Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-13
SPICES OF MANY KINDS.
HON PEPPER, CINNAMON, ETC, ARE
PREPARED FOR MARKET.

PIKE RhED ron WNltNE -
Sights Seen in u Zig Spice aIill-Mustard
Pounded to Powder Under steam Trip
Hammer Packing Depurtment-Nut-
meg, Cloves, Ginger.
"D1n't stand 50 near the wheel 1t weighs
two tons and is making 600 revolutions
minute. The suction Is great enough t. draw
you it,
So spoke the engineer as n reporter looked
at tho machinery that operated long lines Of
shafting sad betting. The engine works all
of the machinery in great spice MILL one of
tho largest and best equipped in the country,
and located right III the heart of New York
city
Standing ON the top floor, the superintcnd-
ent said Here are the spices as they come
to Us. This bin contains mustard seed, this
one is full of white peppers from Singapore
and here we have cinnamon from Ceylpn and
ginger from Jamaica. There are several bins
of each kind Of spice, and each contains
different grades The mustard seed is fed
through pipes TO a pair Of large steel rollers
ON the floor below. These crush it out into
small flakes. The first quality Of mustard is
made by putting these flakes into long row
Of iron mortais, in which the fakes are
pounded to an impalpable powder 10y steam
trip hammers"
TIE HAMMERS AT WORK.
Twenty-Five Of these hammers began rising
and falling at this moment and the noise was
so great that all further words were lost.
The powdered mustard shovced up into
screens made of the finest silk and placed in
set, of eight on oscllating tables The second
grade of mustard, after being crushed, is
placed in bags between hair mattresses in
hydraulic press and subjected to a pressure
of 1000 pounds to the square inch This re-
moves a largo proportion Of the oil, and
leaves dry hard cake, which, when ground,
is sold for second grade mustard. The oil is
used by confectioners, and also in place of
olive oil for packing sardines,
Long pipes connect with the pepper bins
on the top floor, and feed the whole pepper
seeds to the mills. These are similar TO -four
mills--revolvng stones. The pepper when
ground is picked up by an endless chain of
buckets and taken to revolving screens; the
coarse parts are returned to the mill and the
fine pepper passes into bins in the packing
room below. Cinnamon, allspiCe and cloves
are ground in a similar manner. Herbs, such
as thyme and sage require a special mill. 1t
is a pair of stone wheels that travel around a
center, grinding substances on the stone floor.
They are inclosed in a tight room SO that
nothing escapes when they are at work.
In the packing department of the mill two
dozen girls are at work making and filling
boxes with the different spices. A box fold
ing machine does the work of ten girls. 1t
takes the fiat cardboard, folds and pastes it
and turns out box every three seconds
The automatic weighing machine is a rcvolv-
ing marble table, on which are four sets of
scales. The weights are set at one pound on
each of the scales, a cardboard box is placed
on the scale and tube from above fills the
box until it contains just one pound When
the scale reaches the balance point a valve
shuts off the supply until an empty box
takes the place of the full one.
TIE BEST PEPPER.
Stepping into the office the superintendent
explained that the best pepper is the ''shot'
pepper as it is in heavier grains than the
Singapore pepper which is the second grade,
but both kinds come from Singapore A
still lower grade comes from the island of
Sumatra. White pepper is the kernel with
the shell removed, and though just as fiery it
has not the flavor of the black pepper. Pep
per is often aduterated with charcoal and
buckwheat The best red pepper comes from
Natal and costs fifty cents pound. A
lower grade comes from Zanzibar.
Brown nutmegs from Penang w est Indies,
are the best. They are in their natural state,
and are so full of oil that it will ooze out if
an inciSiOn be made. The nutmegs kept by
most grocors are tho lower grades that are
put through u sweating process to remove
the oil, and are rolled i'll lime to cover up
all the defects The best cloves come from
Penang and are sun dried. Cheaper grades
come from Zanzibar, and are kiln dried,
with much of the oil extracted. Ground
cloves are adulterated by leaving in the
stems. Pimento or allspice, comes from
Jamaica The best ginger also come from
the same place, and is bleached white. Bor-
neo ginger is often chalked to make it look
like the bleached article. African ginger is
dark in color and poor in quality, but as it is
very much cheaper than the other kind it is
most used Ceylon cinnamon is worth 81
pound and is very little used. Cassia,
the outside bark Of the tree, is the sub
stance in general use and costs about one
tenth of the genuine artcle.-New York
Mail and Express.