72 



CANNING THE SURPLUS 



case of two dozen cans. New cases for these twenty-four 

 cans cost thirteen cents each. Freight will average about 

 six cents. Labels for cans at three dollars per thousand cost 

 seven cents, fuel four cents, wear and tear five cents, and we 

 will allow two cents for spoilage due to defective cans or to 

 somebody's carelessness in packing, also five cents for in- 

 terest on money invested. Now we have a total cost of ninety 

 cents for the two dozen cans. To fill these two dozen cans 

 will take just about four half -bushel baskets, and the labor 

 item in preparing these tomatoes and filling and marketing 

 is thirty-five cents, making a total cost of a dollar and a 

 quarter for the two dozen cans, exclusive of the tomatoes. 

 These goods w^ill sell to the retail stores for a dollar and five 

 cents per dozen cans, or two dollars and ten cents for the 

 case, which leaves you eighty-five cents for the four baskets 

 of tomatoes. That is twenty-one cents per basket, and you 

 have saved the basket, which is another three cents, so you 

 have really received twentj'-four cents per basket for the 

 tomatoes after paying for every expense. 



Another little item comes in here, and that is the fact that, 

 if these tomatoes had been placed on the market, two per 

 cent, of them would have been unmarketable, due to crooked 

 or cracked ones that would have been thrown out and left at 

 home. So really by canning the tomatoes, we are receiving 

 as much as though we sold them for twenty-five cents on the 

 market. This is what we may call direct profits of the home 

 canning proposition., There are several secondary advan- 

 tages or little profits that we shall speak of later. 



Cooperative Canneries. 



The ideal method of canning the surplus, in my estimation, 

 is through a cooperative canning company, managed by some 

 young man who has been brought up on the farm and who 

 has a practical knowledge of both canning and growing crops. 

 The stock of the cannery should bear five or six per cent, in- 

 terest, be paid in full, and the majority of it should be held 

 by the growers, although a portion of it, say thirty or forty 

 per cent., may be sold to dealers and capitalists. The factory 

 should be prepared to handle every article that grows to best 



