The midland journal., September 11, 1885, Image 1

About The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
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I|he| |j|||n)LAND] jjjoUKNAII
E. E. Ewing, Proprietor.
YOL VII. RISING SUN, CECIL COUNTY, Ml).. FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER lIVISSS. NO. 48*
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The American Farmer is a First
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full of instructive reading and ele
gant illustrations. Tells about the
Farm, Garden, Orchard, Stock Rais
ing, Dairying, Domestic Economy,
in short, is one of the best Agricultu
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Rambles of the Editor.
In a short trip through a portion of
the three upper distr c s we observed
that the crop of apples in some or
chards promises to be quite heavy
The trees bending beneath their load
of tempting fruit. The corn crop
every where appears to be unusually
good but the fields show the effect
of the severe storms that succeeded
the long drought of Jnne and July.—
The seed clover crop will be a very
short one this fall in all this region
of country. We did not meet with a
single field which showed anything
like a fair crop, and heard of only
one field, which belonged to Mr.
Stephen C- Magraw of Porters Bridge.
We are sorry to record that Mr. Ma
graw had lost a fine horse a few days
before, by overdriving in one of
those intensely hot days which char
acterized the last week of August.
Mr. Magraw has lost several horses
within the last two or three years,
and has been the victim of what
might be termed a series of misfor
tunes. His dam and mill sustained
heavy damage by the June flood of
84, and one year ago his little 8 year
old son w; 8 drowned in the mill race.
T ese selies • f ffl ctions following
each other at short intervals is inde ed
a severe trial and weighs heavily on
the spirits of his geod wife, who ex
pressed a wish that a purchaser might
turn up who would buy the place.
T1 e farm faces the south, the soil is
the famous gray stone, ' clmaro land,
and has one of the finest flouering
mills, and the best water power on
the creek. The land is rough but
productive, and if converted into a
fruit farm would be very valuable.
The great flood in its wild career
left behind a beach which over laid
a rich piece of loam. On this sanded
spot Mr. Magraw informs us he raised
some of the finest melons and cante
loupes this season he ever saw. And
sweet potatoes possessing all the ex
cellence of the famous Jersey sweet
potato. While sealed at the dinner
table we had ample evidence of the
[Entered at the Post Office in Rising Sun, Md., as Second Class Matter.]
lexcelience of the two latter vegetal*
les. This may serve as a hint to
melon raisers. Sand is the grand
indispensable as a top dressing for
these crops.
In one respect the Bth district re
sembles the law of the Meads and
Persians. It changes but little, but ■
that little within the last twenty
five years is on the side of improve
ment. Conowingo has made the
longest stride in the way of improve
ment of any place in the upper end
of the county ; and the change here
has indeed been marvelous. This
used to be famous only for its fever
and ague. But a New York shippe-.
Mr. Bell, came there some years ago
bought a large portion of land in
the village and adjacent to it, and
commenced improving the place. lie
has drained the land, cleared away
the bushes, put up buildings, and en
couraged improvement in every di
rection. The railroad came to his
aid and now the place presents the
greatest net work of telegraph wire
of any centre in the county. There
are two flint mills and the large pa
per mill is on the Harford side direct
ly opposite the village, which serves
as the distributing point for all this
manufacturing industry'. This en
terprise and evidence of life has
drawn another true spirit and genius
of business to the place, in the person
of Mr. C. M. Childs, who is rapidly
laying the ground work of what will
in the near future prove an immense
trade.
The McCullough Iron works are
the vertebia of Rowlandviile—the
place used to be called Rowlandsville.
but they have dropped the ‘ s ev
ery thing they make for short in this
busy age. The scenery is very pic
turesque among these Octor: r > hills
and the land of a superior quality.
There are a great many more con
sumers in all tliis region of country
than there were 25 or 30 years ago.
but the farmers do not. appear to rea
lize the fact put keep on raising wheat
and corn, competing with the West
which can give them two day's start
every week and be ahead of them on
Saturday night. There are 1000
mouths to feed within easy distance
of their farms where there was but
one 30 years ago, but there owners
have not found it out.
Up Basin run is a pleasant summer
trip. The little villages have come
down to the railroad, with their
smiling flower beds and vine covered
varandas, like soft eyed gazelles of
the desert which come down to the
brooks to drink.
Liberty Grove which used to be a
tangled wild woods is now a settled
when neighbors not to close are at
least witt in celling distance, and
where we found one of the neatest
and most inviting stores intlie coun
try ownedby Mr. Robert Rowland,
’ who isP. M. as well as tape cutter
for the nighborhood.
