CANS.

As containers for all varieties of fruits and vegetables, cans, constructed of tinned iron or steel plates, are universally used, but with a great many, glass jars or bottles are preferred for fancy or extra fancy goods.

Cans are of two types, the solder-top and the open top, or socalled sanitary type. The solder-top is the older, but is being rapidly superceded by the open top for all lines of work, except meat packing. The solder-top can is the safer for use with products requiring a high temperature for a long time. The open-top or sanitary can has the very great advantage of being easily cleaned, easily filled and sealed by automotice machinery. It has the advantage of being ready to operate at any time, and there is no waiting to heat irons or any overheating of the factory. The automatic machine does require one skilled attendant to see that the closure is perfect. More care also is required in processing peas, corn or other high-temperature products, or the ends may be sprung or leakers develop.

The sanitary or open-top cans have so nearly supplanted the oldstyle-hole-and-cap cans that all considerations here are written with the sanitary style of can in view.

Practical automatic can-washing machines are now on the market, and unquestionably the time is now here when all cans must be thoroughly washed before filling or using.

(Always refer to cans by number, never by pounds.)

When shipped in bulk the average car will contain about 85,000 No. 2 cans, or 55,000 No. 3 cans. When shipped in cases will aver age about 54,000 No. 2 cans or 2,250 cases, and 36,000 No. 3 cans or 1,500 cases.

Can making is a business of itself, requiring highly-specialized machinery and thoroughly trained mechanics, so that a factory which does not do a large volume of business or run continuously cannot afford to take up this line of manufacture.

THE STOREHOUSE FOR EMPTY CANS.

The storage house must be protected from dampness and steam and should be at such an elevation above the packing tables or filling machines that properly constructed chutes will deliver the cans by gravity, to points where they are filled. When storing cans in bulk in bins, lay on side in even and regular tiers. When stored in shipping cases, place the bottom layer end up.

THERMOMETERS.

Both thermometers and gauges should be frequently compared with standard instruments known to be correct. Thermometers particularly should be tested every year.

According to "Kent," under ordinary conditions at the sea level the air pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch, and steam is formed at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit; gauge pressure will give temperatures as follows:

If your thermometers and gauges do not agree with this table, have them tested.

LABELS.

Labels are generally abused in a canning house. Provide a dust and steam-proof room of such dimensions and so arranged that each size and variety of label may be separate by itself in a bin or pigeon hole. Have the shelves of generous width, so that labels when stored crosswise will be entirely supported and not hang over the edge. When labels are received wrap each bundle in paper, pile on shelf neatly and squarely, printed side up. Insist that loose

labels when returned to the shelves be neatly placed and not thrown in promiscuously. Give one person entire charge of the labels and the room and hold him or her responsible for condition of the stock.

In purchasing labels, remeber that "well dressed is half sold," and that a neat, attractive and distinctive outside label costs but a trifle more per dozen for the finished goods than the gay and gaudy stock affairs that at once stamp the goods as being cheap.

The label should carry the following information: First, the name of the product; second, the name of the manufacturer; third, the place of business or the chief office of the manufacturer; fourth, a declaration of the net weight, or in the case of liquids, the volume of the product. In event the product is a mixture, the label must declare the fact and give the component parts in the order of their predominance. If any permissible matter, such as starch or color be used, that fact must be disclosed. The label may also have the name of the brand and illustrated design, but the latter must not be misleading in any particular.

And we would like to suggest the use of one or more good receipes for use of the goods in cans particularly. It is far better to tell the consumers how rightly to use the contents on the table than to use this valuable space for pictures or designs. Use this unexcelled advertising opportunity to promote increased consumption rather than as an art display.

"Honesty is the best policy" is an old adage that apparently many packers have forgotten. Whilst honesty may seemingly not pay at first, in the long run it will pay to be honest in labeling goods correctly. A consumer may buy first through the eye, then through the smell, then through the taste in certain lines of food products, but in canned foods one must buy through the eye or by reputation of the brand. Neither the fine label nor the previous reputation of the brand will hold the consumer as a customer if seconds are branded firsts. It is advisable to have distinctive labels, registered or copyrighted, both to protect yourself from imitations and to avoid the appearance of having imitated the design of some other concern of whom you have probably never heard.

Label cans with cap end down, and, if labeling by hand, allow, if possible, sufficient time for the paste to dry before casing. Protect expensive labels, such as gilt and embossed, with an outside wrapper of tisue paper. The modern factory uses a labeling or wrapping machine for this work.

REQUIRED WEIGHT ON LABELS.

(See laws in back of book or the yearly Almanac of the Canning Industry.)

MINOR SUPPLIES-SUGAR.

Sugar in Canning Vegetables.

BY DR. W. D. BIGELOW,

National Canners' Association Laboratories, Washington.

