The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-03-11
THH GREAT YANKEE PIE.
New Workers Eat a Million of Them
Every Week.
HOW THEY ARE CONSTRUCTED.
How Pies Are Made on Big Scaie-Tw Give
Big Factories-Over 5000 Miles of
Pies-How the Work rs Done-somo
Interesting Figures.

oil II that l5O,OOO pies disappear down over
half million throats every day in the
year.
Despite the fact that pie Is men
toned by Herodotus and Pliny it is dis
tinctively an American dish, and long
before Miles Standish munched his En-
glish mince on Plymouth Rock the Off
spring of the aboriginal savage spent his
early youth in knesding mud pies on the
shores of the great lakes OF the North
American continent. The Puritans, how
ever, soon ran out OF mince meat, and
were forced to use such raw material as
was at hand, with the result that mince
pie fell into such bad repute that it was
considered a crime to partake of 1t on the
Sabbath day. Though it has once more
attained place in popular favor much OF
the mystery OF olden times still surrounds
il, and its power to conjure up strange
scenes has not lessened one whit in the
intervening years.
From these early patriots grew the ap-
petite for pie, whi-h has led to the estab-
lishment of great industry. In New
YORK alone there are twelve companies
devoted entirely To the manufacture of
this commodity, and so great is their out
put that in one year New Workers eat
sumo enough to make belt around the
earth, if the pies were laid. side by side in
a straight line. If a years pies were piled
one on top of the other they would make
a tower 800 miles high, beside which the
Eifiel tower would pale into insignifi
cance. This tower at wholesale would be
worth over $1,000, 5000, and its weight
would be about 1884 ,23o pounds, enough
to infiict dyspepsia on the combined ar
mics of the earth at single sitting.
In one of these great establishments
which l visited it was surprising to note
the really automatic precision with which
every branch of the business was con-
Quoted. The entire building is divided
into separate departments. In one the
manufacture of mince meat is carried on
in another the fruit is prepared, while in
q third is made the immense quantity of
dough used. Miss Ca frey, who pares the
apples for this establishment, is a wonder.
With an ordinary pairing machine she
peels nearly 1000 apples, or twenty-seven
barrels daily, and with movements so
rapid that ii requires an exceedingly quick
eye to follow them.
The various fruits are prepared by
young women by boiling, sweetening and
tlavoring to taste, and this taste is as near
that of the average public as it is posi-
BILE for them to guess. This is the most
important labor performed, and the young
women are paid good wages for accurate
tastes.
The several component parts OF the pie
prepared, their amalgamation takes place
as follows:
In the room where the pies are made
are several long tables, at which stands a
row of men dressed in garments of spot
less white. The dough is brought to
them in large buckets. One man at the
further end deftly cuts the crusts. The
next lightly snatches up tin pie pan and
lays therein the under crust, which is in
variably rolled heavier than the top crust.
He passes it along to a man who dips
from a row of oaken tubs, filed with the
prepared fruits, the necessary filling, and
then it goes on to a fourth, who neatly
covers it with top crust. A tray is soon
filled with pies and down it goes into a
subterranean passage, where the ovens
are. There in the gloomy vault men with
the skill OF jugglers insert and withdraw
from the hot recesses 400 pies every fifteen
minutes.
The trays are hoisted to the ground
floor, where they are divided among
wagons from which they are distributed
TO the marts where the pie eater throng.
These wagons are veritable perambulat-
ing pantries, especially constructed with
innumerable shelves, giving to each pie
its own place.
The contents Of the uniform coverings
of the hidden sweets are revealed by q
private mark made by the "crust man.
which is baked in. Pie is made In three
sizes, 8, Z 1-2 and inches in diameter,
selling to restaurants at 1-2, z 1-2 and
10 cents respectively, to be in turn re-
tailed at 8, 10 and 70 cents apiece.
The quantity Of material used or this
work is enormous. Each day there are
consumed forty barrels OF flour, 1900
quarts of milk, more eggs than 5000 hens
could lay in day, 1900 pounds of lard,
100 dozen pineapples, 1000 pounds of su-
gar, 40 barrels of apples, 100 bushels of
berries in their season, together with
large quantities of raisins and fiavoring
extracts. In the use of the latter lies the
secret of the business.
There are many other minor depart
ments. In one seven women are employed
in washing tin plates. There areS5 900 wort h
OF these lost every year. The tins are not
wiped, but dried on wire racks by hot
air. In yet another is the carpenter shop,
where three man are engaged in making
sideboards, pie racks and the like, which
are given TO large customers, and may be
considered as the advertising end OF the
business.-N. Y. Press.