1874 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
331 
the sensibilities, and so corrupt the morals. 
All the associations are low and degrading. 
There may be laws against these contests in 
some of the States, but they are seldom en¬ 
forced, and do not remedy the evil. Our poul¬ 
try societies have some responsibility in foster¬ 
ing the breeding of these birds. As a matter 
of fact, we think most of them would be found 
obnoxious to the charge of discriminating in 
their favor, instead of encouraging the more 
useful and ornamental varieties. In looking 
over the special premiums of the fifth exhibi¬ 
tion of the Connecticut Poultry Society, where 
we should hardly look for such discrimination, 
we find the highest premium in the list, valued 
at $50, offered for the best collection of game 
fowls. With the single exception of the Asiatic 
fowls, the largest amount of premiums is offer¬ 
ed for games. The premiums for turkeys, the 
most valuable of all our domestic birds, amount 
to $34. For geese, $8. For Hamburgs, $28. 
For the games, $225. Now, if the object of 
these societies is the promotion of the com¬ 
mon weal, the highest premiums should be 
offered for the birds that are most useful, or for 
those that promise to be such. The managers 
should so arrange the list of premiums, as to 
draw out the birds that will be most profitable 
upon the farm, and in the poultry yard. No 
special inducements are needed for the breed¬ 
ing of game fowls. That business would take 
care of itself, if the premiums were altogether 
diverted to the more useful classes. 
Canning Tomatoes, Fruits, etc. 
A number of inquiries have reached us in 
regard to the canning business, especially with 
reference to tomatoes. One who has a few 
acres of tomatoes that promise a heavy crop, 
naturally wishes to make the most of them, 
and he thinks that bis crop would be more 
profitable if he could can it, than if it were 
sold at the ordinary prices, and he writes to us 
to tell him how to do it. Persons who make 
these inquiries have but little idea of the ex¬ 
tent of the canning business, or they would 
see the impracticability of carrying it on upon 
a small scale. In the large establishments, 
such is the division of labor and the employ¬ 
ment of machinery, that the products are 
turned out at an exceedingly low rate. Three 
pound cans of tomatoes, are sold by dealers in 
New York at a handsome profit, at $2.25 a 
dozen. There is no establishment, so far as we 
are aware, that puts up tomatoes exclusively, 
the operations include peaches and other 
fruits, and in Maryland, where are the largest 
factories, the working season is made contin¬ 
uous, by putting up oysters for the inland 
markets. We visited one of these large estab¬ 
lishments in the peach season, and found over 
100 women, black and white, engaged in peel¬ 
ing and cutting up peaches; all the cans used 
were made by machinery on the place, and 
the establishment was a small village in itself. 
We mention these matters, to show what one 
who undertakes the business in a small way 
has to compete with, and how difficult it will 
be for one, single-handed, to undertake a 
business that can only be profitably carried on 
upon a large scale, with every facility for rapid 
work. In the canning factory referred to, the 
peaches were peeled on the upper floor, and 
thrown into hoppers which extended to tables 
on the lower floor, the cans were filled by 
placing them under the lower end of the hop¬ 
pers, and pressing the fruit in with the fingers. 
The cans were then passed to another table, 
where syrup—about one pound of sugar to the 
gallon of water—was filled in, time being 
allowed for all the air between the peaches to 
escape. The cans then passed to hands who 
washed away whatever syrup was spilled upon 
them, and then they went to the tin-men; 
these put on the small circular cover, soldering 
it very rapidly; each cover had a small hole 
pricked in the center, to allow the escape of 
air, and after the soldering was complete, this 
hole was closed by a drop of solder. The 
soldered cans were then placed in an iron 
grating, and lowered into a tank of water 
which could be heated by steam. As the tem¬ 
perature of the water increased any imperfect 
cans could be discovered and taken out. The 
water was then raised to boiling, and the cans 
cooked half an hour, more or less, according 
to the size and the kind of the peaches. The 
cans were then placed in a store room, which 
had the capacity of a million, and was already 
well filled. The labels are not put upon the 
cans until they are ready to be packed in 
boxes. The factory was not running upon 
tomatoes at the time of our visit, and to 
answer inquiries as to canning these, we give 
an extract from the Oneida Circular. The 
canned goods put up by the Oneida community 
have an excellent reputation, and this is due to 
the great care with which their processes are 
conducted. We do not know what is the cus¬ 
tom with the Oneida Community, but others 
engaged in the business, early in the season 
make contracts with farmers for their whole 
crop, early and late, at a given price, and they 
also make their contracts with dealers to take 
their product, long before a single can is put up. 
