The age-herald., 1899-10-22
MAKING SPAGHETTI
How New York's Italian Colony Keeps
 Itself Supplied

From the New York Herald.
 The manufacture of spaghetti in New York city is confined chiefly to the Italian quarter, where it is made in small quanti-
 ties and sold by the few pennies worth at time
 Those who support the various spaghetti
 shops and presses in the vicinity of Eliza beth, Mulberry and Hester streets are the poorer inhabitants of the quarter, who can- not afford the product of the large facto- ries.
 The spaghetti that is sold to the hotels, restaurants and private houses is made in large factories by steam machinery and In
 a clean manner Several of these are locatz ed in Brooklyn, Jersey iCty and Newark, but they do not supply the entire demand. for large quantity is imported. 1t is odd sight to the stranger who passes along Elizabeth street, north of Ca- nal street, to see the green spaghetti hang inf in long lines outside or inside the dingy little shops to dry, and there it waves in the wind like field of ripe grain, mark for the street urchins' stones and sticks, as well as all the dust and dirt blown from the street or disturbed by the over vigilant white wing"
 The interiors of some of these shops are quite picturesque, and remind one of store in an Italian town. At the front and
 to one side counter is arranged much
 the same in a cheap grocery, and be-
 hind it is a general assortment of dried
 fruits. canned goods, cheese, bread, spa
 ehettl, cheap dry goods, bottled stuff, pickles and lard.
 Over the shelving you will generally see a picture of the Virgin Mary, and close by
 lighted tallow dip that is never allowed to go out. It floats in a little cup or oil, and as surely spaghetti dough is mixed tra oil is reDleaished in the cnp This is the family shrine and near it may always be found some beads and trinkets Of more less value. The other side and rear of the shop are given up to the drying shelves, dough trough, presses and windlasses. The mix ing trough, where flour and water are worked together, is provided with huge roller, resembling a water wheel, on the face of which angular siats are attached. This is rolling back and forth on the ma terial until the mixture is of the proper consistency for the press; then it is re- moved in small quantities and placed in the pockets of the presses and squeezed out in the form of spaghetti. These old presses are interesting imple- ments. press will consist of a heavy square log, through which a hole is bored and into which a cylinder of copper is driven.
 The bottom of cylinder is provided with a perforated plate, above which another plate is suspended, and to which are fast
  holes to the lower plate. The dough, being pressed through the upper plate and into the holes of the lower one is finally released at the bottom of the log and hangs down in long tubular strands The pin in each hole thus forms the hollow reed or trough. By means of gas or oil flame these plates are kept hot so as to facilitate the action of the dough and to keep it from adhering to the metal.
 The plunger that forces the dough down through the pocket and out at the bottom is provided with a screw, and is arranged so that it can be turned with crude wind
 lasses and ropes and "set down" by man power.
 This Is very slow and laborious man. ner of production tine green spaghetti in the pit under the press has to partly dry before it can be cut away and the next batch made
 It is usually worked out in strips about six feet long and hung up to dry out of doors, but in rainy weather it is suspended from the ceiling of the little shops. The process is a novel sight and some | time when you have a few moments to spare go over to Elizabeth street and see a foreign industry transplanted to the great | city