July i, 1891.] THE TROPICAL 
75 
Italy produces the bulk of the macaroni of 
commerce. CouBtituting as it does a staple article 
of diet in that country, its manutaoturs, indeed 
is said to be as much a part of the household 
duties of many Italians as is bread-making in our 
own country. Naturally the domestic product is 
made by hand, but in many of the large factories 
the work is done almost wholly by steam power, 
though in others hand power alone is employed. 
The production of macaroni in the household does 
not require many or complicated appliances. They 
consist smply of a smooth board, a piece of marble 
for kneading and a common rollingpin. A mixture 
is first formed of wheat meal or flour and eggs, 
the proportion being one pound of the former to 
four or five of the latter. This is dampened with 
hot water, then kneaded for several minutes, and 
at last is rolled into very thin sheets with the 
pin. These sheets are left some fifteen or twenty 
minutes on the board to dry, and as soon as it is 
found that the surface of the sheets is no longer 
adhesive they are rolled up as tight as possible. 
Slices are next cutoff the ends, and as they separate 
they form strings of macaroni and are in shape 
to be used. This is the primitive method. In the 
ordinary commercial process the meal is merely 
mixed with hot water, and the dough is forced 
through molds or dies which give it its familiar form. 
The smiU factories found in nearly every part 
of Italy, which are operated entirely by hands 
number ia the thousands, la many instances the 
factory consists of a single room (this does not 
include the drying-rooms), which serves for a 
salesroom asj well. The labor is performed by the 
owner of the establishment, with the assisiance 
of one cr two n en, his wite acting in the capacity 
of saleBwoman. If the ex, ente entailed in lunning 
such a factory were considerable the proprietor could 
not compete suoceesfully wiih larger and more per- 
fectly equipped concerns. As it is, the price of tbis 
machinery is light, the cost tor labor small, varying 
from 30o. to 6O0. per diem, while thd expense of 
drying is a mere nothing. Inmost cases artificial 
heat is rarely uaed, but in instances where it is 
employed the macaroni manufacturer is also a 
baker, and ia able to utilize the waste heat by 
improvising drying-rooms over the ovens. It is 
stated, on good authority, that in the majority of 
these hand-power factories " extreme neatness is 
observed m every part of the operation where a 
good quality of macaroni is made." It is estimated 
that the average production per day per man is 
from 175 to 200 pounds, and the cost of labor per 
pound does not exceed one third of a cent, and 
is often less than one-quarter of a cent. 
The latest and largest macaroni manufactories 
are studiously fitted up with the most modern and 
perfect machinery obtainable, and run by steam. 
The largest one in Rome, and presumably in all 
Italy, boasts a large American engine. This estab- 
lishment manufactures not only the meal for 
macaroni, but flour likewise, and it is that ability 
to so fully provide not only for his own use, but 
the general market as well, that makes it possible 
for the steam manuficturer to cope with the hand 
manufacturer, whose plant has cost him almost 
nothing, a"d whose outlay in labor, cost of material, 
etc., is the merest bagatelle. 
In tho preparation of macaroni the wheat most 
geuerally employed, and considered on the whole 
the most desirable for the purpose, is either the 
Italian, which is preferred, the Eussian or Indian, 
Each of these contains both hard and soft varieties, 
the formar being necessary in the manufacture of 
'samouie," of which four grades ar > made, and 
the latter in the production of flour. One authority 
says that of the wheat mentioned the Italian species 
" grown in Apulia is the hardest and strongest, 
and therefore the best for macaroni. Foreign wheat 
is never bought for this purpose if Italian can 
be had. The Indian wheat, though displaying a 
fair color, is apt to be weak. Good macaroni 
cannot be made from soft or tender wheat." In a 
recent series of consular reports on the subjcat 
there is but one mention of the use of Amerioen 
wheat." That is in a postscript appended to the 
report of James Fletcher, consul at Genoa, which 
states specifically; " R. Ravano, of Quinto, a 
village about five miles from Genoa, has just 
informed me that he uses American wheat extensively 
in the manufacture of macaroni for home con- 
sumption," This suggests scope for further foreign 
trade engagements. It is pleasing to note in the 
same connection that more or less machinery used 
in the largest and most successful macaroni 
factories in Italy bears the imprint of American 
makers. 
The transformation of meal into macaroni in 
the steam-working establishments is simply an 
elaboration of the hand process, doing away with 
much of its laboriousness and admitting many 
amplifications and improvements. In some districts 
it is steadily maintained, however, that the quality 
of the hand-made article has yet to be won by 
the machine product. 
It has not been possible to ascertaio the exact 
amount of macaroni exported, or, in fact, the 
quantity consumed at home. The reason assigned 
for this is that, in the first case, captains of vessels 
leaving for the United States and other countries 
take on board considerable quantities of macaroni 
ostensibly and declaredly for their own use, but 
shipped really to help supply the foreign market. 
In the case of home consumpiion, again, the article 
is so largely provided in the family, especially 
of the middle and peasant classes, that accurate 
es!imates cannot well be obtained. In 1890 the re- 
corded exports from Italy to the United States 
and Canada amounted to 137.6 tons out of a total 
exportation of 673 tons. Of the product of France 
probably one fourth is exported, and one-third of 
this amount is sent to the United States. More 
or less macaroni is manufactured here, but the 
amount is trivial in comparison with that imported. 
— Bradstreefs, 
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 
A correspondent, an expert in agricultural pngiufier- 
iug, writes as follows :— " Dr. Voelcker, though one of 
our most eminent agrioaltural chemists, has not resided 
long enough in India to be au infallible authority on 
practical agriculture. One of his objections to d lep 
ploughing is that the English form of pi .ugh w .uld 
compress the furrow, and the hot sun woukl bake it to 
the hardness of bricks. So it would, if the cnltivatjr 
used it when the land was wet and soddeu, with no im- 
mediate prospect of more rain, and so would the native 
plough; bat in no part ef India would cultivators be 
found so inexperienced as to do that. Moreover the 
mould board plough of the present day doesnot compress 
the laud into a compact furrow, like the Euglish 
mould-boards of twenty years Bgo ; they are now made 
short 80 as to break the furrow as it is roUt- d over; ftny« 
one who has used the American ' Hiudostani ' plough 
will bear me out in what I say. Th< re can be no 
question of the superiority of deop ploughing over 
shallow in India it is borne out by both theory and 
practice, and all intelligent native cultlvato-a are 
aware of this ; but the tionble with most of them is, 
that they cannot afford to pay for large plough bullocka 
suitable for deeper cultivation.— Piou^e)-, Jnne 2ud. 
* Meaning by " deep ploughing " 6 iucbes, or 8 at 
utmost, instead of abo«t 4,— Ed. T. 4, 
