The history of the canning industry in Delaware
Date
1961
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The development of canning in Delaware as a full-scale commercial enterprise began in the 1870’s. Pomeroy and Beers’ Atlas of Delaware, published in 1868, lists less than a half dozen canneries in the State and almost all these were adjuncts to other ventures such as the tin and hardware business or farming. By 1880 the United States Census was able to report the existence of thirty-three canneries in Delaware. ☐ The early canneries canned great quantities of peaches which were a prolific Delaware crop until about 1890. The canning in this period was characterized by a greater variety of choice fruits and vegetables and meats. Appetizing brand names accompanied the choice canned goods to make them sound, as well as taste, delectable. In contrast, two canneries in Sussex County today limit their output to only two crops, peas and lima beans. In New Castle County one cannery cans only sweet corn and another only mushrooms. ☐ Shortly after the advent of commercial canning in Delaware the tomato became an important crop to both canner and farmer. Tomato canneries, limited to that one crop and closed down upon the end of the six week canning season, were found in almost every town across the state. At one time the town of Milton boasted of four tomato factories, as they were then called. ☐ June peas were a popular crop with canners almost from the beginning and had the advantage of allowing enough time for a second crop of another kin. Lima beans became an increasingly popular crop in the 1930’s and today occupies an important place as a second crop. ☐ As canning became established as a separate industry, canners adopted three methods of supplying themselves with an adequate supply of crops. These were: purchasing on the contract system, a plan under which the canner contracted with farmers to plant a given acreage in a crop at a stipulated price per unit of measurement; purchasing on the open market; and growing the crops themselves. Canners set up buying locations at railways and boat docks, as well as at the canneries. ☐ Upon the separation of the small canneries from their parent tin and hardware businesses the relative positions of the two businesses became reversed and can-making was carried on at the canneries as a subsidiary to the actual canning. Crews of can-makers were hired in the spring to manufacture the season’s supply of cans. Cut by hand from large sheets of tin-plated iron the pieces were formed around molds and laboriously but skillfully soldered to prevent the passage of air into the can. The mass-produced sanitary can came into general use in the early 1900’s and relieved canneries of this task. The last cannery to make its own cans was Richardson and Robbins which made its own taper cans until World War II. ☐ Labor forces for the duration of the canning season have always been recruited from the local towns and neighborhoods where the canneries were located. In addition, the foreign colonies of the nearby cities, particularly Baltimore, furnished important sources of labor. The Foreign colonies ceased to be of importance with the outbreak of the Depression in the 1930’s when a more than adequate supply of local help was available. Upon the outbreak of World War II, Bahamans and Puerto Ricans were brought in by the Government, along with prisoners of war and Negro migrants from the South, filled the labor need. Since the War, Negro migrants and the usual local help have provided the labor supply. ☐ A law providing for periodic cannery inspection was passed by the State Legislature in 1913 and went into effect that year. The law and subsequent amendment prescribed definite sanitary conditions to be adhered to by both cannery and employee and created the Cannery Inspector, an officer to carry out and enforce the law. In 1925 the office of Canner Inspector was abolished and its duties were turned over to the State Board of Health. ☐ Whereas the local waterways once provided much used avenues of transportation they are not used in a single instance today in either transporting the crops or empty cans to the canneries or the canned goods to the market. Ninety per cent of transporting the pack to market is accomplished by means of trucks, with the remainder by rail. Although four of the twenty-four or so canneries maintain their own fleets of trucks, other canneries rely on trucking lines, or commercial carriers as they are called. Transportation charges known as tariff rates are set by the Interstate Commerce Commission for use by both rail and truck transportation. Commercial carriers and rail both possess advantages distinctive to their nature but there are indications that the rivalry may be displaced by mutual cooperation by the adoption of the “truc-train” system in which loaded truck trails are transported on flat cars. ☐ With the evolution of chain grocery stores across the country, which buy from the processors and canners direct and in quantities which will assure them only a thirty day supply, the position of the wholesaler and food broker has been usurped. The canners have been forced to assume the role of wholesaler themselves in many ways and have now the responsibility and expense of arranging for periodic release of canned goods to the chain stores and of carrying over and housing the goods until consumption and final payments are made. ☐ At least one Delaware caner considers the future of the canning industry in a serious plight. With more and more acreage going into Government price supported corn and soybeans, less acreage is left for the growing of the crops upon which canning depends. Unless this trend stops, Delaware canneries, particularly those which have little or no crop land, will be forced out of business for lack of supplies.