Two miles farther up is the village
I of Colora, where the Waring Brothers
have demonstrated the vast superior
ity that brain has over brawn in the
building up of one of those m<d
ern industries for supplying the agri.
! culturist with phosphates and nitrates
II cs, which alone manes it possible for
j the great majority of farmers in this
. part to escape the fangsof object pov
• | erty. Science lias overturned many
i long and loudly cherished delusions,
wlueli nave been given up witn many
a sigh and tear, but it has made it
possible for the million to obtain
bread. Had the farmer joined bands
with science, and advanced as rapidly
as she has opened the way for him,
he would occupy a higher plain to
day than he does, although advance
has been marvelous, if we take a long
vista and look back, say 500 years.
But we will look at Colora some
day T again and say more about its ma
terial wealth, we have got switched
off on its moral greatness some how
this time, and must stop.
-
Canning Corn and How it is
Done.
We have two canneries at t’’e Run;
one establishment belongs to Carter
and Brown, and the other to David
McCoy. The fixtures and process
in both is virtually the same. bntWr-
McCoy h>s introduced some mm-hiii
ery this season not heretolbre in sin;
eessful use in the business, which
cuts the corn from the cob ami sep
erates the silk and bits of refuse
from the grain. In the old process
Cor this part of the business, tne cut
ting is done by hand with a comm n
thin bladed fnife, and the silk is
cleaned off the husked ears with hand
brushes.
The variety of corn used for can
ning is the Stowell’s Evergreen. The
canneries make arrangements with
the farmers to furnish them the pro
duct of a certain number of acres,
and when the corn ar ives at the
‘roasting ear” period, pulling and
hauling commences. The e.-rs are
pulled and thrown into wagons,
hauled to the cannery, win re the
wagon is driven onto p at ‘orm scales*
weighed and the corn thrown .ut in
long heaps under sheds where the
buskers strip off the green husks
and toss the plump grained ears into
baskets. Where the silking is.lone by
hand the silkers sit by with still
brushes and clean off tin* silk. Mr
McCoy, as tta ed, has prov ded hi
establishment this season with one
of the Warfield cutting machines
which is driven by steam power. This
machine has cost the in vem or several
years of labor and experimenting,
and spending a fortune he has suc
ceeded in producing a machine which
does the work rapidly and well. The
machine consists of an iron frame
about ten feet long in which a piston
is worked by a crank and lias a stroke
of about 3 feet. The knives are a
complicated piece of mac'finery pro
vided with springs. The ears are
fed to the machine by hand, point
foremost, the jaws of which open and
receive one ear at a time, when a
blow from the piston sends it through
the cutters, which shears the grains
from the cob in a twinkle ai> 1 shoots
the cob out of a horizontal spout
while the corn fulls on a incline and
is taken out below by a man or boy
who dips up the milky grain with a
scoop and carries it in buckets to the
silker- This Silker is Mr. MtOoy’s
own invent on, and consists of a
strongly made box one foot square
and about 2 feet high placed in a ver
tical position with a hopper fisted on
the top. This box is pretty well fill
ed with cross wires and screens,
through which the corn is forced, by
a tilting anil bumping motion impart
ed to it by a kind of lifting cam on
, a shaft driven by steam power. This
silking machine separates the silk
and nibs lrom the grain which is tak
en up in buckets and poured into
shallow tin trays. These two machines
save the work of 10 or more hands.
I'he trays are about 3 feet square by
5 inches deep and are perforated in
bottom with *0 one and a quarter
inch holes at even distances apart. As
many cans as the trays contains
are placed in a crate with open
<-nds up. The shallow square tin
pans or trays are then set on the cans
and the corn emptied into them. A
woman or man as the case may be,
stands at each tray, and with a cob
pushes and works the corn round
which falls through the holes into
iiole he cans. As the cans fill u > the
packer punches her cob into each
settling the corn in the cans till they
are full, when the crate of filled cans
is pushed along the table to the
weigher who is generally a girl. This
weigher lias a common counter scale
before her, with a can filled the prop
er quantity of corn 2 pounds—
wlrch serves for weight. The cans
are taken up one by one by die
weigher, and a little corn added
where light or damped out if contain
ing over weight. A boy stands be
sides the weigher and places the cans
is they are set from the scale in an
iron crate weich hold one dozen cans.
