounds 

 per hour or 370 pounds per day; 

 peaches. 34 pounds per hour or 380 

 pounds per day; apricots, 22 pounds per 

 hour or 22(1 pounds i)er day; pie cher- 

 ries, two gallons per hour or 20 gal- 

 lons per day; cherries, 45 pounds per 

 hour or 450 pounds per day; raspber- 

 ries, 10 minutes per crate, six crates 

 per hour, or 60 crates per day; straw- 

 berries, one crate per hour or ten crates 

 lier day. 



The following table shows approxi- 

 mately the capacity of our home can- 

 nery, that we have installed at the 

 Idaho Experiment Station, prepared on 

 the basis of one person filling cans. As 

 it can readily be seen, the output of 

 this plant could be doubled by increas- 

 ing the labor, as the retorts are not 

 kept busy the entire day. (For length 

 of time required to process the differ- 

 ent fruits and vegetables, see table.) 



TARLE III. 



Toma- 

 Peaches iocs Peas 

 Number persons employed — 



Filling 1 1 1 



Shelling or peeling 2 3 6 



Soldering and processing. . . 1 1 1 



Number cans per hour 32 33 37 



Number cans per day 320 330 370 



Size of cans 2V2 2yt, 2 



Number pounds raw material — 



Per can 1% 214 2 



Used per day 560 742 740 



The yield will vary according to the 

 general care of crops, condition of soil, 

 etc. Peas at the station have yielded at 

 the rate of 6,188 pounds or 206 bushels 

 per acre. A bushel of unshelled peas 

 weighs 30 pounds. To keep the plant 

 supplied with peas for one day would 

 require the produce from one-eighth of 

 an acre. At the rate of seven tons of 

 tomatoes per acre, it will take the prod- 

 uct of one-eighteenth of an acre to keep 

 five people employed daily. To turn 

 out 320 No. 2V2 cans of peaches per day 

 it will require 25 boxes. From the 

 above data, you can readily see that it 

 would take the products from a great 

 many farms to keep a ■*500 plant sup- 

 plied, let alone a $2,000 factory. 



We have endeavored to ascertain as 

 accurately as possible the actual cost 

 of packing the various fruits and vege- 

 tables. Summarizing our figures for 

 the past three years, the average cost 

 per case shows to be as follows: Peas, 

 .$1.89 for No. 2 cans; beans, $1.57 for 

 No. 2 cans; tomatoes, $1.73 for No. 2V2 

 cans; corn, $1.91 for No. 2 cans; 

 peaches, $1.86 for No. 2M> cans; apri- 

 cots, $2.21 for No. 21/2 cans; raspber- 



