The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-06
THE POPCORN TRADE.
Srowth of an Industry Dating from the
 Invention of the Corn Popper.

Invention of the Corn Popper. The newest of the many forms in which popped corn is now put up for saiee Is an ear of corn, which Is made UP m machine whose operation re- qu1res the service of five persons The popped corn Is first moulded into the shape of an ear of corn, which IS covered with wrapping of waxed paper Then over this waxed paper cover IS placed a wrapping of crape paper in leaves. in color and shane re- semeling corn husks and covering the ear as real l,corn husks cover a real ear
 while from the tip of this popped corn corn silk.
 It is slightly popped corn package this popped corn in the ear, and the manufacturer says of 1t that here is popped corn that a lady wearing kid gloves can eat without mussing her fingers
 One wouldn't have to be as old as Methusalah was when he died to re- member time when corn was popped at home in frying pans. then more com
 monly called spiders, with a tin not cover over the spider to keep the pop
 ping corn from flying out, and then. because with that cover you Couldn't see the corn and because you didn't dare
 to take the cover off till the popping was all over, you were likely to have | left lot of unpopped burnt kernels. Then some able genius invented the wire corn pepper. now made in various sizes, for commercial as we'll as for domestic use. and the manner of pop- ping corn was revolutionfzed in a iiffy
 &nd with this new popping facility popped corn became more popular than ever, and the popping of 1t a pastime,
 blessed with certainty of results. rath-
 CT than a trial, with possibly failure at
 the end
 Whereas in the spider days the corn had to be popped in the kitchen on the
 kitchen stove, with the wire pepper
 It could be popped over a grate fire, or | in the parlor or the sitting room, in any of the old-fashioned cylinder stoves. where visitors, as we'll as the
 members of the home circle, could see and perhaps participate in the popping. and see and hear the kernels pop and pop until the corn that at first had formed but thin layer that just cov-
 cred its bottom. had popped into a Hurry, fragrant mass of tender popped corn that filled the pepper completely to the great delight of all
 In those early days they did have,
 indeed. and 1t was even then a stand ara form of confection, the pop corn
 ball. At candy stores and fruit stores that children patronize you saw a pile or oranges and pile of pop corn balls, and even then pop corn balls were more or less an article of special sale op festive occasion. on general training days. and occasions like that, when people, as it were. blew themselves off.
 but pop corn was then an article of purely local and incidental production, and of comparatively small consump- tion, and the farthest they ever got with it in the way of variety was to make some of the corn balls pink in color, and they were all liable to get dusty if the sale was slow and they were long exposed.
 Now pop corn is an article of factory production, made in establishments de- voted to pop corn exclusively, and turn ing It out in many special forms, in brittles, bars. crispettes and pan cakes. and so on, eliminating, for the moment, at least. in pop corn by the ear. as described. Pop corn Is now an article of country wide sale. at parks, summer resorts and carnivals, and by street men, and at theatre candy stands and elsewhere, and is sold in the aggregate in these various forms. in enormous quantities.
 To the vast quantities thus sold is to be added that sold by the pop corn priv ilege men at summer resorts and fairs who pop corn aand mould it into vari- ouS ShapeS on the spot. The lesser quantity. but by no means less inter esting pop corn that is in these days sold by pop corn vendors. who go about the streets with glass sided pop corn wagons specially designed for the use, in which they pop and from which they sell pop corn to the passerby.
 And so pop corn. once a small side issue only. has come to be as one man. ufacturer put it, an article as staple as flour.