Have you ever wondered as you have looked at the hollow sticks of macaroni in the stores or as you have eaten them at the table, how they were made in that way, and what they were made of?

In Italy macaroni is a very important article of food, and its use is rapidly increasing in our own country. For a long time it was not made outside of Italy, where the city of Genoa was the center of the industry. Locate this city. Do you know what great man was born there? Now macaroni and vermicelli are made in other countries. There are a few factories in the United States, but most of what we use still comes from Italy.

In making these foods only the best hard wheat is used.

After grinding the wheat, the bran is taken out and the flour is placed in a large wooden tub. Water is added, and the two are mixed by hand for a few minutes. In this tub a marble wheel about five feet in diameter and eighteen inches in thickness is fastened in an upright position. This wheel weighs about a ton.

After the flour and water have been mixed, the wheel is set in motion by machinery, and it slowly circles around in the tub, pressing the dough under it.

A man keeps walking in front of the wheel, moving the dough from the edges of the tub and placing it directly in the path of it. This work of pressing the flour into a paste continues for a little more than half an hour.

The wheel is then stopped and the paste, which is quite stiff, is cut into cakes about a foot square and from one to three inches in thickness.

These are put into an iron cylinder heated by steam. In the bottom of the cylinder is a copper plate filled with holes having the centers filled. A cover fitted to a great screw which turns by machinery is placed on top. This slowly, but steadily, presses the paste downward. It is thus forced through these openings, and of course comes out in the form of round, hollow pipes.

As these pipes issue from the cylinder, they are straightened out on a wooden tray or platform, and with a large, sharp knife cut into lengths of about three feet. They are then taken to a drying room and spread on wire frames covered with oiled paper. Here they are left for about five days, after which they are placed in boxes and are ready to ship.

The only difference between macaroni and vermicelli is that the pipes of vermicelli are very small and are not hollow.

When vermicelli is wanted, two plates are placed on the bottom of the press. The under one is of iron and contains holes about one inch in diameter. The upper one is of copper and contains groups of very small openings. There are sometimes eighty of these openings in a group. When the plates are screwed together, the groups of small holes are directly above the larger openings.

As the paste is pressed, it passes through the little holes and then issues from the larger ones; this keeps each little group of pipes somewhat apart from the others.

Saffron is added to the paste to color it, and the great golden mass is quite a pretty sight as it steadily lengthens.

The workman cuts off six or seven feet of it at a time; and holding it above his head with one hand, he shakes it out with the other, as one might shake the folds of a piece of silk. The pipes tangle up very little. They are cut into lengths of about eighteen inches.It is then taken to the drying room and spread out on the trays just as the macaroni is. A handful of the vermicelli is taken at a time, and by a peculiar twist of the arm it is placed on the paper in a form something like that of the letter n. After drying for five days it is packed and shipped.