58 BULLETIN 196, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
essentially the same result. In 1843 he built 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 sufficfént 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 corn 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 with acase 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, Ill., 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 
Country Gentleman of the latter. The corn is planted and cultivated in the same way 
as field corn, and is gathered by snapping off the ear when it is in its prime. The 
ears are hauled to the factory 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, equipped 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 while on the way to the 
silking machine is sorted for quality. A high grade may be secured only by selecting 
ears with grains which are uniformly tender. Corn 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 carried 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 irregularity 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 from the time the ear is fed into the cutter unti] 
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 circular frame, so that they will 
accommodate themselves to the varying size of the cob. Scrapers complete the work 
by removing 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 © 
