Re: Did Robert E Howard's death cause Smith to stop writing?
Posted by:
calonlan (IP Logged)
Date: 13 April, 2009 10:38AM
Dear folk, Re canned food - The canning process actually using metal cans was relatively new in Lovecraft's time.
In my early childhood, everyone "canned" the produce of their gardens in Ball quart jars - many still did not trust metal cans because there had been incidences reported of people getting damaged cans which had admitted bacteria - also the quality of the metal and the compounds used in making it was quite different than today - in the beginning it really was tin - tin is easily malleable, easily punctured, and the compression process for the lids was much inferior to the process used today. Also, the preservatives in use today were not commonly used in the early days - it was many years before "canned" food in actual cans was universally accepted -- one wonders what H.P. would have done with early margarine which came with flexible bag and a yellow capsule which had to be broken and then kneaded into the white substance to make it look like butter - a war time phenomenon I remember well -- My wife and I in the early years of our marriage lived on a small farm and canned or froze everything we ate - only buying flour and paper products, spices and condiments - everything was home grown and home-made - the most fun thing was listening for the "pop" when the lid on the jar sealed - and you kept count! Each batch in the boiling water was 6 quart jars or 9 pints. When we sold the farm we had over 400 empty jars - we even butchered our own beef and hogs - chickens and ducks, and I shot and we actually ate a raccon ( I shot 20, one to eat was too much work and almost as greasy as bear meat!), we also took a deer each year from BLM land (put out a salt block in a favorite location, then when you are ready for venison, just park yourself upwind, and wait) -- what I am describing for you is also very much how Clark's family lived, only all their canning was done on a wood stove -- as a by-note, Clark had been a crack shot, though he no longer owned a gun.