The installation of labor-saving machinery, the remarkable growth in the number of firms, the decline in the market value of the goods, made necessary uniform grades and rates of sale throughout the country. In October 1872 the first organization of canned goods packers met in Philadelphia, but this was only short lived, and it was not until February 1883 that a permanent exchange was established. The •Canned Goods Exchange') of Baltimore was at that time organized, with the intention of hav ing sales on the floor daily, but after a thorough trial they abandoned that plan and adopted grades for goods, and rules and terms govern ing transactions. These exchanges began rap idly to come into existence. In 1885, the eWestern Canned Goods Packers' Association') was formed, composed of those doing business in the Mississippi Valley. In the same year the New York State packers organized, and two years later those of New Jersey and Virginia. In May 1:4:' the National Association was formed at Indianapolis, followed by the 'Penin sula Packers' Association') of Delaware, formed in 1894, and the "Atlantic States Canned Goods Packers' of Baltimore, organized in the fall of the same year.
The localization in the canning industry is principally due to climatic conditions. California has forged ahead and monopolized one-fourth of the industry, New York producing over 10 per cent and Maryland 772 per cent. in 1914. Thus we have Illinois, Maine, Iowa, New York, Ohio and Maryland as the principal corn-pack ing States i Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Virginia and California as the tomato canning States; while Wisconsin, New York, Illinois and Ohio produce the largest amount of canned milk; Maine is the principal packer of sardines, while Washington and Oregon monopolize the salmon canneries. Peaches are principally canned in California, Maryland, Michigan and Georgia; New York, Michigan, Maryland, California and Maine put up the major portion of the apples packed, though the industry is carried on to some extent in Washington and Oregon. Pears are packed mainly in California, New York and Mary land, while pineapples are almost wholly packed in Baltimore, Md. Beans are canned in Indiana, New York, Maryland and Illinois; peas in Wisconsin and New York; prunes and raisins are dried almost wholly in California; nearly all the salt fish is packed in Massachusetts.
For general purposes of comparison, the canning and preserving industry may be divided on the lines of the United States census statistics into four distinct classes: Fruits and vegetables; fish, both canned smoked and dried; oysters and clams; and pickles, preserves, jellies and sauces; and un der these headings the industry may be more comprehensively discussed. The canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables gives em ployment to over 50,000 persons; that of fish to 9,000; and that of oysters, etc., to over 2,000.
Fruits and Vegetables.— Fruits were the first foods to be successfully canned, as the low temperature used in the early methods was more easily applied to this class of goods because less heat is required to preserve them than all others. Glass bottles were filled up to the neck, loosely corked, and then placed in tepid water, the temperature of which was gradually raised from 170° to 190° F., re maining there for a period varying from 30 to 60 minutes according to the article being preserved. In 1823 Pierre Antoine Angilbert made an improvement on this method by placing the fruit in a tin can containing water, then placing on the cover in which there was an aperture to allow for gas escape. It was then placed in water and heat applied; after boiling a sufficient length of time, the aperture was closed by a drop of solder.
Not much is known of this branch of the canning industry between the years 1820-45, and it probably was not very extensive, and it is certain that tomatoes and corn were not put up to any great extent during those years. It appears from a narrative presented by William Lyman Underwood that his grandfather, Wil liam, began to use the Appert process about 1820, and exported preserved goods to Manila in 1821. In 1830 he packed pie fruit in bottles, and in 1830 imported tomato seed. His son, William J., has a label used in 1845 on "her metically sealed tomatoes," and which contains the following: "This is prepared by straining the skins and seeds from the tomatoes, evap orating the particles by slow heat. The bottles contain the substance of about two dozen tomatoes, and it will keep good any length of time?' The style of the label is in marked contrast to those now in use. In 1847 Harrison W. Crosby, when he was steward of Lafayette College, at Easton, Pa., first used tin cans to seal tomatoes hermetically, and in 1893 the canning of corn was begun by two firms, one in Baltimore, Md., and one in Portland, Me. The establishment in Portland gained little headway until 1852, in which year Isaac Wins low, who was in charge, applied for a patent on his process, but which was not granted him until 8 April 1862. His method was sub stantially the same as the Appert process, with the exception that the first cooking was done away with by the introduction of "cookers," which are steam retorts used to cook the corn before placing it in the can. Prior to 1846 numerous canneries were in operation in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Portland and East port, Me., and in Newark, N. J., and it was in the latter place that the fruits and vegetables were prepared for Kane's Arctic Expedition.