1915. 
165 
A 
taste 
most 
corn 
A LANCASTER COUNTY INDUSTRY. 
High-class Evaporated Sweet Corn. 
Part I. 
LITTLE-KNOWN BUSINESS.—The evapora¬ 
tion of sweet corn on a large commercial scale, 
of a quality that is fit to eat, lias been for 
some years almost an exclusive Lancaster Co., Pa., 
industry, that is gradually assuming considerable 
proportions. I feel pretty certain that a very small 
quantity, if any, has been offered for sale previous to 
the inception of the business here, except a grade 
that no one would eat after once forming the ac¬ 
quaintance of the Lancaster County article. Doubt¬ 
less many farmers and truckers have been evaporat¬ 
ing a quantity for home consumption each season, 
or if they have not they are missing an excellent 
opportunity to add variety to the somewhat mon¬ 
otonous diet obtaining on some farms, of pork, 
potatoes, white bread and pills, or some other drug 
store “dope,” and at the same time add a really de¬ 
licious article to the list to assist the housewife, 
who sometimes has to cudgel her brains for some¬ 
thing new. One of our boys has such a peculiar 
that he will eat dried corn al- 
daily, and will not eat canned 
nor even corn fresh from the 
garden. No doubt there are others 
with this unusual preference. 
A WHOLESOME PRODUCT.—The 
evaporation of a small quantity is a 
small matter easily accomplished, and 
gives you an article superior to the 
canned goods of commerce, absolutely 
free from benzoate of soda or other 
preservatives allowed in canned goods. 
This allows the use of an inferior 
article or product, and careless handl¬ 
ing in canning. Many misinformed 
people look upon the guarantee of 
purity under the food and drug act to 
guarantee absolute purity, and free¬ 
dom from preservatives of the con¬ 
tents of any package or can contain¬ 
ing that guarantee, while in reality that clause only 
assumes that compliance has been made with the 
law. Another feature unfortunately existing in con¬ 
nection with some canned vegetables and fruit in 
tins is the acids of the vegetables forming salts of 
tin in solution, which chemists at present are try¬ 
ing to overcome. The only foreign substance that 
could be introduced into dried corn would be dirt 
through improper handling, though conditions would 
have to be pretty bad if you would notice this in 
the finished article, and as we are 
supposed to eat between seven and 70 
pounds of dirt annually, we may as 
well have a portion of it with the corn, 
and try to eliminate it in some other 
item. It is easily washed before 
cooking. 
VARIETY AND CULTURE.— For 
our own family use we usually grow 
Evergreen corn for main crop and for 
evaporating, as the ears are larger and 
the quality is very nearly as good as 
the best. This variety is used ex¬ 
clusively by these farmers, and they 
grow their own seed, and select and 
breed the seed in the same manner 
that the boys do for the corn contests. 
Good soil for field corn and same treat¬ 
ment produce good results with sweet 
corn, one requisite being plenty of 
humus in the soil and sufficient lime 
to correct acidity, and a good brand 
of corn fertilizer applied about the 
same as for field corn. The corn is 
usually grown 36x36 inches, two stalks 
hill, and all suckers kept off 
That last statement is one of 
that you will find before the 
this article, that you can consider as 
you jump to the conclusion that here 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
mercial producers allow theirs to mature longer so 
as to get a greater quantity, and easier evaporating 
conditions, as very wet, milky corn Ls very hard to 
evaporate. The first step is either to steam or boil 
it, the home process usually consisting of boiling 
A Rocky Road To Fruit Growing. Fig. 63. 
till fairly soft or in good condition to eat from the 
cob, and the commercial process being to turn live 
steam into a receptacle containing the corn for about 
com- 
20 minutes. No special effort is made in the 
mercial method to clean the silk off, as the strong 
current of air used blows this all out, only as much 
as can be removed in husking is taken off at that 
operation. 
APPLIANCES USED.—Our drier consists of a 
frame of wood six inches deep, of a size to fit the 
top of stove, over which is stretched tinned wire 
netting of somewhat finer mesh than mosquito net¬ 
ting. See Fig. ... The sides are then continued up 
an 
is 
to the 
clean. 
a few 
end of 
item, if 
an opportunity to work a few months a year and 
spend the balance of the season touring in a $3,000 
auto, and living on the fat of the land. There is 
some money being made out of the business, but 
like every other business you work for every cent 
you get. 
HOME DRYING.—A small quantity of corn can 
be dried in a short time at home if you have a 
very simple equipment. Ours is homemade, and 
with it we can dry enough for our season’s supply 
in one day, over an ordinary range or cookstove. 