The method of preserving tomatoes is sim¬ 
ple. They are first slightly scalded, sufficiently 
to peel nicely, and when peeled, are thrown 
into pans in order to let some of the watery 
part drain off. They are then packed into 2£ 
pound cans, leaving just room enough for a 
large spoonful of syrup. This syrup is made 
by dissolving 2^ pounds of salt, and the same 
amount of sugar, in one gallon of water. The 
cans are then sealed and placed on sheet-iron 
pans, holding thirty-five cans each, and lowered 
into a vat containing boiling water of sufficient 
depth to cover them. If a can is not tight, it 
may be readily discovered by the air which 
will escape through the hole, causing bubbles 
to rise to the surface of the water. The leaky 
can should be immediately taken out and the 
hole stopped. All kinds of vegetables and 
fruits put up in cans, should be first tested in 
this way before they are bathed. When a vat 
full of tomatoes has thus been tested and pre¬ 
pared, the pans are lowered into the vat, one 
top of the other, and the steam let on, allowing 
the tomatoes to boil thirty minutes. In case 
cans larger in diameter are used, longer cook¬ 
ing will be necessary. When the tomatoes are 
done, the pans and their contents are hoisted 
out, and the cans, after they have cooled a lit¬ 
tle, are vented by opening the prick-hole in 
the cap with the soldering iron, allowing the 
steam to escape, and then immediately clos¬ 
ing the aperture. When the cans have cool¬ 
ed, if all right, the heads will snap in by a 
slight pressure, showing that there is a good 
vacuum. 
Ogden Farm Papers—No. 55. 
I have several letters from parties interested 
in the record of pedigrees in the Herd Register 
of the American Jersey Cattle Club, of which 
I am Secretary. One asks: “ Is it really a fact 
that the fee for registration has been increased 
to $5 ? In talking of the matter, I have heard 
expression given to intentions, by breeders in 
this section, that if carried out, will not tend to 
increase the number of herd registered ani¬ 
mals. Who are eligible, and what are the re¬ 
quirements for admission to the club ?—I 
should like your opinion as to whether it is ad¬ 
visable to breed from a Jersey with a pink 
skin. I have known several animals exhibit¬ 
ing this peculiarity, that made yellow butter, 
and have also seen cows with a yellow hide, 
whose product of butter was very light color¬ 
ed. I can account for these facts only by the 
following supposition. Every animal has the 
power of secreting a given amount of the yel- 
i low coloring matter. An equal development 
in one may he sufficient to furnish an abund¬ 
ant supply for both skin and mammary glands; 
in another the production in its escape from 
the body, may be excreted almost wholly by 
the skin, or, on the other hand, be secreted in 
connection with the milk. Now, is this theory 
correct, or are the animals that I have noticed 
exceptions to the law, that the color of the skin 
is an index of the color of the butter ? ” 
As many are interested in the question of 
registration, I think it may be worth while to 
say, that it was proposed at the last meeting, 
and approved by the club at large, to raise the 
charge for animals not belonging to members 
of the club to $5 each, the reasons for the 
change being that the club has done much to 
extend a knowledge of the value of Jersey cat¬ 
tle, and to secure a reliable record of pedigrees 
for the benefit of all who are interested in the 
breed, and that its present plans contemplate 
the expenditure of considerable sums in ways 
which will benefit equally those who are, and 
those who are not, members. The members 
have contributed, by their initiation fees, to 
the fund for the accomplishment of these ob¬ 
jects, and it was considered only just that those 
who have taken no part in the movement 
should be asked to contribute in the way of in¬ 
creased registration fees. 
The club is not a money making institution, 
and whatever income it may receive will be 
expended for public benefit. At the same time 
it has not yet been decided that the f:e shall be 
increa^ a d. and it remains at present at the old 
amount—$2. The membership of the club is 
open to all who, after being recommended by 
a member as a “ careful and reliable breeder,” 
shall not be voted down when their names are 
submitted for election. Since the organization 
of the club there have been, I think, but two 
instances of rejection, and b . th of these were 
for sufficient cause. 
The question of the formation of the yellow 
pigment of the Channel Islands cow, is under¬ 
stood only in a very empirical way, and, as far 
as I know, it is impossible to answer the ques¬ 
tion propounded. I know no reason for refut¬ 
ing the theory advanced by my correspondent, 
neither do I think that his position, in the 
present state of our knowledge, can be scienti¬ 
fically substantiated. I have known very good 
cows with pink hides to produce quite yellow 
butter. I have also known those with a much 
more yellow hide, who gave butter of a lighter 
shade, but I believe that I never knew one, the 
yellow secretion of whose ears w^g not a pretty 
fair index to the color of the butler. In 
Guernseys especially, where the butter is often 
yellower than in Jerseys, it is by no means tin- 
usual to see pink-skinned cows, but the yellow- 
ear is almost universal. 
v 
Mr. Mackie, to whose excellent herd I have 
previously alluded, wrote me in June: “ I 
have tested my 3-year old heifer Mulberry 2Dd. 