T iie crate of cans is immerged in a
bath of weak pickle for h moment,
till the bubbles cease to rise, when
the crate is lifted and placed on an
incline for the surplus pickletodrain
back into the vat. This dip in the
pickle or salt water bath forces out
most of the air and slightly seasons
the corn with salt. A boy lifts the
drained crate of cans to a table, runs
a brush hastty over the tops to clean
-iff the cans ; and places a cap over
each hole. These caps are cut and
crimped by the can manufacturers,
and are all an exact fit. On ei ch can
top a bit of solder is laid, just enough
to solder on the top. This soUer is
cut by machinery and is purchased as
the cans are from the factory where
it is cut in lumps of uniform size.
The crate of cans is now ready for
the soldering iron, and is shoved ov
er to the opposite side of the table
where the capper stands with his
soldering irons in a gasalioe furnace.
One end of these soldering irons
is shaped like an inch and a ha f
gouge, and is fixed to a handle sim
ilar to a brace for boring. This brace
like handle is hung on an iron shaft
pointed at the lower end, which point
is placed in the small vent hole that
is in the centre of the cap, the hot
iron placed on the lump of solder and
with a quick forward and backward
turn the cap is scaled. The operation
is but. ths work of a moment The
capped cans are then placed in large
cir ular iron crates, holding 125 cans
each. These strong crates are pro
vided with a pair of bails which are
folded together and hooked to a chain
of the hoisting crane, swung over a
tank ol boiling water, and lowered in.
The cans remain in this tank 18 min
utes, which expands the contents
and lorces out the cold air. The
crate is then hoisted out and placed
on a table, when the tops of the
cans are brushed dry and the
vent holes brushed over with a sold
ering liquid.. A sealer with hot iron
and bar of solder puts a drop on each
! small hole and the can is hcrmetical-
One Dollar per Annum in Advance.
ly sealed, 'i'tie crate of sealed cans
is then swung to the opposite side
and lowered into a test tank of water
kept at the boiling point by a coll of
steam pipe. When the cans are lovv
ered beneath the hot water the heat
expands the contents and if an a r
hole, ever so small is present the
fact is revealed by bubbles rising to
the surface, when the faulty can is
lifted out of its place by a f air of fat
nosed tongs and the solderer, with hot
iron and a bit of solder stops the hole
if the defect is not to extensive. The
operation of testing a crate of 125
cans requires but a minute, when the
crate is again hoisted and swung ov
er beside the processing kettle, when
the cans are lifted steaming hot by
two men with leathern pads on theirs
hands, and piled in circular crates
holding three tiers and containing
-90 cans. The processing or cooking
is done by dry steam in these factor
ies. The crates of cans are next
lowered into this cooking kettle or
heavy iron cylinder, the lid shut down
and held securely by bolts when
steam is turned on. This processing
cylinder is provided with a steam
gauge and thermometer, and the heat
is raised rapidly to 250° tiien lower
ed and brought up gradually to 250°
where it i 3 kept 40 minutes. The
lowering and slowly raising the heat
is to allow it to penetrate the goods, in
order to process the contents of
the cans evenly. Forty minutes is the
length of time required to cook corn
thoroughly in a heat of 250 degrees,
requiring a greater heat to process it
than tomatoes
At the end of forty minutes the cans
are lifted from the processing kettle or
cylinder and submerged in a tank of
edd water, where they remain until
cool enough to handle, when they are
put into the boxes or cases as they
are tecmcally termed, and piled away.
\fter standing ten days the goods are
overhauled and the ‘‘swells” sored
out. Not withstanding all the care tak.
>n quite a good many “swells’’ are
found among them. The cans are now
ready to roceive the fine labels all are
familiar with, and when properly la
beled, they are replaced 2 dozen in a
case, the case lid Dailed down and the
goods are ready for market.
We have followed 'bis modern art of
n serving green fruit and vegetables,
in all its details which consist of some
IG or so, manipulations. All this
work proceeds with the utmost regula
ity, every one stands at his or her ap
pointed post, and performs the part al
lotted ami the work proceeds with clock
like n ovement.
The gteen corn crop is short this sea
soq, our canners not hawing more than
a three weeks run on corn.
Mr. McCoy had calculated on having
enough corn to fill 250,000 cans but
will process probably 140,000. Carter
and Brown will process probably 130,
000 cans of corn. The latter are run
ning some tomatoes, but this has been
i very unfavorable season for tomatoes.
Mr. McCoy employs 40| hands at
wages averaging a 81.00 a day while
Carter aud Brown employ 50 at about
the same wages.
Kidney Disease.
Mr. H. Waram, member of City
Council, oi tibury, N. J , says : ‘I was
a victim of the worst form of kidney
disease. A short trial of Aromanna
completely cured me.” Price 25 and 75
ets. Sold by l)r. L. R. Kirk, Rising
Sun.