The corn should be taken when the grain or kernel 
can be easily pierced with the finger nail and milk 
flows from the break. This is for home consumption, 
when you want an extra fine article. The corn- 
mass. such as you will find this corn to be. The 
hot air is applied underneath, and carries the mois¬ 
ture entirely away from the corn, when if you were 
to take one of the driers on the market and fill 
several trays one above the other, you would find 
the upper trays getting wetter instead of drier, and 
the process a long and tedious one. If the fire is 
pretty hot, and the corn begins to turn dark, re¬ 
move from stove and let cool, then return to fire and 
place drier further away from stove, and allow last 
moisture content to evaporate slowly, and you will 
have fine, bright corn. The quality of the dark 
product is the same, but as many people eat with 
their eyes instead of their palate the white may ap¬ 
pear to taste the better. Where one wished to dry 
a few bushels for local trade, or a limited parcel 
post trade, an inexpensive outfit like this could be 
used, though the labor of attention would be nearly 
as great as in a larger steam heated plant. 
COMMERCIAL DRYING.—The commercial plant 
consists of primarily a steam boiler carrying about 
80 pounds pressure, which gives a temperature in 
heating coils of 320 degrees; a coil of pipe, usually 
one inch in size, for a heater; arranged in a 
compact manner so as to release the 
greatest amount of heat in the smallest 
possible space; a blower to drive a 
strong current of air through this 
heater and into the drier; an engine 
to operate blower, and if the plant ls 
a large one handling 100 or more acres 
of corn annually, a cutting and cob¬ 
scraping machine is generally used, as 
these machines, while not making as 
good a quality of finished product as 
that cut off the cob by hand, reduce 
the labor so greatly that this more 
than compensates for the reduction of 
quality. 
THE NECESSARY PLANT.—Fig. 60 
shows the vat for steaming corn. 
Corn is usually placed in a cage made 
of an iron frame covered with one-inch 
mesh galvanized wire netting, so ar¬ 
ranged that hot corn can be dumped out at cutting 
machines. Fig. 64 shows heater, which is made of 
brick walls about two feet high by 20 feet long, and 
several thousand feet of one-inch pipe enclosed. The 
hot air passes out at A, outlets being controlled by 
dampers. The corn is placed directly over these 
outlets on wire screen, and kept stirred and moved 
from one end, where placed on wet, to other end 
where all moisture is removed. Boards about six 
inches high are placed around screened area 
to keep the corn within bounds. 
A HOT AIR PLANT.—For an instal¬ 
lation on a small scale it may be pos¬ 
sible to modify the steam-heated plant, 
by using a large stove or hot-air 
furnace instead of steam radiator, and 
drive a current of air with small 
blower run by a gasoline engine, up¬ 
ward through corn, in same manner as 
the small drier for stove, Fig. 61. 
This is the correct principle and ex¬ 
periment along these lines should pro¬ 
duce satisfactory results on a small 
scale. Care would have to be exercised 
to avoid overheating, as the steam 
heat is uniform, and the operator 
knows pretty nearly how long it takes 
to dry a batch, but the hot air would 
vary considerably and would require 
more attention. elmet ,t. weaver. 
Lancaster Co., Pa. 
T 
WASHING APPLES TO THE CIDER MILL 
above 
Fig. 65, 
from 
several inches above the netting to keep corn 
a general distribution over the immediate vicinity 
of the stove. This frame is raised an inch or two 
above top of stove to allow air to enter under¬ 
neath and mingle with the heat of the stove. This 
is important, as the greater volume of warm air 
you have moving upward the better your results, 
though do not allow space too large, or drying will 
be very slow. The corn is then placed over the 
screen, directly on wire netting, an inch or so thick, 
and turned from time to time to keep from burning 
until all moisture has evaporated, when it is ready 
to lay up, and if stored in a dry place it will be as 
sweet and toothsome next May as when you finished 
the job. 
PRINCIPLE OF THE WORK.—This is the cor¬ 
rect principle upon which to handle a wet, soggy, 
THE PICTURES. 
HE picture at Fig. 65 shows a 
plan of unloading apples by 
washing them out of a car. This 
picture was taken, in Michigan near 
a cider mill. Instead of shoveling 
the apples out of the car, as is often done, the door 
was opened and a stream of water played into the 
car. This washed the apples out at the door into a 
concrete gutter or conveyor. As the apples were 
washed on, a second stream played upon them. 
They were carried on to the cider mill, and finally 
over a crating which drained oft the water when 
they rolled down into the mill. In this way the ap¬ 
ples were thoroughly washed before being made 
into cider; the car was emptied in a short time 
without much expense for hand labor, and the ap¬ 
ples were in better shape when they reached the 
mill than if they had been shoveled into boxes or 
barrels and then dumped down into the mill. All 
sorts of devices are being thought out now to make 
water and air go to work. 
(Continued on ne.rt page.) 
