58 BULLETIN 196, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



essentially the same result. In 1843 he bailt a small boiler to generate steam and a 

 wooden box in which to put the cans, so that the cooking might be done in a closed 

 steam chamber. As the results were less successful than in the previous years, the 

 steam box was discarded. It was not until 1853 that he had sufficient success to 

 warrant applying for a patent on his method, and it was regarded with so much dis- 

 trust that the letters were not granted until 1862. Winslow first packed the com on 

 the cob, but this was bulky, and he believed that the cob absorbed some of the 

 sweetness. He next pulled the kernels off the cob with a fork, and finally cut the 

 corn Avith a case knife. Winslow's apparatus and methods were crude, but he dis- 

 covered the principles which underlie the canning of corn. It may also be said that 

 he and his successors brought fame to Maine corn as a canned product, and this repu- 

 tation persists to the present time. 



The canning of corn is a large industry in Maine and other States extending from 

 New York to Maryland, west to Iowa, and north to Minnesota. In most of the Eastern 

 States the crop is grown by numerous farmers in small patches of a few acres, while 

 several of the western factories raise their own corn, covering hundreds of acres. At 

 Hoopeston, 111., two canneries use the product of 7,500 acres. Claims are made that 

 certain sections produce better and sweeter corn than others. This is not always sus- 

 tained by facts, for quality is also affected by the variety and state of maturity when 

 gathered. Again, some canners pay more attention to the quantity of corn grown 

 on an acre than to the quality. The seed used is grown by specialists, as a rule, and 

 a very large part of it comes from Connecticut, a State in which no canning of corn 

 is done. The type of corn used now is quite different from that canned several years 

 ago. The effort is to develop a tender, fine-flavored sweet corn. The ears are of two 

 types, those having large, flat kernels arranged in rows and those with small, long 

 kernels irregularly placed. Stowell's Evergreen is typical of the former type and 

 Countiy Gentleman of the latter. The corn is planted and cultivated in the same way 

 as field com, and is gathered by snapping off the ear when it is in its prime. The 

 ears are hauled to the factoiy in the husk in order to protect the kernels from injury in 

 handling and from dirt and exposure. 



A modern corn-canning plant is a large establishment, eqidpped with valuable 

 automatic machinery to do the work in a rapid, cleanly manner. When the corn 

 arrives at the factory it is dumped from the wagon onto a conveyer, which carries 

 the ears to different parts of the husking shed as they are needed. Most of the husking 

 is done by hand, but this practice will undoubtedly give way to machine methods, 

 as the husking machines have been almost perfected in recent years. As rapidly 

 as a bushel measure is husked it is put upon a conveyer, and wliile on the way to the 

 silking machine is sorted for quality. A high gi-ade may be secured only by selecting 

 ears with grains which are uniformly tender. Com which is too old or too young to 

 make a fancy grade of goods is taken out and held until a sufficient quantity accu- 

 mulates to make a run on a lower grade. The silking is done by means of rolls and 

 brushes. As the ear revolves on its axis and at the same time is canied forward, it is 

 gently wiped by rapidly revolving brushes, which pick up any silk that may be 

 attached. This work is done with remarkable rapidity and by machinery so carefully 

 adjusted for any iiTCgularity in the size of the ears or even in a single ear that there 

 is no chafing or bruising of the tenderest grains. This process is immediately followed 

 at some factories by a thorough spraying with water, while at others this is omitted, 

 the claim being made that a certain flavor is lost. 



The corn is cut by machinery, and fi'om the time the ear is fed into the cutter until 

 the corn is sealed in the can it is not again touched by hand. The ear is forced through 

 a series of curved knives, mounted in an adjustable circxdar frame, so that they will 

 accommodate themselves to the varying size of the cob. Scrapers complete the work 

 by remo^dng the grain and soft bits of kernel at the base. The corn again passes 

 through a machine to remove bits of silk, husk, or cob, so that the final product is as 



