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PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 
Edited by C. F,. Lancwortny, Pu.D. 
Author of “On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids,’ “Fish as Food,” etc. 
“What a Man Eats He Is.” 
WHOLESALE PIE-MAKING, 
In large cities pies of all sorts have long 
been made for sale by bakers and confec- 
tioners. A more recent development is that 
of pie-making on a large scale in bakeries 
or factories given up entirely to this class 
of goods. Wholesale pie-making in New 
York was recently described in the New 
York Tribune. 
The maker of old fashioned domestic 
pies cannot easily conceive of a system by 
which a barrel of apples and a barrel of 
flour can, figuratively speaking, start at 
one end of a long bench and leave the other 
end 1,000 or less finished pies; but the sys- 
tem is in use in all the large pie bakeries. 
Several men are required in a large bakery 
to mix dough, roll the crust, and cut it off 
in portions of suitable size for the bottom 
crusts of pies. These pieces are passed on 
to men who roll the bottom crusts and 
place them in the pans, which are arranged 
in large wooden trays, heaped one on an- 
other in stacks as tall as a man. The stacks 
of trays are then hauled to the filler. 
The baking force goes on duty at Io 
o'clock at night. During the day gtrls have 
been paring and = slicing apples and 
pumpkins. and the foreman has been spic- 
ing and sweetening the cooked fruit or 
mince meat, the custards, and other pre- 
pared filling, which have also been cooked 
by steam in large stone stew vats. When 
the bakers go on duty, the prepared filling 
is in place in front of the great doughboard 
in tubs holding half a barrel each, and the 
stewed apples in full sized barrels. 
The pies, whether 10,000 or 15,000 a night, 
in the bakery visited, were all filled by one 
man. With a long handled cup similar to 
that used in dipping milk from a can, he 
stands over a tub of stewed pumpkin, mince 
or custard and fills pies so rapidly that all 
of one’s time is required to bring the trays 
holding the pies to his side and that of an- 
other to take them away. Nearly a hun- 
dred pies a minute looks like an impossi- 
bility, but he sends them to the men who put 
on the top crusts and the meringues at that 
rate for many minutes at a stretch. 
The filled pies go in the big wooden trays 
to the men who cover them with the top 
crust, or who add the meringue, using for 
this purpose a conical canvas bag open at 
the smaller end, out of which they squeeze 
the frosting on the fancy pies. 
The top crust pies go to the drawplate 
oven, and the pumpkin, custard, and mer- 
ingue pies and the tarts to the older fash- 
ioned ovens, where they are handled with 
long, slender shovels. Out of the large 
drawplate ovens is pulled with a steel hook 
a plate of iron half an inch thick or more, 
already heated. The thermometer in front 
of the oven, enclosed in a recess covered 
with glass, shows a temperature of 550 
deg. F. About 100 pies at a time are placed 
on this plate and it is pushed into the oven. 
The hands of a dummy clock at the side are 
set to indicate the moment at which the bak- 
ing will be finished. Another plate is then 
drawn out and filled and the proceeding is 
repeated until the night’s work is done. 
The pies, after baking, go into wooden trays 
as before, and are taken to the shipping 
room, where they are counted and loaded 
into the wagons for delivery. 
About 40 girls, boys and men by this sys- 
tem produce 10,000 to 15,000 pies a day. 
They use about 15 barrels of flour, 6 to 10 
barrels of apples, 9 or 10 half-barrels of 
mince meat, nearly as much _ stewed 
pumpkin, perhaps as much each of other 
fruits and custards, a barrel or more of 
lard, about 2 barrels of sugar, and large 
quantities -of spice. The shortening, 
sweetening and spicing are carefully and 
accurately weighed in exact proportions. 
The baking is timed to suit the constant 
temperature, which is maintained so that 
there is absolute uniformity, and all the 
mixing and flavoring, while done on a large 
scale, are so conducted as to insure a uni- 
form quality. 
Contrary to all popular notions on the 
subject, the wholesale manufacture of pies 
in a modern establishment is thoroughly 
cleanly, and in the pie bakery visited every 
precaution was taken to insure clean mater- 
ials and utensils, as well as hygienic sur- 
roundings; nor was the personal cleanli- 
ness of the employees neglected. 

A FEAST FOR THE POOR OF CALCUTTA. 
The feeding of the poor of Calcutta at 
the time of the coronation of King Edward 
VII. is described by an eye witness in effect 
as follows: 
The feeding of the poor we found a most 
interesting sight. Between 40,000 and 45,000 
Hindoos and Mohammedans, principally 
beggers and scavengers, but also. ghari 
drivers and khalassiger, or boatmen, were 
fed. A part of the Maidan, large enough 
