FACTORY OPERATIONS. 21 



it -et for the older {MM*, the tender ones are overdone. It follows, 

 therefore, that to ^et irood results requires much judgment, and a 

 -\ iein of blanching te-ts could possibly be worked out to advantage. 

 The operation of blanching peas is of comparatively recent intro- 

 duction in the pea-packing process and at first was thought to be an 

 unnece-sary -tep. When the liquor was unattractive, the peas were 

 placed in 1 oo-e hair- or perforated buckets and suspended in hot 

 water for a -hort time, after which the water was drained off. From 

 tin- practice the operation of blanching developed, and at present a 

 numher of Uanchini: device- are on the market. Those seen in opera- 

 tion are of t\\o type-. In the older one the peas are held in a wire 

 l.a-ket \\hich i- -u-pended in a trough of hot water. The trough is 

 usually long, and mechanical device- are arranged to carry the baskets 

 tliroiiirh at -uch a -peed a- will insure their boing given a certain 

 lenirth of time I'm* the different sizes. These tanks vary from 20 to 80 

 h. The -econd type of hlaiichcr is that of the continuous 

 wa-her. A cylinder i- made to revolve in a shallow tank of water 

 and if run n n -peed, the pea- will he delivered at the oppo- 



-iie end in a given time. Sume of these cylinders are sectioned in 

 order to have .-leaner \\ah-r a- the blanching progresses. The hot 

 water i- admitted at one end and the wa-ie ex-apes from the opposite 

 rnd. The ra\\ pea- and the water enter opposite ends of the trough 

 >o that the clean pea- d<> not conu' in contact with the dirty water. 

 From a -anitaix -tandpoini. thi> i> the better type of apparatus, 

 though in practice, the trough blanchers are probably the more 

 .omieal. but not so cleanly. 



I II I !\. I 111. AN-. 



When the pea- leave the l.lancher. they are sometimes washed, and 

 thi- i- de-nable in order to in>ure a clear liquor, especially if the peas 

 ha\e heen blanched in wire !>a-ket- -us|)ende<l in a tank of water. 



The pea- are tilled into the cans by special machines, although in 

 very -mail fadone- tin- may be done by hand. The modern machines 

 do the work with a fair degree of accuracy, insuring a uniform quan- 

 tity in each can. then adding liquor to fill, so that the caps will just 

 n. Figure r, -hows a battery of filling machines into which the 

 are delivered directly from the blanchers. 



,11 is -aid to be wel'l tilled when the contents are within three- 

 eighth- inch of the cap and the peas are just covered with liquor. 

 Peas of excellent quality when covered to too great a depth with 

 liquor deteriorate in appearance as can be determined by inserting 

 a >piMiu and raiding the peas gently but without appreciably dis- 

 turbing the liquor. ( )n the other hand, if there is not sufficient liquor 

 to cover the pea-, they are not generally attractive, and if very short 



