Vol. LVII. No. 2545. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 5, 1898. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
A VISIT TO A CORN-CANNING FACTORY. 
TUB WHOLE OPERATION EXPLAINED. 
Even the Husks Are Saved. 
A Great Institution. —The average purchaser of 
a can of corn seldom asks anything concerning it ex¬ 
cept as to its quality; if that is satisfactory, all is 
well. Yet each can of corn has a histor-y which is in¬ 
tensely interesting, and about which 
few people have a chance to learn. 
It was recently my good fortune 
to visit the large canning establish¬ 
ment of Mr. John F. White, at Mount 
Morris, N. Y., where I learned 
something of the way in which corn 
is canned. This factory is located 
in the beautiful Genesee Valley, 
one of the finest farming sections 
in the world. Mr. White cans not 
only corn, but asparagus, peas, 
beans, tomatoes, plums, etc., taking 
various crops in their season. Thus 
the factory is en¬ 
abled to run for a 
much longer 
period than would 
be the case if corn 
alone were can¬ 
ned. lie makes 
a specialty, how¬ 
ever, of corn, and 
as this was the 
crop which was 
being worked 
upon at the time 
of my visit, I will 
describe the vari¬ 
ous processes for 
the benefit of the 
readers of The It. 
N.-Y. 
P reparations 
for Canning Corn, something 
like preparations for exhibiting 
at the county fair, mu6t begin in 
the Spring. The crop must be 
contracted for, and if farmers 
will not raise an acreage suffi¬ 
ciently large, then land must be 
rented and the factory manage¬ 
ment will grow the corn, or a 
portion of it. There is seldom 
any difficulty in contracting with 
farmers. The price received by 
the grower is $6 per ton for the 
ears of corn with the husks on. 
The average yield per acre varies 
from four to six tons, with an average of about 4X tons per 
acre. Those who give their crop extra good care, and who un¬ 
derstand their work, have no difficulty in securing six tons per 
acre of ears. This must be delivered at the factory by the 
grower. About 600 acres of corn have been grown this year to 
supply the factory ; about one-half of this has been grown by 
farmers under contract, and the remainder by the manage¬ 
ment. It is necessary to make two pickings of the corn from 
the field. The wagons are driven through, ami the corn is 
thrown directly to the wagon box and hauled to the factory. 
At the Factory.—It is at the factory that the interesting 
part of the work begins, for all understand how Stowell’s 
Evergreen corn is grown. The corn is thrown from the 
wagons upon a large platform upon which the huskers 
are seated. These huskers, men and women, boys and 
girls, remove the husks and the silks from the ears, 
for which work they receive four cents per bushel. 
The rapidity with which they work would put to 
shame many a farm lad to whom the husking of the 
corn seems a never-ending task. The pay received 
enables many of the workers to ifaake $1.50 per day. 
The huskers are a jolly crowd, evidently well satis¬ 
fied, and when at their work, remind one somewhat 
of a southern “shucking bee”. From 75 to 100 per¬ 
sons are employed to do this 
part of the work. 
From the huskers, the corn 
is dumped upon large tables, 
SCENES AT A CORN CANNING FACTORY. Fig'. 339. 
and here it is sorted, 
knives which remove 
amin.ed as to quality. 
Every ear, before going to the 
the corn from the cob, is ex- 
If too mature, or if not mature 
enough, the ear is thrown out and the corn from it is 
not allowed to go in the cans. These sorters stand by 
a carrier or endless belt which conveys the ears to the 
machines which cause corn and cob to part company. 
The ears are fed into these machines, small end first, 
and are forced forward by a system of chains and 
locks upon the knives. The stripping knives are two 
for each set, and they are so set that they open and 
close to fit the size of the ear 
which is passing between 
them. See Fig. 340. 
From the cutting knives, 
the corn is conveyed to re¬ 
volving cylindrical sieves. 
These separate any small 
pieces of cob that may have 
been cut off by the knives in 
the preceding process, and also 
take out all silks which may 
not have been removed by the 
huskers. This operation is a 
most important one, and it re¬ 
minded me of canned corn I 
have seen which, evidently, 
had not been subjected to this 
cleaning process. From the 
silker or revolving sieves, the 
corn is conveyed through 
pipes having a steam jacket, 
and the temperature is raised 
to about 180 degrees F. 
Into the Cans.—Boys upon 
an upper floor feed into chutes 
the cans. The bottom of the 
chute is an endless belt which 
carries the cans 
forward, and as 
they move along, 
they are filled with 
corn by an auto¬ 
matic ejector 
which apportions 
to each can the 
proper amount. A 
rapidly - revolving 
brush removes any 
corn which may 
have been depos¬ 
ited upon the top 
of the can, and 
girls place the 
cap, upon the edge 
of which is a little 
ring of soldering 
metal. Without ever stopping in its 
course, the can passes quickly under two 
small revolving brushes, which put the 
acid around on the edge of the cap ; the 
red-hot soldering iron comes down upon 
it, the ring of soldering metal is melted, 
and the cap is set firmly in place. A 
small air-hole in the center of the cap 
remains, which is quickly closed by a 
man with soldering iron and metal in 
hand. This small hole is necessary at 
first, as it serves as a vent to allow the 
escape of gas which may form when the 
cap is soldered c n. All of this work is 
done quicker than it can be described. 
This will be appreciated when it is 
known that the capacity of the factory 
is about 50,000 cans per day. 
The corn, up to the time of being 
sealed, has not been cooked, only heated up to 180 
degrees. After being sealed, the cans are put into 
large crates capable of holding from 200 to 300 cans, 
and are lowered into the boilers and allowed to re¬ 
main for 30 minutes, after which they are dumped in 
the back yard to cool. Here they are carefully sorted 
over, and any which are found to be not well sealed, 