Inquiries are frequently received from canners regarding the suitability of cheaper grades of sugar than standard granulated for canning of vegetables.

In addition to standard granulated, we have on the market various grades of soft sugar manufactured as a by-product in sugar refining and sugars of varying degrees of purity which are placed on the market directly by the original manufacturers.

The soft sugars probably present no advantage, as the price for which they are sold is practically the same as the price of refined sugar when we consider the percentage of impurities present.

The sugars placed directly on the market by original manufacturers may often be purchased at a substantially lower price, proportionally, than refined sugar, and their use may be advantageous. Among such sugars may be mentioned beet sugar, plantation-granulated, plantation-clarified, and raw sugar.

BEET AND PLANTATION-GRANULATED SUGAR.

These forms of sugar are now made in quite a high state of purity. The best grade of beet and plantation-granulated sugar is, for most canners' purposes, at least practically as good as refined sugar. Unfortunately, the manufacture of these products is not always controlled as carefully as the refining of sugar, and there are still some plants that occasionally place on the market runs of sugar which are not of as high a grade as the standard product. Fortunately, even this product is not particularly inferior, and such inferiority as it has is always disclosed by the color. If the product is white, its high grade is assured. Even the off-grades, which, in fact, are rarely met with and which, by reliable sugar mills are sold on sample, will answer for the preparation of canned vegetables, such as corn and peas.

PLANTATION-CLARIFIED SUGAR.

The

This product is divided by the trade into a number of grades. highest grade approaches in purity and quality the granulated sugars referred to above. The lowest grade is of a buff color, has a molasses odor, and a considerable amount of insoluble material.

High-grade plantation-clarified sugar will prove satisfactory for many canners' purposes. Those of lower grade will not answer for corn because their color will darken it. Moreover, a product with a considerable amount of insoluble matter should not be used without filtering. If a canner contemplates the use of this product, therefore, he should obtain a sample and dissolve it in water. If insoluble matter is present in material amount, the product should not be used.

RAW SUGAR.

Raw sugar is a product manufactured by the ordinary sugar mill. It is of varying composition, and its value is based on the amount of cane sugar it contains. The hgihest grade of raw sugar contains from 96 to 98 per cent. of cane sugar, and the lowest grade contains less than 80 per cent. The highest grades are of a yellowish-brown color and contain only enough

molasses to make the product slightly moist. The lowest grades are of a very dark, dirty brown color, because of the presence of a considerable amount of molasses. The lower grades of raw sugar are, of course, not appropriate for the preparation of any canned foods except those with which molasses might be used. All grades of raw sugar are likely to have impurities, such as strings and other insoluble matter, and should not be used without filtering their solutions.

For the canning of some products, high grade raw sugar will be found economical and equally satisfactory with granulated sugar. High grade raw sugar is the same in composition as granulated sugar, except that each particle of sugar is surrounded by a film of molasses. This product was formerly sold extensively as brown sugar.

SUGAR IN CANNED PEAS.

During the seasons of 1916 and 1917 two experimental packs of peas were put up with a number of varieties of sugar, including representatives of all the groups mentioned above. With a low-grade raw sugar containing from 80 to 85 per cent. of cane sugar, the liquid in the canned peas was very dark. With the high grade raw sugar, containing about 96 per cent. of can sugar, the liquid in the can was scarcely distinguishable from the liquor of peas packed with refined sugar.

Except possibly with the low grade raw sugar mentioned above, the flavors of the peas packed with the various sugars were equally good, and were scarcely, if at all, distinguishable from each other.

It would appear, therefore, that with canned peas there is no objection to using high grade raw sugars or plantation-clarified sugar, provided the syrup prepared from them is filtered when necessary.

The standard beet and plantation refined sugars, of course, answer equally well with this product as the standard refined sugar.

SUGAR IN CANNED CORN.

Experimental packs of canned corn similar to those just described of peas were put up during the 1917 season. The results obtained with corn were the same as those obtained with peas as far as flavor was concerned. In respect to color, the result was quite different.

It was found that any sugar which dissolved in water to form a colored syrup would cause marked increased color in the corn. This increase in the color of the corn was not so apparent when the mixture was first made as it was after processing. Some of the constituents of molasses are caramelized by the heat of processing to a much greater extent than cane sugar. Since the raw sugars and some grades of plantation-clarified sugars, still contain more or less molasses, therefore, the corn packed with them after processing was materially darkened. Fortunately, this is a matter which the canner can determine by dissolving a portion of the sugar in water and noting the color of the solution and the insoluble matter present.

WASTE WATER IN CANNING PLANTS

BY DR. W. D. BIGELOW,

National Canners' Association Laboratory, Washington.

The drainage facilities should always be considered in locating a canning plant. If possible, such plants should be located on the banks of streams of sufficient size to carry away waste waters without creating a